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AS}MKA
NUMBER 11(1)
JUNE 2021
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye (Ph.D.)
Editor: Prof. Mawuloe Koffi Kodah (Ph.D.)
Associate Editors: Dr Samuel Kwesi Nkansah
Dr Mrs. Theresa Addai Munumkum
Dr Isaac Mwinlaaru
Business Editor: Rev. Sr. Dr. Matilda Alice Nsiah
EDITORIAL STAFF
Mr. Stephen Owusu-Amoh
Mr. Isaac Kweku Grantson
EDITORIAL ADVISORS
Prof. Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang, University of Cape
Coast.
Prof. J. B. A. Afful, University of Cape Coast.
Prof. Richard V. Cudjoe, University of Cape Coast.
Prof. Victor K. Yankah, University of Cape Coast.
Dr Moussa Traore, University of Cape Coast.
THE BILINGUAL LITERARY JOURNAL OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
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Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
SUBSCRIPTION
Asεmka is published twice in the Academic year by the Faculty of Arts,
University of Cape Coast. The annual out-of-Ghana subscription rate,
including air-postage, is US$ 30 for individuals, and US$ 60 for institutions
and libraries. Single issue rate for individuals is US$ 20. Claims for copies not
received must be made within three (3) months following an issue‘s
publication. Correspondence should be addressed to:
The Editors, Asεmka
Department of French
Faculty of Arts
College of Humanities and Legal Studies
University of cape Coast
Cape Coast
Ghana, West Africa
Email: asemka@googlemail.com
ADVERTISING
Advertising rate, size specifications and related information are available upon
request. Please, contact the General Editor for more information.
SUBMISSIONS
Asεmka is an internationally-refereed journal of the Humanities. It publishes
scholarly and imaginative articles in Literature, Language, and Culture
generally, including, Orature, Film, Theatre, Music an Art; Essays, Interviews,
Book Reviews, Poetry, Short Prose Fiction and Drama are welcome.
Submitted manuscripts, in English and French, must be prepared in
accordance with the most recent of MLA style manual, where applicable. The
author‘s identity and address may appear only on the cover-page and nowhere
else within the submitted manuscript. All submissions should be submitted
electronically through:
asemka@googlemail.com
Manuscript will be duly acknowledged within two (2) months of receiving
them. Individuals whose works are accepted for publication may provide
Asεmka with a brief bio-data. The Editors cannot be held liable for lost or
damaged manuscripts. Material published by Asεmka does not necessarily
represent the views of the Journal‘s Editors, Staff, Financial Supporters or the
University of Cape Coast and its affiliates. These parties disavow any legal
responsibility related to all submitted material.
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Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
BACK ISSUES
Back issues of Asεmka that are in stock may be ordered from the Editor at $
20 per copy.
GRANT SUPPORT
Asεmka
is funded through grants from the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts;
the Publications‘ Board; and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of
Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
No part of this Journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without express permission from the
Editors, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical Articles and
Reviews.
Copyright ©2021 by The Editors and The Faculty of Arts,
University of Cape Coast.
The cover and page design elements were inspired by the Adinkra
symbols of Ghana.
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Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
AS}MKA
NUMBER 11(1)
JUNE 2021
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Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
CONTENTS
Editorial Committee
~ ~ ~ i
Editorial Staff
~ ~ ~ i
Editorial Advisors
~ ~ ~ i
Subscription
~ ~ ~ ii
Advertising
~ ~ ~ ii
Submissions
~ ~ ~ ii
Back Issues
~ ~ ~ iii
Grant Support
~ ~ ~ iii
Asεmka: Editorial
~ ~ ~ vii-ix
Articles
FIRST SECTION - FRENCH
Britwum, A. G.
Mariama Bâ/Ramatoulaye en un combat douteux dans
Une si longue lettre
~ ~ ~ 1 – 16
SECOND SECTION - ENGLISH
Nyatuame, P. N.
An ecocritical reading of Victor Yankah’s
The Pretty Trees of Gakwana
and
Sikaman
~ 18 – 33
Amissah-Arthur Woode, H.
Examining mothering: Race and abjection in Wilson’s
Our Nig
And Walker’s
The Color Purple
~ ~ 34 – 47
Awojobi, P. O.
The ministry of Moses Orimolade and the prophetic
tradition of Israel: An ecclesio-historical study ~ 48 – 63
Ofei, J. D. & Oppong-Adjei, D.
Sexual Identities in Africa: A queer reading of Chinelo
Okparanta’s
Under the Udala Trees
~ ~ 64 – 78
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Sam, C. A. & Nkansah, S. K.
Evidences of our inhumanity: Representations of evil and
the quest for postcolonial healing in Tadjo’s
The Shadows
of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
~ 79 – 93
Inusah, A-R.
Lundaa as speech surrogate of Dagbamba ~ ~ 94 – 122
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Asεmka No. 11(1) 2021
ASEMKA
:
EDITORIAL
The Number 11(1) June 2021 Edition of ASεMKA, The Bilingual Literary
Journal of the University of Cape Coast contains seven (7) papers centred on diverse
areas of teaching and research in the Humanities, spanning between themes in
Literature and Religion. This Edition contains only one (1) manuscript in
French. The remaining six (6) are in English. The papers span between
thematic areas in Literature and Religious Studies. The contributors are from
Ghana and Nigeria. These papers were taken through rigorous blind peer-
review processes and painstaking editorial work.
First Section
Britwum, A. G.’s paper titled, “Mariama Bâ/Ramatoulaye en un combat
douteux dans
Une si longue lettre »,
….
Second Section
Nyatuame, P. N.‘s paper titled ―An ecocritical reading of Victor Yankah’s
The Pretty Trees
of
Gakwana
and
Sikaman
‖ examines two plays of Victor
Yankah concepts within analytical framework of ecocriticism. It is a critical
assessment of Yankah‘s ecodrama in the light of ecocriticism, a field of literary
theory and criticism. It draws on the broader concepts and discourses of
ecocriticism and demonstrates how the playwright shares a symbiotic
relationship which has become a significant feature of the selected plays. This
is to emphasise Yankah‘s view and preoccupations about the mutual
relationship between the human other and nature - the natural world of
environment with the view to prove the playwright‘s concern about the
interference of human beings into the world of nature. A situation which
adversely results in the disruption of the symbiotic (human-nature)
relationship. The significance of the paper lends credence to ways in which
Yankah provokes environmental debate and a rethinking in African
playwrights concerning environmental issues to raise awareness and inspire
environmental consciousness and ecological sustainability among people in
Africa, Ghana in particular. The findings reveal both the epistemic and
retributive forces of nature as well as raising concerns about the environment,
ecological consciousness in advocating for ecological sustainability in modern
African theatre and dramatic literature scholarship. The paper offers insight
into and expand the frontiers of the discourse of ecocriticism in the global
south and adds to the relatively new and developing interest in environmental
discourses on the African continent and what they reveal about African
environmental consciousness and ecological dimensions.
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Amissah-Arthur, H. W.‘s paper, ―Examining mothering: Race and abjection
in Wilson’s
Our Nig
and Walker’s
The Color Purple
‖ analyses the concept
race and abjection in African-American women‘s writings. It specifically
emphasizes the idea of mothering during the freedom epoch of the African
Americans after slavery. The focus is on mother characters in the novels of
Wilson and Walker. The paper borders on some thematic components which
come together in unravelling the identities of both the mother characters and
their children when faced with issues of race and abjection.
Awojobi, P. O.‘s paper, ―The Ministry of Moses Orimolade and the
prophetic tradition of Israel: An ecclesio-historical study‖, examines the
minisrty of Moses Orimolade and the prophetic tradition of Israel from An
ecclesio-historical perspective. The thrust of his paper is to investigate the
origin, and the place of ecstatic prophecy in ancient Israel and its reflections in
Moses Orimolade‘s prophetic ministry in Nigeria. Historical method was used
for the research. It uses historicity and ecclesiology as conceptual framework
to contend that Israel‘s prophetic tradition started before Israel settled in
Canaan where she interacted with other nations. While it cannot be disputed
that Israel must have been influenced by the culture of its neighbours, there
were some elements in the religion that were peculiar to Israel. The study
concludes that Israelite prophetic heritage cannot be compared with the
divination in ancient Near East. There exist a parallel between ecstatic
prophetic ministry in ancient Israel and Moses Orimolade prophetic ministry
in Nigeria. The paper recommends that contemporary Prophets in Nigeria and
beyond must strive to fulfil divine mandate received by them at all cost.
Ofei, D. & Oppong Adjei, D.‘s paper titled, “Sexual Identities in Africa: A
Queer Reading of Chinelo Okparanta’s
Under the Udala Trees
” analyses
queer sexual identities in Okparanta‘s Under the Udala Trees. It draws on the
broader concept of queer analysis and demonstrates how Under the Udala Trees
uses its narrative to conceive space and language whose midpoint encompasses
literary innovations and the significance of some experiences of queer
individuals within an African setting. Ultimately, instead of simply emphasizing
these sexualities as alternative solutions in adverse conditions to some
individuals who cannot help being the way they are, the paper unravels the
literary merits such as shock, characterization and thematic values of queer
sexualities in Okparanta‘s Under the Udala Trees.
Sam, C. A.. & Nkansah, S. K‘s paper, ―Evidences of our Inhumanity:
Representations of Evil and the Quest for Postcolonial Healing in
Tadjo’s
The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
‖,
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explores the literary representations of evil in relation to the 1994 Genocide in
Rwanda while simultaneously looking at therapeutic strategies in healing the
wounds of the past as depicted in Veronique Tadjo‘s The Shadows of Imana:
Travels in the heart of Rwanda using Kant’s conceptions of evil and postcolonial
literary theory. The results of the analysis is that hatred, otherness, genocide
and remembrance constitute conversations for understanding travel writings
and historical violence.
Inusah, A-R.‘s paper, ―Lundaa as speech surrogate of Dagbamba‖
examines surrogate language in Dagbani, a Mabia language spoken in the
Northern Region of Ghana. The paper pays attention to its functions and its
transformation from traditional to the contemporary sociocultural issues.
Premised on participant-observation, the paper supports the multi-toned
language represented on a pressure drum capable of many pitches. It attests
that the lundaa ‗pressure drum‘ is a speech surrogate used among Dagbani
speakers. The lundaa has a wide distribution of functions but this paper is
focused on the core functions of drum language that include molo
‗announcement‘, salima ‘Panegyric‘,
ց
iŋ
ց
aani ‗invocation‘ and ŋaha ‗proverbs‘ as
examples of drum literature and transformation. The paper suggests that the
communication potential of the lundaa rhythms and its interpretation leads to
an understanding of the sociocultural life of the people.
Evidences of our inhumanity: Representations of evil
and the quest for postcolonial healing in Tadjo’s The
Shadows of Imana:
Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
Christabel Aba Sam
Uiniversity of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Christabel.sam@ucc.edu.gh
&
Samuel Kwesi Nkansah
Uiniversity of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
snkansah@ucc.edu.gh
―We must acknowledge the existence of evil. We must exorcise it through
justice, through an attempt at true justice‖
Veronique Tadjo (The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda).
Abstract
In spite of Tadjo‘s evident references to the concept of evil and its
ramifications in post-genocide Rwanda, it still remains peripheral in the
literature. This gap distorts our understanding of traumatogenic experiences
and the diagnostics that is required. Drawing on Immanuel Kant‘s conceptions
of evil and postcolonial literary theory, this paper explores the literary
representations of evil in relation to the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda while
simultaneously looking at therapeutic strategies in healing the wounds of the
past as depicted in Veronique Tadjo‘s The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the heart of
Rwanda. Such a reading, as the paper argues, creates new conversations for
understanding travel writings and historical violence.
Keywords: Evil; Healing; Kant; Rwanda; Tadjo; Trauma.
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The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
Introduction
The story of black primitivity has usually been conceived from the angle of the
colonial account – tabling the prevalent dangers in Africa; where the African
continent had become an epitome of distressing realities. Tadjo‘s The Shadows of
Imama: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda, though not written to cast yet another
destructive glance at Africa, promotes an appreciation of rethinking historical
violence and the need for redemption. Her motivation, which was born out of
the desire to exorcise Rwanda stimulates discussions about Rwanda‘s healing
after the genocide and the liberation of Africa. Critical commentary on Tadjo‘s
novel has focused on women‘s testimonial literature -how Rwandan women
genocide survivors respond to and communicate such traumatic experiences
and the necessity of developing alternative ways of dealing with the diversity of
Rwandan women experiences (Gilbert, 2013; Magnarella, 2001). Others have
also looked at contemporary representations of memories, collective
memories, violence and genocide in transnational literatures (Nanar, 2018;
Ayala, 2018; Karin, 2010), political crisis in Africa, war, homo religiousus and
literary representations of trauma (Glover, 2011; Benon & Sewpaul,2007;
Traore & Segtub, 2016; Muvuti, 2018) and the relationship between genocide,
biopolitics and futurity (West-Pavlov, 2014). While these readings are
particularly useful in terms of the ways in which the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
becomes cardinal in framing discourses on historical violence and its
aftermath, these critical readings surprisingly ignore the centrality of evil as the
locus for rethinking Rwanda. Such a reading is crucial as it provides an
understanding of the place of evil in the Rwandan genocide and how a careful
assessment of its operations provokes a sensitive desire for postcolonial
healing. Thus, our purpose in this paper is to examine the literary
representations of evil and the therapeutic strategies of healing the wounds of
the past in Tadjo‘s novel. Tadjo‘s travelogue recreates the horrors of the
massacre through her interaction with some of the survivors of this tragedy.
The divide between the two main ethnic groups – the Hutus and the Tutsis –
who co-existed peacefully before their colonial masters‘ mastermind the
tension that led to the genocide. Her journalistic perspective signals the quest
for ethnic cleansing and the desire for a new state of affairs.
The qualitative approach is adopted in this paper. This paper is literary
and it involves a re-reading of Tadjo‘s travelogue with library search support.
The analysis in this paper is informed by the postcolonial literary theories and
Kant‘s conception of evil. The content of this paper is divided into five
parts. We set the tone of our discussion by looking at the climate of political
crisis in Africa and how the idea of Rwanda reiterates the hegemony of
colonialism. The second part of this paper examines Immanuel Kant‘s
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Sam, C. A. & Nkansah, S. K.
conceptualization of evil with the intention of understanding Tadjo‘s account
of factors leading to the genocide. The third and fourth sections are dedicated
to discussing the literary representations of evil in Tadjo‘s The Shadows of Imana:
Travels in the Heart of Rwanda and how these representations provide a therapy
for the survivors of the genocide. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief
summary of the main arguments of the paper.
Political Crisis and the Idea of Rwanda
Africa in the 21st century has become synonymous with political crisis. Part of
this misfortune is as a result of the disillusionment that has come to
characterize the foundations of independence and freedom. Africa‘s response
to the inhumane colonial project has become a laughable enterprise since it has
only degenerated into a second epoch of colonialism. The focus for the
struggle for independence: to de-affirm the hegemonic connotations of
governance; to empower marginalized groups and to emphasize and validate
the unique cultural experiences of the Africa has suffered grave despair (Pham,
2006). Indeed, in the last two decades, the political terrain in Africa has been
polarized with the enduring dialectics of political change-overs and the
persistence to weaken the vestiges of colonialism. While there is hope in terms
of reconstructing the Africa‘s political vision, Alemazung (2010) in Post-Colonial
Colonialism: An Analysis of International Factors and Actors Marring African Socio-
Economic and Political Development, argues that Africa‘s failure is greatly
compounded by international factors – the indirect impacts the West has on
the political, social, economic and cultural life of ex-colonial societies and the
legacy of ethnic rivalry. According to Shillington (1989, p. 356) as cited in
Alemazung (2010): ―the colonial masters emphasized the distinctions between
the different ethnic groups, thereby strengthening tribal differences and
rivalries between these groups and preventing them from forming a united
opposition against the colonizers.‖ (p. 65).
Although colonialism cannot be solely responsible for ethnic divisions,
there is no doubt that ethnic division is an antecedent to countless politically
unstable states – Ghana‘s Kokumbas and Nanumba strife in the 1990‘s and the
conflict between the southern Igbo and the northern Hausa in the Biafra War
cannot ignore our attention. One of the worst examples of colonial founded
ethnic rivalry and consequential conflicts is the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda
which was characterized by the real killing of the Tutsi and moderate Hutu
races in the country. Alemazung observes that:
the Belgians created differences between Tutsis and Hutus
which did not exist before their arrival. These differences went
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The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
as far as creating identity cards for Tutsi minorities illustrating
their superiority over Hutus and giving them the leadership
positions in the country. The result was hatred and the
nurturing of feelings of revenge by the Hutu‘s, which ended in
the 1994 genocide which saw the slaughtering of over 800,000
Rwandans within a period of four months. (p. 66)
Thus, the genocide occurred within the context of a plotted conflict with
the deliberate intention of inflicting pain to a group of people - a crime that is
aimed at causing serious physical and mental injury to members of this group.
Tadjo corroborates this assertion in her account when she records that: ―But
the massacres were without a shadow of doubt the result of the political
maneuverings of the elite, who, in order to retain power, created a climate of
hatred and division by urging the ethnic majority against the minority.‖ (p. 33)
Tadjo adds that:
By mobilizing fear and hatred against the Tutsis, the organizers
hoped to forge a kind of solidarity among the Hutus. But
beyond that, they intended to build a collective responsibility
for the genocide. People were encouraged to involve
themselves in group killing, like soldiers in a firing squad who
all receive the order to fire at the same instant, so that no
individual can be held separately accountable or solely
responsible for the execution. No person killed another person
single-handed, declared one of those who participated. (p. 84)
The burden of the genocide becomes an organized crime. A crime that
was pre-conceived in ways that makes both the colonized and the colonizer
culpable despite the imbalance in teamwork. The comparison between the
encouraged group killings and soldiers receiving orders to shoot in a firing
squad strengthens the notion of collaboration as far as the genocide is
concerned. Thus, the idea of Rwanda divulges issues of fear, hatred,
transgression and the psychological burden of revenge – a place of radical
harm. Tadjo‘s account of the Rwandan experience – drawing attention to the
intrinsic cruelties of the massacre and the devastating effects - is carefully
represented through the complex paradigms of good and evil. Drawing on
Mark‘s gospel chapter seven verses 21, she admits that:
For from within out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts.
Evil has always existed at the heart‘s core. It is the fire of moral
decay burning dully like eternally glowing embers. It is the
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Sam, C. A. & Nkansah, S. K.
moral decay of a human being devouring his own kind,
devouring his own flesh.
But Good has not disappeared, has not been buried in the mass
graves (pp. 115-116)
For Tadjo, the genocide is a signification of the moral decay that has
engrossed Africa. That at the heart of evil, is man‘s inability to rescind any
desire that has the potential of wrecking the bonds of community; the
accumulation of violence, the inability to decline the obligation of instigating
terror and the desire to ignore another‘s legitimacy of being. Although Tadjo
does not appear to discount the possibility of goodness – the hope of
restoration in Rwanda, she acknowledges the strategic nature of evil in
maneuvering peace and stability. While she calls for caution in terms of
arresting and dealing with the triggers of violence, she recognizes the enigma
that defines its origins. Thus, the idea of Rwanda comes close to reinforcing
the colonial image of Africa as a danger zone demonstrated through the
massacre. This idea also brings back the thought of the kind of political culture
that has resulted from colonialism and its successors: neo-colonialism and
globalization.
Kant and the anatomy of evil
The term evil is typically used as the basic opposite of good. Evil can also be
thought of as the reverse of good or the absence of good. Thus, often than
not, evil becomes the antithesis of good. Though these suppositions appear
generalized, we can entertain the complexities of wrongdoings as primary to
our understanding of the concept of evil. While the topic of evil in itself
dissuades a sustained intellectual debate, some scholars have attempted an
interpretation of what it is from psychotherapeutic perspectives to the religious
domain.
In Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Kant has a discussion of the
radical evil in human nature. He claims that:
By propensity (propensio) I understand the subjective ground
of the possibility of an inclination (habitual desire,
concupiscentia), insofar as this possibility is contingent for
humanity in general. It is distinguished from a predisposition in
that a propensity can indeed be innate yet may be represented
as not being as such: it can rather be thought of (if it is good) as
acquired, or (if evil) as brought by the human being upon
himself. – Here, however, we are only talking of a propensity to
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The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
genuine evil, i.e. moral evil, which, since it is only possible as
the determination of a free power of choice … must reside in
the subjective ground of the possibility of the deviation of the
maxims from the moral law… [T]he will‘s capacity or incapacity
arising from this natural propensity to adopt or not adopt the
moral law in its maxims can be called the good or evil heart.
(Rel, 6: 29)
For Kant, evil resides in a voluntary act of wrongdoings. It does not
erupt out of external coercion and consequently, that it holds a revolutionary
potential in negatively re-organizing spaces. Characteristically, Kant‘s
conception of evil rests on three assumptions: that evil constitutes the
underlying disposition of the human will; that evil is motivated by the
preeminence of the principle of self-love; and finally, that all human beings are
inclined to evil, even the best. What Kant tries to suggest is that, evil cannot
thrive without endorsement and that it is nurtured as a matter of choice. This
election by the individual to voluntarily behave in contravention to an
established order is driven by a self-centered desire that refuses to recognize
ethical restrictions. Thus, evil may be conceptualized within the context of
egocentrism and the fallacy of reasoning. Singer (2004) however contends that
Kant‘s conceptions of evil in human nature as the will or disposition or
propensity to act on maxims contrary to the moral law is neither universal nor
necessary. This is because according to Singer, not all maxims that are
wrong—may be contrary to the moral law and therefore may not be evil, nor is
the will to act on such a maxim necessarily an evil will. In his conceptions of
evil, he postulates that:
And the concept, in my conception of it, applies primarily to
persons and organizations, secondarily to conduct and
practices. Evil deeds must flow from evil motives, the volition
to do something evil, by which I mean something horrendously
bad. (p. 190)
While the two appear to disagree on the basis of judgmental inferences,
they both agree that evil will develop if exposed to the right triggers. Thus, evil
takes up the nature of something beyond the ordinary bad. Stein (2005) also
makes a distinction between self-deception and self-love as advocated by Kant
and he argues that evil thrives as a result of the upsurge of violent impulse
which is usually borne out of sadistic tendencies. Although Stein‘s work is not
a direct criticism on Kant, they both draw attention to the role of the self in
initiating evil. In Can Kant’s Theory of Radical Evil be Saved? Goldberg (2017)
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Sam, C. A. & Nkansah, S. K.
assesses three contemporary criticisms levelled at Kant‘s theory in order to
make an argument in his favour. He identifies three schools of thought: the
first school claim that Kant‘s theory cannot adequately account for morally
worse acts since he simply conflates evil with mundane acts of wrongdoings.
The second group are also of the view that Kant ignores the polymorphic
quality of evil by emphasizing self-love over moral law as the cause of evil and
finally, that Kant fails to pay attention to the conditions of the victims by
simply defining evil only in terms of ‗perpetrator‘s quality of will‘. Arguing in
favour of Kant, Goldberg contends that Kant‘s theory of evil has the
conceptual tools that sufficiently accounts for these criticisms. Particularly,
Goldberg argues that self-love is the root of all non-moral incentives and
therefore has implications for the worse kind of moral acts. Drawing on Kant,
despite the intellectual debate about his conceptions of radical evil and in
unison with Goldberg, we operationalize the term evil to include acts or
actions that are cruelly intended to cause terror and pain. By evil, we mean
mundane acts and actions that lead to disorientation, disintegration and
disorganization of whose aggregate is traumatic to the other.
Representations of evil in Tadjo’s Travelogue
Hatred is evil
Reading Tadjo‘s novel, we find that evil has a polymorphic character and it is
irreducible to a single form. Drawing on the Genesis account of the creation
story, Tadjo draws attention to the age living existence of evil:
The concept of Evil existed even before the first sparks of
sunlight, before the earth and the sky came together, and before
the waters gave birth to the enormous womb of the oceans.
‗Evil existed long before the breath of life, long before the
presence of gods on earth (p. 116).
Tadjo calls attention to the fact that Rwanda was not without evil before
the massacre. According to her travelogue, Rwanda was covered with darkness
just like the earth was formless and empty with darkness covering its surface at
the beginning of creation (Gen. 1:3). This darkness as she notes is embodied in
the mechanisms of hatred, the deeds that put seal on treason (p. 118) and the
ethnic rivalry that defined the relationship between the Hutus and Tutsis. In
other words, for Tadjo, Rwanda was already living in a climate of danger on
whose foundations Belgium took advantage. As she observes: ―Hatred lies
dormant in us all. What most torments us is that unpredictable feeling in our
hearts which can awaken and tip us into a parallel universe.‖ (p. 116)
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Evidences of our inhumanity: Representations of evil and the quest for postcolonial healing in Tadjo’s
The Shadows of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda
The nature of hatred, as Tadjo describes it, is the motivation for violence. It is
not of the intolerance and the indifference that had framed the ethnic rivalry in
Rwanda. While she recognizes the chameleon quality of hatred, Tadjo
contends that hatred produces a self-other binary similar to the divide and rule
tactics of the colonial governments – something that leads to tribalism and
racial discrimination.
The Other /Othering as Evil
The concept of the Other as put forward by postcolonial critics signifies that
which is fundamentally different. The Other is usually treated as "mere object"
and this objectification depicts the inability or refusal of the
‗accepted/dominant‘ group to consider the other as a "subject‖ or as part of
one's community. The other is considered passive and receptive and lacks
agency (Fanon, 1961). These perceptions influence the dominant group to
deny the other‘s actual existence. The Other is consequently treated in a way
that is detached from the actual and the real and thus highlighting the
distinction between the other and the dominant group. Othering is therefore a
conscious process of discriminating and devaluing the worth of a minority
group. In Tadjo‘s travelogue, there are two dimensions of othering - the first
dimension involves power dynamics and the second looks at constructing the
‗other‘ as ‗pathological and morally inferior‘. Tadjo‘s travelogue reveals the
cracks brought about by the division and imbalance of power. The Hutu
majority and Tutsi minority had lived in peaceful coexistence in precolonial
Rwanda but this unity was disturbed when, after colonial rule, the colonial
administration had failed to lay down succession plans. When the Hutu
occupied the high positions in government, the Tutsis were relegated to the
background and this power dynamics, according to Jensen, is the first
dimension in the othering process. The ethnic other as a result is discarded as
inferior and pathological. The Tutsis were slurred and the term ‗cockroaches‘
became a discourse of abuse. In no time, what started as a feud between two
ethnic groups escalated quickly into a genocide with lots of death and painful
scars.
―Nyamata Church. Site of genocide. Plus, or minus 35,000
dead.
A woman bound hand and foot. Mukandori. Aged twenty five.
Exhumed in 1997. Home: the town of Nyamata. Married.
Any children?‖ (p.11).
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The hatred and marginalization of the ‗other‘ had grown so much that
there were no hiding places for the ethnic other (Tutsis). As seen in the
excerpt above, people were hunted and killed mercilessly. Those who were
survivors were victims of rape (like Nelly). Sympathizers of the ethnic other
also found themselves to be at risk of the persecution and killing; even
churches became killing grounds. Tadjo appears to suggest that such deliberate
marginalization constitute the precipitant for the ethnic tensions in Rwanda
and consequently the genocide. She observes that:
I am afraid when, in my country, I hear people talk of who
belongs there and who doesn‘t. creating division. Creating
foreigners. Inventing the idea of rejection. How is ethnic
identity learned? Where does this fear of the Other comes
from, bringing violence in its wake? (p. 37)
The idea of the Other is thus inimical and an apparent potential of
eroding the valued communal life of the African. It is also important to note
that the Ten Commandments is a strong statement that entrenches the
otherness of the Tutsis. Indeed, the differentiation between the Tutsis and
Hutus is an open acknowledgement of the wrongs and hostilities that edged
the genocide. The attempt by the Habyarimana regime to establish a Hutu-
dominated front was simply a move to create a political climate that will be
detrimental to the Tutsis and therefore heightening ethnic polarization.
Othering becomes the genesis of and Rwanda‘s evil. Part of Tadjo‘s
commitment in this travel narrative is to draw attention to the need for cultural
integration, creating right relationships and rectifying the wrongs of Othering.
Genocide is evil
Another important face of evil that Tadjo identifies is the evil of the Genocide.
Genocide is Evil incarnate. Its reality exceeds any fiction. (…)
Emotions can help us to understand what the genocide actually
was. Silence is the worst thing of all. We must destroy
indifference. We must understand the real meaning of the
genocide, the accumulation of violence over the years. (pp. 26-
27)
By conferring a bodily form unto the genocide, Tadjo acknowledges the
genocide as an obvious touchable crime and a personified chief villain. Calling
attention to the accumulation of violence and the silences of the marginalized
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as the pioneers of this evil, she draws attention to the dangers of othering;
warning against a continued suppression of the freedom of minority groups
and alerting us of the possible traumatic productions that may arise. Thus,
Tadjo calls for an ethical responsibility to ensure the politics of recognition
and upholding the realities of individual and collective experiences. In Singer‘s
words: ― It is evil to torture someone for pleasure‘; ‗The Holocaust was evil‘;
‗Genocide is evil‘; ‗Slavery is evil‘; ‗Racism is evil‘; Hitler was evil‘. These
statements all make sense, and they are all true.‖ (p. 190).
What is significant from Singer‘s observation is the parallel between the
present and the past. He tries to suggest that genocide like slavery and racism
is pervasive, that they are new forms of colonial warfare that continue to shape
present day experiences. This tendency of violence-chain is what Tadjo
cautions against - that new forms of inequalities potentially recovers the
memory of the wounds of the past and re-create an enigma of otherness.
Akin to the role played by political and ethnic polarization as the
defining factors leading to the genocide, Tadjo observes that the real meaning
of the genocide is a burning willingness to vent at the slightest provocation – a
desire that is borne out of a hurtful frustration of endemic discrimination, an
expression of pain and an outpouring of resentments.
Remembrance triggers evil
While Tadjo pays attention to the fracturing of self as a traumatic experience,
she appears to conflate remembrance with evil:
He talks, knowing that our imagination will never be able to get
anywhere close to the reality. Deep down, he does not understand
why we are coming to stir up Evil {Emphasis is mine}. Perhaps in
the end all this will turn against him as he guards the evidence of
our inhumanity. He cannot understand what we have come here
to seek, what is concealed in our hearts. What hidden motive
drives us to gaze wide-eyed at death distorted by hatred? (p.15)
In Remembering War: The Great War Between Historical Memory and History in
the Twentieth Century, Winter (2006) asserts that the act of ‗remembrance is
always defined by its specificity – who, why and where – a symbolic exchange
between those who remain and those who suffered or died‘. In other words,
by remembrance there is a retrieval of past knowledge which succeeds in
drawing a distinction between humanity and viciousness. The victim in the
above interaction finds the process of recollection as reviving experiences of
bereavement – an act that complicate the state of endangerment and
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vulnerability of survivors. Thus, by his seeming hesitation, the victim refuses
to trigger horrific memories and the frailties of humanity. The 100 days of
torture, man‘s slaughter, mortal losses, particularly of children and infants, the
silences and anguish of mothers and the invisible suffering of the raped can
only be consciously buried in the archives with little success. The story of the
Zairean woman who looked like a Tutsi – a woman who had to look on as her
baby was slaughtered like a fowl and the woman who suffered not just the
brutish scolding of the penis but was horrendously violated by a pickaxe
cannot stand the recovery of such experiences from the genocide archives.
This presumes that inherent in remembrance is witnessing to the failed
humanitarian agency that is required in prefiguring the future terrain in
Rwanda. Tadjo‘s attempt at fluxing remembrance to evil is justified since it
leads to a disorientation of an already unstable groups. The aftermath of the
genocide as Dupont & Scheibe (nd) captures as:
One of the worst in the history of humankind. Within a period of
less than three months. at least 500,000 people were killed:
thousands and thousands were maimed, raped and both physically
and psychologically afflicted for life; two million fled to
neighboring countries: and one million became internally displaced
(p. 52).
The physical and psychological affliction of the genocide has left behind a
perpetual climate of fear and terror that complicate the dialectics of
remembrance. Despite the obvious complications she acknowledges, Tadjo
also recognizes the therapeutic function of remembrance. She appears to
suggest that although remembrance is a tribute to evil, it relieves the pain of
memory by neutralizing the desire for revenge:
To disarm our urges for death, we must recognize within
ourselves the fears that drive us. We must draw the sting from
the wounds of the past, our own wounds and those that others
have inflicted upon us, those we have inherited from our parents
and those we might pass on to our children. The wounds buried
deep in our hearts. (p. 116)
The Quest for Postcolonial Healing
One of the key commitments of the postcolonial critic is not simply to
comment on the effects of the imperial process of colonialism. Rather, the
postcolonial critic is much interested in assessing the possibility of healing and
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alternative ways of deconstructing oppressive paradigms. Tadjo‘s need to
exorcise Rwanda is quite crucial in terms of the ways in which it intends to
proffer options, probing into the necessity of healing and helping to reveal the
deep-seated ethnic polarization between the Tutsis and the Hutus. She
identifies the essence of recognizing the necessity of difference, strong
institutions, justice and national reconciliation as key to the healing and
recovery of Rwanda: ―How can we ensure that this never happens again? What
is needed are strong institutions, justice and national reconciliation (…). What
we have to understand is the absolute necessity of difference. The necessity of
difference (pp. 23 & 26).‖ The genesis of the genocide gives credence to the
call for recognizing the necessity of difference. Tadjo appears to contend that
the physical fear of the Other is contagious. It is an obvious bane to Africa‘s
communal vision and that a careful assessment of the Rwandan crisis must
lead to a conscious political re-awakening of colonial subjects to embrace
cohesive structures that will hasten the journey into the future. Drawing
attention to the cruelty in the persecution of the Tutsis, Tadjo appears to
suggest that Africa may continue to be handicapped should there be an
internal scramble for identity. She further stresses this need through a careful
juxtaposition of the post-apartheid conditions in South Africa to the climate of
betrayal in Rwanda in order to show the dangers of marginalization.
While she condemns the practice of discrimination as the birth of the
hatred that led to the genocide, Tadjo seems to acknowledge the complicity of
state institutions in the Rwandan crisis. One of the key institutions that cannot
escape our interrogation is the role played by the media. The suspicion that
characterized the reportage on the genocide clearly indicates the role of
external influences in the massacre. Again, the church as the site of the
genocide remains a historical proof of the ambivalences that shaped the
colonial project and the dynamics of slavery. Muvuti (2018) affirms the fact
that:
The advent of Christianity and Islam on the back of conquest
and mission brought about more than a simple superimposition
of the colonial religion over the African, it effectively led to the
systematic scrambling, confusion and re-writing of homo
religious in the African context. It destabilized the very
foundations of the African interpretation and representation of
meaning and existence (p. 36).
Indeed, the crux of Africa‘s crisis cannot be disconnected from the
failures of religion which is why the possibility of forgiveness appears unlikely.
What is yet to be resolved as Tadjo assesses is to pay attention to the
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relationship between forgiveness and remembrance; how historical anger can
be dealt with amidst the recurrence of injustices? In No Future Without
Forgiveness, Tutu (1999) asserts that:
Now we don't have to be too smart to think what horrors
would have befallen our land had Madiba advocated revenge
instead of forgiveness, retribution instead of reconciliation,
peace instead of continued hostility and the armed struggle-
there would have been no future. Our land would have lain in
dust and ashes.
Although Tutu‘s observation is premised on South Africa‘s
circumstance, it affirms Tadjo‘s convictions of reclaiming Rwanda as a site of
horror. The binary oppositions of revenge and forgiveness; of retribution and
reconciliation; of peace and hostilities clearly show the implications of the
choices available to Rwanda. Thus, Rwanda‘s redemption is carefully located
within the utility of forgiveness. So that, Rwanda can be weaned from the
pessimism of hope that has engulfed their men and women. The birth of a
new future, as Tadjo envisions, is dependent on the attempts to guard against
the desire for vengeance and the perpetual cycle of violence and reprisals (p.
47).
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper has been to demonstrate that key to understanding
Tadjo‘s commitment in her travelogue is a sustained engagement with her
evident references to the concept of evil. We have shown that an
understanding of what constitute evil is in itself a diagnostic to the
traumatogenic experience in Rwanda. We have successfully outlined the
representations of evil - paying attention to how Kant becomes a useful
resource in understanding the symbolic constitution of evil - and how evil
frames the failures of humanity. While at this, the content of this paper has
also shown that Rwanda‘s recovery is dependent on letting go of any rights to
retaliation, avoiding collateral acts of violence and utilizing forgiveness as an
essential for a new beginning. Further studies may be required to pay attention
to how other African writers re-conceptualize evil to reflect the unique
experiences of postcolonial subjects.
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