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Harvests and Bones: Abdourahman A. Waberi and Boubacar Boris Diop

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Sharing the Burden of Stories from the Tutsi Genocide

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict ((PSCHC))

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Abstract

This chapter deals with a different type of power, also linked to community, but one which destroys and divides rather than creates harmony: the power of the word, of propaganda, disinformation, indoctrination, and rationalization. I discuss the polarization of identities and the political abuse and misrepresentation of foundation and identity myths and migration theories, as well as the influence of a heritage of compulsory communal tasks and a strong culture of conformism and blind submission to authority. This approach enables me to consider the literary representation of some of the dynamics that led to mass participation in the genocide. These societal influences are what inform my reading of Abdourahman Waberi’s Moisson de crânes: textes pour le Rwanda and Boubacar Boris Diop’s Murambi: le livre des ossements.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations from Waberi’s text are taken from the Kindle edition of the 2016 English translation by Dominic Thomas and all citations from Diop’s novel are taken from the Kindle Edition of the text translated in 2006 by Fiona McLaughlin. In both cases, Kindle Locations replace conventional page numbers in the references indicated.

  2. 2.

    Some of the key ideas and examples used in this chapter will also be discussed in a chapter from a forthcoming edited volume on the aftermath of the genocide (in In the Shadow of Genocide: Memory, Justice, and Transformation Within Rwanda, eds. Stephanie Wolfe, Tawia Ansah and Matt Kane).

  3. 3.

    Mamdani (2002) discusses the tension between ‘citizen’ and ‘foreigner’ extensively in his text on the genocide.

  4. 4.

    For a discussion on customary obligations and communal work such as bush clearing and ‘coerced labour’ in the Rwandan community, see Mahmood Mamdani (2002: 194).

  5. 5.

    Established in 1990, Kangura was published in French and Kinyarwanda, and promoted ethnic hatred.

  6. 6.

    ‘The Hutu Ten Commandments’ was a document that was published in the pro-Hutu, anti-Tutsi newspaper Kangura in December 1990, almost four years before the genocide. The document was published in Kinyarwandan and has also been translated as ‘The Ten Commandments of the Bahutu’.

  7. 7.

    The Bahutu Manifesto, drafted by nine Rwandan Hutu intellectuals in 1957, was a political document that called for Hutu ethnic and political solidarity, as well as the political disfranchisement of the Tutsi people.

  8. 8.

    Read Narelle Fletcher’s article on this speech and the role of propaganda (2014).

  9. 9.

    Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, established in 1993.

  10. 10.

    For more on the influence of the culture of submission to authority, read Philip Gourevitch (2000). Sadibou Sow also discusses this phenomenon in detail in his chapter entitled ‘Poétique de la soumission à l’autorité’ (2009: 99–124).

  11. 11.

    « à la fois, des leçons, des vérités, des réflexions, des pensées, des règles de conduite et de morale » (Ahimana 2009: 302).

  12. 12.

    I only include a few examples, but Emmanuel Ahimana presents a detailed study of the use of proverbs, which he considers to be markers of orality in the three novels that he analyzes, namely that of Lamko, Monénembo, and Diop.

  13. 13.

    I have discussed Tadjo’s polysemic title and the motif of the shadow in detail in a previously published chapter (De Beer 2016: 57–9).

  14. 14.

    For more on how this process enables the perpetrator to justify killing another, consult Hemsley (2016).

  15. 15.

    All quotations of Koulsy Lamko’s (2002) text are my translations, as no formal translation has been published.

  16. 16.

    « C’est dans l’animal qu’il faut creuser pour déterrer les limites de l’homme. L’homme chenille, lâché sur la toison verte des pâturages et des feuillages, dévore sans retenue jusqu’aux nervures. L’homme criquet effeuille les épineux, [..]. L’homme-boa avale le buffle […]. L’homme éléphant à la patte-mortier écrase toutes les termitières sur son passage […] L’homme-hibou a horreur de la lumière » (Lamko 2002: 48–9).

  17. 17.

    « ‘Le cafard, ça meurt difficilement. L’on a beau le piétiner, l’écraser du talon, lui répandre toute sa substance blanche et graisseuse par terre, tant qu’il garde ses élytres, il se relève et s’en va, vous échappe. Il a la coque dure. Il faut que vous ayez à faire à des poulets ! Compris ! La stratégie ?

    Facile ! Vous vous levez le matin, vous bouchez hermétiquement toutes les moindres issues de l’urugo. […] Vous appelez les poules et les coqs. Cot cot cot ! La vieille recette de l’homme préhistorique lorsqu’il inventait le théâtre: imiter l’animal pour mieux l’approcher, […] Voilà une recette pour faire comme il faut, pour aller vite…. (Lamko 2002: 175–8)

  18. 18.

    For a discussion of the psychological effects of group violence on the perpetrator, bystander, and victim, consult Staub (2006).

  19. 19.

    This subtitle was omitted in the English translation.

  20. 20.

    Sélom Gbanou’s (2004) article provides a valuable discussion of fragmentation as found in several of Waberi’s texts as well as in the work of other African writers of his generation.

  21. 21.

    Zakaria Soumaré provides an in-depth analysis of the use of citations in the epigraph and elsewhere in the text (2013: 128–32).

  22. 22.

    ‘Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation’ (Joel 1:2–3). This reference to Israel creates a link between the suffering of the Tutsis and the Shoah, a ‘metaphor for absolute violence’ which is again referred to in Waberi’s preface and later on in the text (Semujanga 2008: 100).

  23. 23.

    Caroline Laurent (2015) also provides a meaningful discussion on the potential plurality of art, in terms of both writing and eventually reading, which is facilitated through the act of listening performed by the artist/writer.

  24. 24.

    Originally written in 2009 and entitled The Sunny Side of Life.

  25. 25.

    « On peut inventer d’un regard empathique et sensuel tout un monde, et ce à partir d’un vieux livre, une carte postale tout droit sortie de la Quinzaine coloniale des années 1930, d’un chant bédouin, d’une photo sépia et racornie, d’un verset du Coran ou de la Bible, d’une citation tirée du sommeil d’un grand livre de la Weltliteratur dont rêvait Goethe » (Waberi 2003: 936).

  26. 26.

    As only two authors participating in the project chose the genre of travelogue, it is worthwhile to note that several significant parallels can be drawn between their texts (both first published in 2000). Both Waberi and Tadjo subvert the travel diary in generic and metaphoric ways. Both evoke two separate journeys in which they physically participated, and which lends a specific structure to their texts in terms of form as well as content.

  27. 27.

    Years later, after the publication of the travelogues, both Tadjo and Waberi returned to Rwanda and reflected on the changes they saw. In 2010, Tadjo revisits and reflects on ‘the changing landscape of memory in Kigali’ (Tadjo 2010) and Waberi speaks of Kigali ‘15 years later’ (in a section that was added to the later English translation of his text) and how it has become unrecognizable to him in the nine years since he last visited it (2016: 127–31). Waberi tells of the progress and the striking National Memorial in Kigali but also of the ‘silent minority’—the survivors, the ‘forgotten people of Bisesero’ (ibid.: 182, 184). He speaks of the determination of the post-genocide society to revive ‘traditional, often subversive cultural practices’ such as black humor in music and theater, the ‘ironic use of figures’ in the traditional intore dance and the ‘feudal art of the drum now appropriated by women’ (ibid.: 203–4).

  28. 28.

    Tadjo (2002: 96) speaks of a prison visit to Rilissa, while Waberi (2016: 554) cites Rilima, stating that Tadjo was with him on this visit. It seems probable then that in spite of the different names used, they are both referring to their visit to Rilima prison, or at least used it as a point of departure for this part of their narrative on prison life after the genocide with Tadjo simply masking the name slightly.

  29. 29.

    « On regroupe la population civile dans un bâtiment administratif, une école ou une église à la suite d’une annonce officielle faite directement par le bourgmestre de la commune ou par la radio nationale. Ensuite on procède au tri. On sépare les voisins de toujours, les ouailles de la paroisse, les amis d’enfance, les habitants de la même parcelle. Les Hutus sont priés de vider les lieux sur-le-champ. On lance des grenades en veux-tu en voilà dans la foule agglutinée. On mitraille. On procède au nettoyage de la maison rwandaise de fond en comble » (Waberi 2004: 24; my emphasis).

  30. 30.

    The use of the pronoun ‘on’ rather than ‘nous’ lends a more oral feel to the text.

  31. 31.

    « ‘On n’était pas là au moment des faits !’ On ne mélange pas ses malheurs à ceux d’autrui. Nous ne sommes que de pauvres paysans. On n’a rien vu venir. Rien entendu […] On n’a rien vu venir. On n’a rien pu faire. On ne voulait pas mourir avec eux, non. On ne peut plus rien pour les morts » (Waberi 2004: 34).

  32. 32.

    This notion of collective responsibility is also foregrounded in Tadjo’s text. She cites a report in which a participant declares that ‘No person killed another person single-handed’ (Tadjo 2002: 84).

  33. 33.

    Co-founder of the hate radio station, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which broadcast anti-Tutsi propaganda and information that helped coordinate the killings.

  34. 34.

    Mugesera is considered to be one of the senior politicians responsible for planning the genocide. On 22 November 1992, he gave a speech in which he threatened that the Tutsi would be forcefully returned to Ethiopia which, according to Hutu propaganda, is the country of origin of the Tutsi.

  35. 35.

    The RTLM frequently played songs like Bikindi’s ‘Father of the Cultivators’.

  36. 36.

    « Ce chapitre montre que le pouvoir du langage est relégué au Mal, tandis que pour les victimes, il ne le leur reste plus que confusion et détresse » (Small 2005: 126).

  37. 37.

    For a discussion on the various narratives and counter-narratives that exist with regard to Rwanda’s history, see Harrow (2005). Semujanga (2005) also provides a helpful description of these myths.

  38. 38.

    Alexandre Dauge-Roth points out that is precisely this demeaning metaphor which Lamko engages with in his novel by symbolically negating it through the resurrection of Mukandori in the form of a Butterfly (2010: 136).

  39. 39.

    Waberi ’s original text reads: « La trop usitée haine ethnique entre Tutsis et Hutus n’existait pour ainsi dire pas avant 1959, et jamais de manière récurrente dans l’histoire de la contrée. Pourtant, l’histoire de ce peuple a été touchée en son nerf sensitif quelques décennies auparavant, lorsque les missionnaires ont réussi à pervertir irrémédiablement la pensée religieuse ancestrale et l’équilibre des pouvoirs temporels et éternels » (Waberi 2004: 77).

  40. 40.

    MINUAR stands for: Mission des Nations Unies pour l’assistance au Rwanda. It refers to the The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) which was established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 872 on 5 October 1993.

  41. 41.

    It is not only in Waberi’s text that the figure of the dog is present; the whole project is permeated with real dogs, as well as ‘rhetorical’ and ‘symbolic’ dogs (Delas 2002: 48). Daniel Delas provides an in-depth description of the various ways in which the authors deal with this motif (2002).

  42. 42.

    « Voilà, mon but en écrivant [Murambi ], c’était d’amener chaque lecteur à se mettre à la place des victimes, au lieu de penser que tout cela était trop horrible pour être réel ou trop lointain pour le concerner. J’ai pensé que le dépouillement des personnages allait leur donner de la force. J’ai constamment pensé aux jeunes de tous les pays en écrivant ce livre. C’est d’ailleurs une des raisons pour lesquelles il est, de tous mes romans, le plus facile à lire » (Diop 2006a).

    J’ai écrit ce livre dans un rythme assez rapide contrairement à ma manière d’écrire jusqu’à présent où je prenais mon temps. Là, j’ai essayé d’aller vraiment à l’essentiel, d’être efficace. Je voulais qu’un jeune homme de vingt ans, qui n’a pas beaucoup l’habitude de lire et qui ne s’intéresse pas beaucoup aux massacres à travers le monde, ait le courage de lire ce livre jusqu’au bout et qu’un jour je puisse discuter avec lui ou avec les autres générations. (Brezault 2002)

  43. 43.

    Catherine Kroll provides an analysis of Diop’s novel in terms of the uses of fiction, in demonstrating the interconnectedness between the different role players and in the questioning of accepted binaries. She also looks at his exposure of the role of propaganda and rationalization of actions. Finally, she shows how, through literature, he examines the many fictions that are created around Rwanda’s history, both from inside and outside its borders, and the complexity and at times multiple and fluid identities of the various characters he creates.

  44. 44.

    Arnould-Bloomfield demonstrates how Diop uses language, not merely to reflect, but to concretely and actively express and fight against the violence experienced. This process involves more than moving from symbolic to literal/realistic writing. It makes of the text an interactive space in which a ‘verbal encounter between victims and writer (and writer and readers)’ is facilitated and enacted (2010: 509). Diop’s novel, when viewed in this way, has ‘performative’ value, because in its staging of these interactions, ‘acting and speaking’ are foregrounded rather than mere ‘seeing’ (ibid.: 510).

  45. 45.

    « La narration à la première personne, authentifiée par le je qui raconte, semble constituer le témoin et l’existence même de l’événement raconté comme témoignage. Car depuis la fin de la guerre mondiale […] le récit du témoin est devenu consubstantiel à la survie même de la victime de massacres. L’écriture façonne une zone de partage de l’événement dans la mesure où elle se fond sur l’idée selon laquelle celui qui se propose comme récepteur d’un récit, crée la possibilité du témoignage, et réinvente de fait, un lien social » (Semujanga 2008: 127–8).

  46. 46.

    « Et cette résurrection des vivants passe au moins par la reconnaissance par le monde. Par vous, par moi. Le fait que le monde ait découvert et accepté l’Holocauste a beaucoup fait pour aider les Juifs dans leur travail de deuil » (Diop , in Brezault 2002).

  47. 47.

    Semujanga (2008: 132) suggests that the fragmentary and incomplete nature of these stories corresponds to the disrupted society that Diop is attempting to write about.

  48. 48.

    Koulsy Lamko’s term, as discussed in Chap. 2.

  49. 49.

    This theme is also present in the other texts: Koulsy Lamko, for example, scathingly engages with the role of the Catholic Church as a key body of authority that had a huge societal impact on the mass participation.

  50. 50.

    Hitchcott suggests that although Diop has long been known for his outspoken criticism of President Mitterrand and France’s role in the genocide, his fictional novel ‘with a wider readership’ would probably end up more effectively ‘drawing attention to France’s guilt’ (Hitchcott 2009: 56).

  51. 51.

    Also see Small (2005: 122–3).

  52. 52.

    The term ‘old man’ is used a great number of times in Diop’s novel and refers to three different people, all three of whom represent different figures of authority in Diop’s novel. One is Faustin Gasana’s authoritarian, extremist father; the second is Simeon, the wise uncle; and the third is President Mitterrand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Anna-Marie de Beer

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  1. Anna-Marie de Beer
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Correspondence to Anna-Marie de Beer .

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de Beer, AM. (2020). Harvests and Bones: Abdourahman A. Waberi and Boubacar Boris Diop. 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_4

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