The Role of Women: Resilience and Resistance in the Select Works of Scholastique Mukasonga
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55578/jlcas.2603.004Keywords:
Postcolonial Feminism, Women’s Resilience, Cultural Memory, Trauma Narratives, Feminist Resistance, Cultural PreservationAbstract
The Rwandan Genocide remains one of the most devastating events in modern history, profoundly affecting Rwanda’s social structures and collective memory. In the aftermath of this tragedy, women emerged as central agents of survival, reconstruction, and cultural preservation. This study examines the representation of women’s resilience and resistance in the selected works of Scholastique Mukasonga, focusing on Our Lady of the Nile (2014), The Barefoot Woman (2018), Cockroaches (2016), and Kibogo (2021). Grounded in postcolonial feminist theory and trauma studies, the research employs qualitative textual analysis to explore how Mukasonga portrays female characters navigating violence, displacement, and cultural disruption. The study argues that Mukasonga’s narratives reposition Rwandan women not merely as victims of genocide but as active agents of resilience, memory, and cultural continuity. Through storytelling, maternal knowledge, and communal solidarity, women in these narratives preserve indigenous traditions and challenge colonial and patriarchal structures that historically marginalized their voices. Furthermore, Mukasonga’s works reveal how literature functions as a site of cultural remembrance and resistance, enabling the reconstruction of suppressed histories and identities. By foregrounding women’s experiences, the study contributes to broader scholarly discussions on gender, trauma, and post-genocide memory within African and postcolonial literary studies. Ultimately, the research demonstrates that Mukasonga’s literary representations transform narratives of suffering into narratives of endurance, cultural survival, and feminist resistance.
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