Translating the unspeakable: an analysis of the language used to speak of the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda

Abstract

My thesis focuses on the language used to speak of the 1994 Tutsi genocide in the three official languages of Rwanda: Kinyarwanda, French and English. The genocide has had profound and ongoing social, political and judicial repercussions both within Rwanda and throughout the international community. Much of the primary data concerning the genocide has come from testimonies given by Rwandans speaking in their mother tongue, Kinyarwanda. This information is therefore only accessible to international scholars and to the broader community in translation. The difficulties inherent in finding words to convey experiences that could indeed be deemed “unspeakable”, coupled with the impact of instances of mistranslation or distortion associated with the translation process from one language to another are issues that have so far attracted only limited attention in the critical studies published on the genocide. The first half of my thesis explores the core terminology and rhetorical strategies used by Rwandans and members of the international community to evoke the notion of genocide targeting the Tutsi ethnic group before, during and after the events of 1994. The second half of the thesis focuses on translating and interpreting issues encountered in the proceedings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Within this legal framework, the testimonies of the accused, their target victims and witnesses constitute a valuable corpus of documentation for analysing the terminology and narrative strategies used to speak of the genocide. At the same time, the official translations of these testimonies undertaken by the ICTR provide a valuable insight into the way the external perceptions of the genocide can be influenced by the linguistic choices of translators and interpreters.