This book analyzes representations of mass violence in film and fiction about African, South American, and Asian genocides, from the points of view of the bystander and the survivor. It argues that in commercial film and fiction, metaphors and looks represent the violence and trauma indirectly, even when the representation is quite graphic; whereas in experimental novels and films, looks used to describe the violence are individualized or interactive. Both Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India and Deepa Mehta’s film Earth deal with the violence of the partition of India in 1947. While Cracking India educates us about the dangers of “the beast” (the violence), Earth shows us the impact the beast has on victims like the beautiful Ayah/nanny. Similarly, both Buchi Emecheta's novel Destination Biafra and Charles Enonchong's videos The Nigerian-Biafran War, Parts I, II & III, depict the Nigerian Civil War of 1966–69. Yet, while Emecheta’s metaphors of division and bestiality highlight the selfishness of politicians and the suffering of civilians like Debbie, looks exchanged by the survivors and the military in Enonchong’s videos highlight the tragic ways in which generals like Ojukwu betrayed and were betrayed. Metaphors and looks in Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits and Bille August’s movie, which is based on it, depict the terror of Pinochet’s 1973–89 dictatorship in Chile. Allende and August use metaphors and looks of sight and blindness to describe torture survivor Alba/Blanca’s trauma. Alba/Blanca re-tells the events of the past in order to survive. Photo journalist Alfredo Jaar’s photos and notes, Let There Be Light, and Terry George’s feature film Hotel Rwanda, both depict the Rwandan genocide of 1994, but their emphasis is on inability of the Western bystander/reader to hear or see the pain of the survivors. Accordingly, Jaar and George choose “dark” metaphors and looks to represent the violence, using diffuse lighting, fades, and absences to stand for the violence and trauma. Overall, representations of genocide that involve individualized metaphors and interactive looks are vitally important if the complexities of that violence are to be appreciated in the West.
Writing That Breaks Stones: African Child Soldier Narratives is a critical examination of six memoirs and six novels written by and about young adults from Africa who were once child soldiers. It analyzes not only how such narratives document the human rights violations experienced by these former child soldiers but also how they connect and disconnect from their readers in the global public sphere. It draws on existing literary scholarship about novels and memoirs as well as on the fieldwork conducted by social scientists about African children in combat situations. Writing That Breaks Stones groups the twelve narratives into categories and analyzes each segment, comparing individually written memoirs with those written collaboratively, and novels whose narratives are fragmented with those that depict surreal landscapes of misery. It concludes that the memoirs focus on a lone individual’s struggles in a hostile environment, and use repetition, logical contradictions, narrative breaks, and reversals of binaries in order to tell their stories. By contrast, the novels use narrative ambiguity, circularity, fragmentation, and notions of dystopia in ways that call attention to the child soldiers’ communities and environments. All twelve narratives depict the child soldier’s agency and culpability somewhat ambiguously, effectively reflecting the ethical dilemmas of African children in combat.
This book analyzes representations of mass violence in film and fiction about African, South American, and Asian genocides, from the points of view of the bystander and the survivor. It argues that in commercial film and fiction, metaphors and looks represent the violence and trauma indirectly, even when the representation is quite graphic; whereas in experimental novels and films, looks used to describe the violence are individualized or interactive. Both Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India and Deepa Mehta’s film Earth deal with the violence of the partition of India in 1947. While Cracking India educates us about the dangers of “the beast” (the violence), Earth shows us the impact the beast has on victims like the beautiful Ayah/nanny. Similarly, both Buchi Emecheta's novel Destination Biafra and Charles Enonchong's videos The Nigerian-Biafran War, Parts I, II & III, depict the Nigerian Civil War of 1966–69. Yet, while Emecheta’s metaphors of division and bestiality highlight the selfishness of politicians and the suffering of civilians like Debbie, looks exchanged by the survivors and the military in Enonchong’s videos highlight the tragic ways in which generals like Ojukwu betrayed and were betrayed. Metaphors and looks in Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits and Bille August’s movie, which is based on it, depict the terror of Pinochet’s 1973–89 dictatorship in Chile. Allende and August use metaphors and looks of sight and blindness to describe torture survivor Alba/Blanca’s trauma. Alba/Blanca re-tells the events of the past in order to survive. Photo journalist Alfredo Jaar’s photos and notes, Let There Be Light, and Terry George’s feature film Hotel Rwanda, both depict the Rwandan genocide of 1994, but their emphasis is on inability of the Western bystander/reader to hear or see the pain of the survivors. Accordingly, Jaar and George choose “dark” metaphors and looks to represent the violence, using diffuse lighting, fades, and absences to stand for the violence and trauma. Overall, representations of genocide that involve individualized metaphors and interactive looks are vitally important if the complexities of that violence are to be appreciated in the West.
Writing That Breaks Stones: African Child Soldier Narratives is a critical examination of six memoirs and six novels written by and about young adults from Africa who were once child soldiers. It analyzes not only how such narratives document the human rights violations experienced by these former child soldiers but also how they connect and disconnect from their readers in the global public sphere. It draws on existing literary scholarship about novels and memoirs as well as on the fieldwork conducted by social scientists about African children in combat situations. Writing That Breaks Stones groups the twelve narratives into categories and analyzes each segment, comparing individually written memoirs with those written collaboratively, and novels whose narratives are fragmented with those that depict surreal landscapes of misery. It concludes that the memoirs focus on a lone individual’s struggles in a hostile environment, and use repetition, logical contradictions, narrative breaks, and reversals of binaries in order to tell their stories. By contrast, the novels use narrative ambiguity, circularity, fragmentation, and notions of dystopia in ways that call attention to the child soldiers’ communities and environments. All twelve narratives depict the child soldier’s agency and culpability somewhat ambiguously, effectively reflecting the ethical dilemmas of African children in combat.
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