Postcolonial Violence, Culture and Identity in Francophone Africa and the Antilles ed. by Lorna Milne (review)

Book Reviews1 67 from their train of thought. Another essay reads as a cursory course description with little detail or background to flesh out the ideas for the curious reader. Happily, the majority of the essays are intriguing and inspiring in their examination of the pedagogical possibilities of the texts in question. As well, each of these essays provides excellent resources for finding available modem editions ofthe primary texts and helpful secondary sources. In conclusion this volume will prove valuable for anyone wishing to incorporate a variety of early modern religious texts by European women into an undergraduate course. Jolene Vos-CamyCalvin College Milne, Lorna, éd. Postcolonial Violence, Culture and Identity in Francophone Africa and the Antilles. Vol. 7, Series ed. Helen Chambers. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. Pp. 233. ISBN 978-3-03910. $79.95 (Paper). This volume offers a series of essays about violence in the francophone world and its artistic depiction. Following a helpful introduction by Loma Milne, Charles Forsdick's essay contributes insightful questions about the representation of colonial massacre in Africa. He advocates considering ethical questions when transforming massive slaughter into literary or cinematic works. Novelists, poets, and creative artists creatively sustain memory or provide impetus for more investigation. The essay discusses Sembene's film "Camp de Thiaroye" and its portrayal of massacre, in which the filmmaker takes the position of a postcolonial griot. The final section presents reflection on the massacre of unarmed North Africans who demonstrated in Paris on October 17, 1961. Roger Ravet reviews the work of Sony Labou Tansi who expresses his disillusionment and outrage against postcolonial order which cannot meet the challenges of independence. Tansi's work, La Vie et demie, offers images of an imaginary country where a sadistic, egocentric dictator engages in torture, cannibalism, and abominations to the extinction of its former civilization and identity. In this exposition of arbitrary, narcissistic, and reciprocal violence, Tansi seeks to provoke feelings of disgust against 'barbarism in all its possible guises' (67-8), and desire to preserve culture. Aedin Ni Loingsigh's essay about the Rwandan genocide, discusses the work of Véronique Tadjo in L'Ombre dimana. Tadjo's work takes us on a journey from Johannesburg to Kigali via Paris and Brussels. As a travel narrative, her work is written from an African perspective. Tadjo's work however does not privilege 'fact' over 'fiction'. Indeed, the lines between fact, fiction, truth, and untruth are deliberately blurred and exploited. As one reads testimonies, it becomes clear that truth is very often mixed with lies and ambiguities. Loingsigh sees in Tadjo's work a complex relationship between truth and untruth. Tadjo also highlights the failure of language to adequately 168Women in French Studies capture the essence of what happened. Her work preserves collective memory as an aesthetic quest. Jeanette den Toonder's essay covers Gil Courtemanche's novel, Un Dimanche à la piscine à Kigali. This novel is based on the Rwandan genocide and presents a critique of the passivity of Western forces in regard to the impending atrocities. Brutality is vividly described, as when "a long multicoloured ribbon of corpses" (1 16), is stretched along the avenue de la Justice. A native cameraman filming the bodies notices a woman who lifts "un bras fin vers l'homme comme pour demander de l'aide" (116). The cameraman's response is to put down his camera and rape the wounded woman. Such records ofbestiality leave the reader sickened and stunned. Anne Marie Miraglia's essay studies violence against women of the Maghreb. She also notes retribution against female writers who expose such situations. Misogynist violence is often hidden, yet routinely treats women as second-class citizens. Her essay reviews the novels Sans Voix and Le passé décomposé by Hafsa Zinai'-Koudil as well as Ombre Sultane by Assia Djebar. A curious cultural tradition in Muslim societies highlights how vulnerable women are. The concept of the "dormant child," allows the fetus to lie dormant in the womb, permitting a gestation of up to five years. Women may thus legitimize children carried after they are abandoned and divorced. In Andy Stafford's essay, we leam that photographs were viewed as instruments of violence in Maghreb societies...