Trauma in selected Eastern African fiction and life writing on Civil Wars, 2000 - 2014

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2017.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study draws attention to and explores the portrayal of civil war in East African fictional and autobiographical works. Specifically, it examines the various and distinct ways in which East African writers use literature and art to translate and transmit the physical, vicarious and psychological trauma resulting from intra-state conflicts in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. My aim in embarking on this project is to demonstrate, qua Silvia Pellicer-Ortín, that trauma studies can provide useful methodological tools for the analysis of the representation of trauma in fictional and autobiographical works, bringing to the fore specific narrative techniques in order to represent both individual and collective trauma. Works of a diverse selection of East African authors are selected for this study. These texts indicate that art can provide an enabling forum for retrieving, relieving and re-evaluating violent contexts and their (dis)continuities in East Africa. I build my reading around theoretical aspects on postcolonial criticism and trauma studies. From postcolonial criticism I particularly draw on Homi Bhabha’s views to situate the terms hybridity, place/displacement, DissemiNation, enunciation, identity formation, ambivalence, nationalism, alterity and otherness in my study. The main point here is to explore the ways in which the uncanny nature of violence in the selected East African (con)texts reflects the aforementioned terms, which I read as postcolonial realities. In the main, however, I examine the selected works as embodying classic narrative devices of trauma fiction in their mediation of civil war discourse and how it leads to trauma. Thus I draw from trauma scholars working in various disciplines, such Cathy Caruth, Geoffrey Hartman, Dominick LaCapra, Shoshana Felman and Judith Herman, in order to explore how notions of “the uncanny,” “the unhomely” and “latency” are reflected in traumatised individuals, groups and communities in postcolonial East African contexts. The study finds that in many ways, literature and art may be positioned in a discursive space between instruction and enlisting larger publics in the project of redressing harm. To this end, the study proposes that literature and art are good fora for campaign against human rights violations; that such a clarion call as inscribed in the selected texts reflects María Pía Lara’s notion of the illocutionary power of literature.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie vestig die aandag op en verken die uitbeelding van die burgeroorlog in fiksie en outobiografiese werke uit Oos-Afrika. Dit ondersoek spesifiek die verskillende en onderskeie maniere waarop skrywers uit Oos-Afrika letterkunde en kuns gebruik om die fisieke, middellike en sielkundige trauma wat voortspruit uit interstaatkonflikte in Ethiopië, Eritrea, Rwanda, Somalië, Suid-Soedan, Soedan en Uganda weer te gee en oor te dra. My doel met die aanpak van hierdie projek is om, qua Silvia Pellicer-Ortín, te demonstreer dat traumastudies nuttige metodologiese instrumente vir die ontleding van die uitbeelding van trauma in fiksie en outobiografiese werke kan verskaf, wat spesifieke narratiewe tegnieke na vore bring ten einde sowel individuele as kollektiewe trauma uit te beeld. Die werke van ’n uiteenlopende keur skrywers uit Oos-Afrika is vir hierdie studie gekies. Hierdie tekste dui aan dat kuns ’n bemagtigende forum kan verskaf vir die ontsluiting, verligting en herevaluering van gewelddadige kontekste en hul (dis)kontinuïteite in Oos-Afrika. Ek het my lesing om teoretiese aspekte rakende postkoloniale kritiek en traumastudies gebou. Uit postkoloniale kritiek maak ek spesifiek gebruik van Homi Bhabha se sienings om die terme hibriditeit, plek/verplasing, “DissemiNation,” uiteensetting, identiteitsvorming, ambivalensie, nasionalisme, alteriteit en andersheid in my studie te situeer. Die hoofpunt hier is om maniere te verken waarop die onheilspellende aard van geweld in die gekose (kon)tekste uit Oos-Afrika die voormelde terme weergee, wat ek as postkoloniale realiteite beskou. Hoofsaaklik bestudeer ek egter die geselekteerde werke as die beliggaming van klassieke narratiewe tegnieke van traumafiksie in hul bemiddeling van burgeroorlogdiskoers en hoe dit tot trauma lei. Ek steun dus op trauma-kenners wat in verskeie dissiplines werksaam is, soos Cathy Caruth, Geoffrey Hartman, Dominick LaCapra, Shoshana Felman en Judith Herman, ten einde te verken hoe opvattings oor “die onheilspellende”, “die onhuislike” en “latentheid” in getraumatiseerde individue, groepe en gemeenskappe in postkoloniale kontekste uit Oos-Afrika weergegee word. Die studie bevind dat letterkunde en kuns op vele maniere geposisioneer kan word in ’n diskursiewe ruimte tussen lering en die insluiting van groter publieke by die projek om onregte reg te stel. Hiervolgens doen hierdie studie aan die hand dat letterkunde en kuns goeie forums is om veldtogte teen menseregteskendings te voer en dat die wekroep wat die gekose tekste ingebed is María Pía Lara se idee van die “illocutionary power,” of kragtige uitbeeldingsvermoë, van letterkunde weerspieël