Between Silence and Madness: Trauma and the Ethics of Representing Genocide in Deogratias
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Abstract
This paper examines Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda as a critique of genocide narratives, focusing on how Jean-Philippe Stassen uses the graphic novel format to explore the psychological and historical perspectives of trauma. Set against the backdrop of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the novel defies Western narratives of trauma that usually focus on redemption, closure and healing. Instead, it focuses on the protagonist’s descent into madness due to systematic violence. The novel interrogates the politics behind who is allowed to speak and who is forced into silence. Drawing on the theories of Cathy Caruth, Dominick LaCapra, Primo Levi and Frantz Fanon, this paper challenges the psychological and linguistic frameworks used to understand trauma in post-genocide societies.
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References
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