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This study examines the representation of nation formation in the background of the
trauma of wars and genocide in selected novels from Rwanda, Burundi and South
Sudan. The selected novels convey the trauma of the survivors from a first-hand
experience of war and genocide and the writers’ attempt at the imagination of nation
formation in the aftermath of societal fragmentation. Three of the novels studied
namely: The Hyenas Wedding by Rusimbi, Weep Not Refugee by Toyi and Baho by
Rugero were written by authors from these territories while the other three: The Mark
by Deal, The Humanitarian by Caraway and Broken Memory by Combres are by
foreign nationals. The objectives of this study are to analyze the writers’ imaginative
representation of nation formation from the trauma of ethnically instigated war and
genocide; to examine the narrative techniques used by writers and, to examine the
vision/s of nation formation projected in the selected novels. A qualitative library
based research was undertaken. This entailed a close reading of the data contained in
the selected texts and involved a critical evaluation of the material therein to examine
how the writers grapple with the representation of nation formation amidst the
traumas that have fragmented the social bonds and critically curtailed the capacities of
these societies to function harmoniously. For the reason that traumatic events are
extreme and they resist fictionalization, they present challenges to the writers in terms
of the strategies of representation. The study adopted an eclectic approach to theory
that includes aspects of postcolonial theories, trauma theory, semiotics and Benedict
Anderson’s ideas of nationalism and imagination of the nation. Because the selected
texts in this study deal with postcolonial traumatic experiences, their readings and
analysis were guided by trauma theory. Semiotics guided the reading of the meanings
created by signs and images used as vehicles of expression in the representation of
traumatic experiences that resist representation through language. The study used
Anderson’s proposals to analyze the nature of the writers’ imaginative representation
of past traumatic experiences for the stimulation of social interconnections in
previously fragmented relations. The study managed to apply trauma theory within
the framework of post-colonial readings on the narration of nation formation as an
additional trajectory to the existing models on the analysis of nation formation in the
East African novel. The study concluded that the writers have used diverse narrative
strategies in testifying to the past to create memories essential for creating social
affiliations in the survivors. Overall, the visions projected by the writers about the
potential for the realization of nationhood in these societies are diverse. The findings
add to the pool of existing academic knowledge on the narration of nations of trauma.
Future research could examine the representation of nation formation from the
perspective of writers whose focus is on the offspring of the survivors with no direct
personal experience of these atrocities. Such categories of survivors only have a
family memory or have post-memories of these experiences created by survivors’
testimonies or other processes. |
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