Abstract
This chapter describes the aims and challenges of the Rwanda: écrire par devoir de mémoire project and introduces its authors: Véronique Tadjo, Boubacar Boris Diop, Koulsy Lamko, Abdourahman Waberi, Tierno Monénembo, Monique Ilboudo, Nocky Djedanoum, Vénuste Kayimahe, and Jean-Marie Vianney Rurangwa. It speaks to the African and Afropolitan frameworks and lenses that constitute a strong presence in the texts. Instead of using Western and Eurocentric tropes, this volume looks at an African conflict situated in a collectivist society and written about by writers from African origin. This approach enables a more situated study, in which it becomes possible to draw out the local notions of ubuntu, oral testimonies, mourning traditions, healing and storytelling strategies, and the presence of the ‘invisible’.
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Notes
- 1.
An annual festival of African literature and culture based in Lille.
- 2.
Djedanoum (in Mongo-Mboussa 2000) evokes his discussions with other writers during the festival and the role played by the Rwandan journalist and the French radio service (RFI) presenter Théogène Karabayinga, who passed away in 2011.
- 3.
The group had obtained financial support from the Fondation de France, and Djedanoum suggests that the Rwandan authorities feared that the African writers would be manipulated by external powers such as France, ascribing this initial reticence to the strained relationship between France and Rwanda (Mongo-Mboussa 2000). Éloïse Brezault confirms that the Rwandan government may have been suspicious because of the authors’ link to France, but also because their texts would be published mainly in Europe and could potentially subvert the official narrative without being subject to censure from the government (Brezault 2016: 235).
- 4.
Bruce Clarke, author of an ongoing memorial sculpture project, ‘the Garden of Memory’, created for the victims of the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda.
- 5.
This comment is based on the following remarks by Diop: « Et nos romans, écrits dans l’urgence du témoignage, ne disent encore rien en profondeur sur le génocide. Cela viendra plus tard et ce sera l’œuvre des victimes elles-mêmes. Ceux qui, à l’âge de quatre ou dix ans, ont vu des inconnus violer leurs mères avant de les tuer à coups de machettes, ceux qui ont vu mourir des êtres chers en parleront demain, car un roman s’élabore plus avec des souvenirs anciens qu’avec de la réalité brute, immédiate. Je suis convaincu que pour pouvoir être dite, la douleur doit traverser des générations, se sublimant ainsi progressivement » (2006).
- 6.
Now Huye.
- 7.
Meja Mwangi from Kenya, for example, was one of the original participants, but as he did not publish a book within the agreed period of time, he is not generally included in discussions on work related to the project. According to my understanding from an interview with Abdourahman Waberi, the Rwandan writer Tharcisse Kalissa Rugano also intended to participate, but was unable to do so (Waberi , in Brezault 2000). This book also does not consider the contribution of artists such as Bruce Clarke, film makers, and other artistic representations.
- 8.
For a discussion of the unique composition of the participants of this initiative, consult Hitchcott (2009).
- 9.
« En Afrique même, les intellectuels, mal informés ou de plus en plus enclins à l’autodénigrement, ont réagi au génocide par un silence gêné ou par de l’indifférence. […] En dehors des Rwandais eux-mêmes, la réflexion sur le génocide s’est surtout menée en Europe et en Amérique » (Diop 2005: 83).
- 10.
« Nous sommes venus nous recueillir, écouter, observer, essayer de comprendre et réfléchir ensemble » (Djedanoum 1999).
- 11.
« C’est peut-être là la force de la poésie où on arrive à une espèce non pas d’universalité de la douleur, mais à une espèce de douleur partagée et à un rendu de cette douleur qui soit partageable » (Waberi , in Brezault 2000).
- 12.
« […] les écouter longuement, les effleurer, les caresser avec des mots maladroits et des silences […] Que faire encore ? Se tapir modestement. Prêter l’oreille attentive et faire le plus souvent silence tout autour de soi. […] On se dit que la littérature, cette fabrique d’illusions, avec sa suspension d’incrédulité, reste bien dérisoire. […] Enfin, de quel droit prendrait-on la parole ? » (Waberi 2004: 15).
- 13.
« Si j’ai un rôle à jouer […], c’est celui de passeur. Il faut que je puisse être le medium par lequel des mots passent pour pouvoir être utiles, pour changer quelque chose à l’existence, la mienne et celle des autres » (Kalisa 2005: 263). I come back to this notion in my discussion of Lamko’s work in Chap. 3.
- 14.
I first started exploring my reading of the project through the lens of ubuntu for an article (De Beer 2015), and an edited volume on ubuntu and community (De Beer 2019). Some of those preliminary ideas and selected excerpts from these sources have been incorporated in this book with the kind permission of the publishers.
- 15.
- 16.
My remarks are based on the following quotation: « Si modeste soit-il, ce voyage des écrivains africains au Rwanda est une première en Afrique. En effet, dans l’histoire de la littérature africaine, jamais un groupe d’écrivains ne s’étaient penchés sur le drame d’un pays donné afin de confronter ensemble leurs sensations et réflexions en vue de produire des œuvres de fiction à la fois individuelles et collectives » (Djedanoum 1999; my emphasis).
- 17.
Monique Ilboudo confirms, for example, that in Burkina Faso, hers was a single, isolated voice; however, within the larger structure of the project, her voice could at last be heard (Moncel 2000).
- 18.
« Le témoignage est [….] une manière d’inscrire les tragédies africaines dans le champ de la réflexion et de la littérature faite par les Africains eux-mêmes. Notre continent est presque toujours l’objet de l’histoire passée ou présente et donc jamais le sujet de sa propre histoire. Nous avons essayé d’inverser cette tendance […] » (Hirchi 2006: 601).
- 19.
Some researchers have already shown how the project texts offer a ‘restorative and preemptive imagining of postconflict Rwanda’ (Montesano 2015: 102).
- 20.
The Franco-Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou is, for example, described as a ‘fervent advocate’ of the ‘littérature-monde movement’, whose work moves beyond national borders; however, at the same time, his work also seems to represent a type of ‘retour aux sources’, a return to Africa, following a voyage to the Congo 23 years after his departure in 1988 (De Meyer 2015: 198–9).
- 21.
Despite the controversy surrounding this term due to criticism of its alleged elitism and commodification, I still prefer to use it in the sense described by Susanne Gehrmann, based on an understanding of the concept as initiated by Achille Mbembe, which ‘is relevant for both the diaspora and for Africa. Afropolitanism in this understanding of it decentres, de-essentializes and valorizes the continent’ (Gehrmann 2015: 61).
- 22.
Links have already been made by other scholars between ubuntu and the traditional Rwandan justice system, gacaca (Hinton 2016).
- 23.
For more on the various understandings of this notion, read Christian Gade (2012). John Hailey also provides an in-depth overview, including examples, uses, and critique, of this worldview in his paper entitled Ubuntu: A Literature Review. (A paper prepared for the Tutu Foundation, November 2008, London. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.459.6489&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 6 July 2018.)
- 24.
The TRC was appointed in 1995 and chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Its main purpose was to promote reconciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims of apartheid in South Africa, primarily through public hearings.
- 25.
I concur with Elisa Fiorio’s assertion that the oral tradition does not refer only to stories, but is present in various forms, such as ‘historic accounts, myths, tales, poems, proverbs, riddles, enigmas, anecdotes, lullabies, songs, ritual formulas, discourses, customs, biographical accounts, technical explanations, etc.’ (2006: 68).
- 26.
« Je suis entré dans la vie par la porte du conte » (Monénembo 2007: 174).
- 27.
Véronique Tadjo, in discussion with the author, July 2010.
- 28.
I base this assertion on the following statement made by Djedanoum: « L’ambition principale de ce projet intitulé ‘Rwanda: écrire par devoir de mémoire’ est avant tout de témoigner de leur solidarité morale envers le peuple rwandais et de rompre la loi du silence [des intellectuels africains] » (1999).
- 29.
« La fiction, c’est-à-dire la parole, aide, je pense, au travail du deuil. Et c’était un peu ça le sens de notre présence là-bas, au-delà même de l’implication littéraire […] Comme dans toute famille, quand il y a un deuil, il faut que les amis et les proches soient là, pour qu’on souffre ensemble et que la page soit tournée » (Diop , in Brezault 2002).
- 30.
« rite funéraire qui sort la mort individuelle du néant de la disparition de masse » (Germanotta 2016: 91).
- 31.
« Oui, écrire est en soi une rude bataille contre le néant, contre la mort » (Djedanoum 1999).
- 32.
« C’est en tant qu’écrivains et non en tant qu’historiens ou journalistes que nous avons été contactés pour ce projet. La fiction devait être notre matériau puisque c’est celui que nous connaissons le mieux. J’ai tout de suite été d’accord car la littérature a une fonction très spécifique, celle d’aller au-delà des faits et de s’adresser directement à l’émotion du lecteur. Elle présente la réalité sous un jour différent. Sa force, c’est la liberté de création. Ce qui m’intéressait, c’était de redonner aux victimes et aux bourreaux des visages, des noms, des vies. Montrer que ces gens-là étaient bien comme vous et moi » (Tadjo 2000).
- 33.
« Je ne verrais pas mon livre dans l’ordre du témoignage […]. Je me situe plus dans le sentir, dans le faire comprendre: faire sentir par exemple les dernières secondes d’un homme qui va mourir » (Waberi , in Brezault 2000: 1).
- 34.
My translation is taken from the following phrases: « Est-il acceptable de représenter la douleur des Rwandais quand on n’a pas éprouvé soi-même cette douleur ? J’ai des doutes quant à soulager la douleur des Rwandais par nos écrits […] En revanche, ce dont je suis sûr, c’est la force de la rencontre entre les Rwandais et nous, une rencontre qui impose le partage du deuil » (Djedanoum 2000).
- 35.
Koulsy Lamko chose to stay on in Rwanda to work at the Butare Centre for Arts, where he ‘experimented with various stage forms’ and encouraged participants to ‘provide input to the process of reconstruction’ (Kalisa 2013: 163). He ‘organized several presentations on urgent topics in post-genocide Rwanda such as conflict resolution, AIDS, women’s rights and other social issues in post-genocide Rwanda. Lamko has staged conflicting views on what happened in 1994 and on what should happen after the genocide. In performances that lasted hours, he allowed the audience, mostly students, to intervene in case they disagreed or wanted to add to the debate’ (ibid.). He ascribes his decision to return to his desire not to ‘betray’ the confidence that the Rwandans had shown in the writers (Chalaye 2001: 1; Kalisa 2013). Lamko confesses that writing a book—one which he admits is not very widely read—was not enough; it was merely an incomplete tool used for offering a perspective and carrying memory (Chalaye 2001: 1). He speaks of the difficulties he faced in the artistic process and the discouragement prevalent in a country which finds itself in the process of reconstruction, but also of the magnificent texts produced by young Rwandans during writing workshops organized by the Centre.
- 36.
« Et puis, il y a l’acte d’écrire qui est d’une certaine manière un acte contre le négationnisme. Amener les écrivains et les chercheurs africains ici pour qu’ils prennent conscience de ce qui s’est passé, pour qu’ils le fassent partager aux autres, est à mon sens un acte de solidarité avec le peuple rwandais. Nous avons initié un travail, quitte aux Rwandais eux-mêmes à prendre le relais dans la diffusion des livres, des spectacles etc. » (Mongo-Mboussa 2000: 1).
- 37.
Jean-Marie Kayishema also reminds us that the truth represented in a myth is typically symbolic, ontological, and transcendental (2009: 12).
- 38.
It is important to note that Bagilishya is not a Tutsi survivor; he is a Rwandan of Hutu origin and was in Canada at the time of the genocide. His son was killed by a Tutsi soldier and the traumatic event he refers to in his article is the grief and anger that he experienced upon hearing of his son’s death when he visited Rwanda a year after the genocide. Upon seeing the powerful emotional reaction of both her son and the young Tutsi survivor who shared the news with him, his mother intervened by using traditional Rwandan responses to trauma, such as non-verbal gestures and the use of proverbs. I refer to his comments purely because his article provides us with many important insights into Rwandan culture in general.
- 39.
‘After many hours confronting and sharing our feelings about what we had experienced, I ended the meeting with my young guest by citing the following Rwandan proverb: Akamarantimba kava mu muntu, which means “the greatest sorrow comes from within” to signify that our ability to survive unusually difficult situations is determined by our inner strength. Without a moment’s hesitation, he responded with another Rwandan proverb, Agahinda kinkono kamenywa n’uwayiharuye, which can be translated to mean “the sorrow of a cooking pot is understood by he who has scraped its bottom”, signifying that one can only help someone else by genuinely listening to his suffering’ (Bagilishya 2000: 341).
- 40.
Dr. Ndahiro is a scholar and educator, and at the time of the conference he was serving as Advisor in the Office of the President of Rwanda. He has published a number of scholarly articles and books and is involved in the rehabilitation of survivors of the genocide against the Tutsis.
- 41.
I do not provide page numbers, as these references are all drawn directly from the paper that he delivered during the conference.
- 42.
Such critical evaluations do exist, such as that found in, amongst other places, Jennie Burnet’s (2012) book, the report edited by Lucien Huyse and Mark Salter (2008) on traditional practices, Karen Brounéus’s (2008) article on gacaca courts and the discussion proposed by Masengesho Kamuzinzi (2016) of the modern-day application of the traditional practice of imihigo.
- 43.
One well-documented example of such an initiative in the justice sector is the gacaca jurisdictions, or community courts. These were based on an indigenous form of dispute settlement and used to address the immense problem of ensuring justice in the aftermath of the genocide (Ndahiro 2016). Another one of Ndahiro’s examples of dispute resolution originating from traditional Rwandan culture is that of the abunzi, or community mediators, who are selected from a local community to arbitrate conflicts in the community. Currently, the purpose of the abunzi is to ‘settle disputes but also to reconcile conflicting members of a local community and restore harmony in the neighborhood’ (ibid.). In the social sector, a strategy which is particularly relevant to the most vulnerable members of the society is the practice of girinka munyarwanda, or ‘one cow per poor family’. Another pertinent example is that of umuganda, or community works. Another solution is the Ubudehe Program, or the people’s participation program, used when identifying problems and solutions in a community.
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de Beer, AM. (2020). Trauma and Storytelling in Africa. In: Sharing the Burden of Stories from the Tutsi Genocide. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42093-2_2
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