عنوان

Writing 'Parrhesia', Narrating 'the Other Rwandan Genocide'

LA120361

انگلیسی

Writing 'Parrhesia', Narrating 'the Other Rwandan Genocide'

[Article]

Nick Mdika Tembo

Leiden

Brill

At the end of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, close to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been murdered, and over 1.5 million people were either internally displaced or had fled over the borders into neighbouring countries and beyond for fear of reprisals from the advancing Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). This article places Marie Béatrice Umutesi's Surviving the Slaughter (2004) and Pierre-Claver Ndacyayisenga's Dying to Live (2012) within the context of post-1994 Rwandan testimonial literature that writes what is feared to be "the other Rwandan genocide," particularly against those who fled to eastern Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). In the two narratives, I argue, Umutesi and Ndacyayisenga destabilise and deconstruct the claim of genocide to create a literature that captures the anxieties of genocide memories in Rwanda. Specifically, Umutesi and Ndacyayisenga deploy a rhetorical narrative form that employs cynicism, bitter humour and a harsh tone to suggest that the suffering of Rwandans must not be seen, or even told, from a single perspective, and that only a balanced engagement with extant issues would lead to genuine reconciliation in Rwanda. To illustrate the ideological purpose at work in the two texts, I reference Michel Foucault's parrhesia as a framework for understanding how the authors contest genocide memories in Rwanda.

2016

418-434

Matatu

48/2

1875-7421

African Studies

Comparative Studies & World Literature

Criticism & Theory

Cultural History

genocide memories

Literature & Culture

Literature and Cultural Studies

parrhesia

Postcolonial Literature & Culture

reconciliation

Rwanda

testimonial literature

Nick Mdika Tembo

10.1163/18757421-04802011

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y