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Trauma in Selected Eastern African Fiction and Life Writing on Civil Wars, 2000 - 2014

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Trauma in Selected Eastern African Fiction and Life Writing on Civil Wars, 2000 - 2014 Trauma in Selected Eastern African Fiction and Life Writing on Civil Wars, 2000 - 2014 Nick Mdika Hubert Tembo Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof. Grace A. Musila External Supervisor: Dr Emmanuel Ngwira Department of English Studies March 2017 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. March 2017 Signature ……………………………….. Copyright © 2017 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my son, Vitumbiko Raphael Tembo, who missed parental love, guidance and care in the three years I was away from him. I also dedicate this project to the memory of my loving parents for nurturing me and for always watching over me. iii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 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. iv Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 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. v Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements Someone said that writing a PhD thesis makes one behave like Unoka in Achebe’s famed novel, Things Fall Apart. Like Unoka, I owe many people over a thousand cowries’ worth of debt. And like this sanguine character in Achebe’s magnum opus I can only say I will repay all of them, but not today. I have had the good fortune to be supervised by the best scholar, in my opinion, in Prof Grace A. Musila, together with Dr Emmanuel Ngwira. I owe them a wealth of gratitude and thanks for their enduring patience, painstaking mentorship, dedication to duty and the invaluable comments they made on the numerous drafts I sent them, most of which were hastily written. There were times when I avoided running into Prof Musila. This is not because we had become enemies but because I thought she deserved a better supervisee. If now I talk of producing a coherent work, it is because she gave me all the support and mentorship I needed to get this project out of my way. She was always there, going out of her way to remind me of what I could achieve. Most important of all, Prof Musila challenged and believed in me in a way no other teacher ever had in my life. My profound thanks and gratitude also go to Dr Wamuwi Mbao for his valuable feedback on my thesis during its formative stages. I would also like to thank Dr Kylie Thomas (a friend of all seasons), Dr Tilla Slabbert, Prof Sally-Ann Murray, Prof Annie Gagiano, Dr Nwabisa Bangeni, Prof Tina Steiner, Prof Louise Green, Prof Shaun Viljoen, Dr Megan Jones, Dr Riaan Oppelt, Dr Dawid de Villiers and Dr Daniel Roux. These are friendly, selfless and academically engaging senior colleagues, who always renewed my academic hopes. Across the African continent, I am humbled by Dr Charlotte Baker’s and David Whitehouse’s selfless hearts. They gladly shipped their work to me when I wrote them that I could not access their books. Last, but not least, the entire English Department at Stellenbosch University deserves special mention for its moral and financial support during my endless quest for knowledge and networking with international scholars through conference attendances and presentations. Finally, yet importantly, I thank the University of Malawi for granting me a study leave so that I can pursue my studies at Stellenbosch University. I am highly thankful to both the Graduate School in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Partnership for Africa’s Next Generation of Academics (PANGeA) programme for awarding me a scholarship so that I can complete this project and, more crucially, for providing an enabling environment for me to study. Dr Cindy Lee Steenekamp and Ms Yolanda Johnson will remain the unsung heroes that made sure that I worried less and less about how I was going to survive in Stellenbosch. They were more of friends to me than managers of the entire Graduate School, because of the way they made it easy for me to always trust and want to speak with them wherever and whenever we met. Like Prof Musila, Dr Steenekamp became a friend I always run to whenever the going got tough, and she always made sure that I got out of her office with a feeling that nothing is impossible. There will always be good friends in one’s life. For me, Marciana Nafula Were, Kondwani Khonje and Mr Martin Nyirenda lived up to their calling as good friends. My research would have taken a different course if Nafula had not been present at the brainstorming sessions the vi Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za two of us had often, usually during our lunch breaks.
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