From a death of self to a rebirth of community: Yolande Mukagasana’s ‘Connective’ testimonies in response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda

Abstract

Originally a nurse, Yolande Mukagasana became a survivor, author and playwright following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. La Mort ne veut pas de moi (Mukagasana and May 1997) and N’aie pas peur de savoir (Mukagasana and May 1999), her two autobiographical accounts written with Patrick May, articulate a breakdown in her physical, mental and emotional faculties, an inability to distinguish between self and other, and a death of self. Mukagasana gives an oral version of her testimony in Rwanda ’94. In this theatrical production, she conveys unspeakable elements of her experience – including a death of self – in a non-verbal manner, wherein her body language and position acquire their meaning in relation to others onstage. In Les Blessures du silence (Mukagasana and Kazinierakis 2001), Mukagasana’s experiences are also revealed and situated in relation to others through her interviews with ninety survivors and perpetrators in Rwanda. Overall, Mukagasana’s testimonies are interdependent, collaborative and dialogic. She employs other people’s voices and bodies to articulate her own experiences, and often communicates meaning through her position in relation to others. These ‘connective’ testimonies allow Mukagasana to compensate for a death of self and continue narrating even when she cannot speak in the first-person; they also allow her to rebuild social bonds and re-integrate into community.