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" Writing ‘Parrhesia’, Narrating ‘the Other Rwandan Genocide’ "
Nick Mdika Tembo
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AL
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| Record Number
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1076732
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| Doc. No
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LA120361
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| Call No
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10.1163/18757421-04802011
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Main Entry
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Nick Mdika Tembo
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| Title & Author
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Writing ‘Parrhesia’, Narrating ‘the Other Rwandan Genocide’ [Article]\ Nick Mdika Tembo
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| Publication Statement
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Leiden: Brill
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| Title of Periodical
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Matatu
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| Date
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2016
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| Volume/ Issue Number
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48/2
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418–434
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| Abstract
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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.
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African Studies
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Comparative Studies World Literature
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Criticism Theory
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Cultural History
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genocide memories
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Literature Culture
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Literature and Cultural Studies
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parrhesia
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Postcolonial Literature Culture
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reconciliation
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Rwanda
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testimonial literature
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10.1163/18757421-04802011
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