Violence and its Linguistic Framing

An Exploration of Boubacar Boris Diop’s Murambi, The Book of Bones and Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them

Bibliographic Data

ID20156436
AuthorsAyobami O Onanuga (0000-0003-4873-4508, Obafemi Awolowo University, corresponding author), Ayobami Onanuga (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife)
Year2018
Volume34
Issue1
Pages21-37
Publication date2018-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387
PublisherUnisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.1080/02564718.2018.1447867
OpenAlexW2795455435
LanguageEN
References cited3

Several existing studies have investigated the aesthetics of genocide literature. However, there are few studies on genocide literatures from Nigeria especially as there is still a debate on what constitutes genocide in Nigerian literatures. A comparative study of genocide literature from Rwanda and the arguable genocide narratives from Nigeria will further the discourse of what constitutes genocide in Nigerian literature. This study delves into the examination of the use of violent language in Boubacar Boris Diop’s documentation of the Rwandan genocide in Murambi and Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them and how this replicates the genocide experiences in the two contexts. The study asserts that the convention of measuring and defining genocide based on the scale of killings subverts the reality of the victims of genocides. It further establishes that Akpan’s recreation of ethno-religious killings in Nigeria is in sync with the deployment of language in other established instances of genocide literature

Archaeology · Art · Criminology · Genocide · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

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