She who remembers: Gendered trauma as survival and resistance in Scholastique Mukasonga’s writing

This study investigates how Scholastique Mukasonga’s fiction articulates gendered trauma not merely as a psychological or historical condition but as a multifaceted narrative of survival, resistance, and cultural resilience. The purpose of the research is to explore the representation of gendered trauma in her works, focusing on how women, as central characters, endure and respond to the devastation of violence, forced displacement, and profound personal loss. Through a feminist trauma lens, the study employs Judith Herman’s theory of trauma and Marianne Hirsch’s notion of postmemory to analyze how the narratives embody both personal and collective memory. Methodologically, the research offers a close textual analysis of Mukasonga’s selected works, with attention to the ways in which silence, memory, rituals, and the mother-child bond are employed as coping strategies by female characters. It further investigates how oral tradition, cultural memory, and inherited rituals become tools of both resistance and recovery. The findings reveal that Mukasonga’s narrative strategies reclaim women’s agency and voice in the aftermath of historical atrocities, portraying them not solely as victims but as active participants in cultural preservation and healing. This study contributes to trauma studies by expanding its scope through a postcolonial and gendered perspective, highlighting how literature serves as a space to record, transmit, and transform collective trauma. Ultimately, Mukasonga’s fiction becomes a powerful literary intervention that safeguards erased histories and affirms the resilience embedded in Rwandan women’s lived experiences.