Surviving memories of the "Final Solution": Reflections inspired by "The barefoot woman" by Scholastique Mukasonga

Abstract

Understanding tragedies such as the one that took place in Rwanda in 1994 requires a close look at what the Western world has done to Africa in both practical and theoretical terms. In that year, nearly 1 Million Rwandans were brutally murdered in the fratricidal conflict between the tutsis and hutus. Disputes between such groups had already been writing the country’s bloody History and the world failed to avoid the so called “final solution” perpetrated against the tutsis. In “A Mulher de Pés Descalços” (2017), Rwandan writer Scholastique Mukasonga uses art to work through the deep pain she carries. The author’s memories underpin the story that portrays her family’s life in exile in Bugesera, a district of Rwanda. The work centers on her mother and aims to perpetuate memories of a population doomed to such a tragic destiny. The author notably brings up details of the life of someone that, besides being tutsi, is also a woman. In the lines written by Mukasonga there is a critical eye at colonization and its perverse consequences. Inspired by this reading, I sought to understand how the historical processes that subjugated the African continent not only made Rwandan genocide a foretold tragedy, but also created a racist logic that persists and allowed the world to remain still in face of what was happening in Rwanda.