Life Laid Bare
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Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak
Contents |
Background
French reporter and journalist Jean Hatzfeld wrote Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak in order to share the narratives of survivors of the Rwanda genocide with a public audience. He does not seek to add to the “stack of documents, inquires, and novels” which have already been published but instead strives to present “astonishing stories” of survivors.(1) The book features fourteen narrators whose stories are presented in length without interviewer interruption. Prior to each narrative, Hatzfeld introduces the survivor and describes the setting and circumstance under which the interview took place. He uses vivid description to take the mind of the reader to rural Rwandan communities.
Methods
Hatzfeld conducted interviews over repeat visits to communities in Nyamata. He was able to contact survivors through Sylvie Umubyeyi, a regional social worker helping orphaned children find housing, healthcare, and education. In the course of her work, she makes very intimate and personal connections with survivors. Hatzfeld credits his ability to build some trust with survivors by staying in Nyamata for several months and returning often. While in the town, Hatzfeld joined community members at taverns, soccer matches, and festivals. He used a tape recorder to record each interview and then transcribed each interview. What was does with these transcriptions is not mentioned.
Themes
The narratives of the survivors focus on four major themes: the rhythm of life before the genocide, the genocidal events of 1994, post- genocide life for survivors, and the reflections and memories of the genocide. Hatzfeld does not include his exact questions but this pattern of themes develops within the fourteen testimonies. The survivors share horrific experience and their struggles with grief, anger, and profound loss. They also explore the impact that the genocidal trauma has had on the collective community: many survivors point out that they can only talk amongst themselves and when they do, it is often about the same memories and events. The inclusion of fourteen different narratives provides a glimpse at the similarities and variations in survivor experience. Hatzfeld does an excellent job in raising reader awareness that survivors are not static individuals but persons who continue to experience, engage, and reflect on the events of the genocide in 1994. In his introduction Hatzfeld comments that some Tutsi feel unable to talk and other feel compelled to speak. While he does not outright speak to these differences, Hatzfeld is validating the differences in survivor reaction.
Source
1. Jean. Hatzfeld, Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak, trans. by Linda Coverdale, (New York: Other Press, 2006): 5.
One Hundred Days of Silence: America and the Rwanda Genocide
