“Like an object pushed from place to place” – resilience in the time of war and exile in "Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds" (2021) by Mondiant Dogon

Abstract

The article discusses the form and functions of Mondiant Dogon’s memoir "Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds: A Refugee’s Search for Home". After a short introduction on the position of the author/narrator/protagonist of the memoir as well as the trauma and grief of the genocide survivors, the analytic attention is directed to the memoir as a genre that enables personal testimony and the commemoration of the perished. Dogon’s memoir is also an act of resilience amidst the legal and psychological crisis of belonging (statelesness). As a genre where the personal becomes the public, the memoir participates in the formation of collective consciousness, shared values, and civic attitudes. The literary devices typical of the memoir enable the representation of individual traumatic experience in relation to its historical, cultural, and political conditions. In his personal narrative Dogon analyses cause and effect sequences, pinpoints the issues that demand intervention, and shows the direction of change.

Keywords

• memoir
• Rwanda genocide
• trauma
• testimony
• resilience
• Agaciro