Bearing witness to trauma: narrative structure and perspective in Murambi, the book of bones

Abstract

This paper examines the representation of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath in Boubacar Boris Diop's Murambi, the book of bones (2006). It aims in particular to explore the different ways in which the narrative devices of structure and perspective are used to convey trauma to the reader, thus enabling them to bear witness to it. This paper argues that these narrative devices are used to provide partial insight into the trauma of the genocide and/or to produce empathy or distance between readers and the victims, perpetrators and survivors of the genocide. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the novel advances the human dimension of the genocide. This will shift both victims and perpetrators out of the domain of statistics and evoke emotional engagement from readers. The paper argues for the importance of narrative in bearing witness to trauma, particularly due to its unique ability to forge an emotional connection between reader and character.

Keywords:

• Rwanda
• genocide
• trauma
• narrative
• representation
• perspective

Notes

1. Although the ‘killings began before April 6 1994’ (Harrow 2005, p. 224), this paper will focus on the much popularised, though contested, timeframe of the genocide as those 100 days following the death of President Habyarimana.

2. As a child, Paul Kagame survived the 1959 massacre in Rwanda, apparently through the greed and drunken disorderliness of the perpetrators. Kagame went on to become the leader of the Rwandan Patriot Front (RPF), who opposed the genocide of the Tutsis. He later became president of post-genocide Rwanda.