The Decolonizing Potential of Local and Metropolitan Literature of the Rwandan Genocide
Date
2012-10-03
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Abstract
Rwanda has been well-defined on the international stage. However, international understandings of the genocide do not sufficiently represent the perspectives of Rwandan citizens. The popular construction of Rwanda as a nation over the past eighteen years has used the Rwandan Genocide as a defining feature of Rwandan national identity. Governed by colonial rule from 1884-1962, Rwanda continues to be defined by neocolonial forces.
In response to this problematic reality, literary representations of the genocide are beginning to provide a forum for Rwandan voices to assert authority over the cultivation of Rwandan identity for Western citizens. This dissertation considers seven diverse literary texts about the Rwandan Genocide which attempt to bridge the socio-political distance between Rwandan and Western citizens.
Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families and Gil Courtemanche’s A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali offer a detailed consideration of Rwandan history and culture to challenge the colonial rhetoric used to explain the genocide to Western citizens. Élisabeth Combres’ Broken Memory, Jean-Philippe Stassen’s Deogratias, and Tierno Monénembo’s The Oldest Orphan explore the lived experience of genocide and the impact of violence on individuals and communities, affectively conveying the complexity of genocidal suffering in order to escape the media binary of victims and perpetrators. Véronique Tadjo’s The Shadow of Imana and Sonja Linden’s play I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda demonstrate the significant post-genocide recovery achieved within Rwanda, and consider the value of cross-cultural interaction in further affirming this recovery.
This study draws on the insights of postcolonial theory, trauma theory, and scholarship in the area of national identity to parse the role of these texts in recovering a productive sense of Rwandan identity for Western readers. This dissertation argues that these texts provide Western citizens with an understanding of national Rwandan identity that allows critical recognition of the superstructure of Western neocolonialism. As such, these narratives have the potential to enable Western citizens to recognize and challenge the role of the superstructure in shaping public discourse about the Rwandan Genocide.
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Literature--English, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Citation
O'Neill, K. (2012). The Decolonizing Potential of Local and Metropolitan Literature of the Rwandan Genocide (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28045