Tell the present, mourn the past: the rwandan genocide in Scholastique Mukasonga's literature and its importance to the teaching of History

• Grant number: 21/00383-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: May 15, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Modern and Contemporary History
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Cortez Wissenbach
• Grantee: Adriana Gomes Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In this research, we seek to investigate the dialogues between History and Literature, reflecting on the possible uses of Scholastique Mukasonga's book, Cockroaches (2018), as a pedagogical instrument in the Brazilian Educational System. We propose an analysis of this fictional book, narrated by a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, remarkable for its solid testimonial tone. We understand that to work with traumatic historical events at schools, we need pedagogical resources capable of humanizing those episodes, such as Literature. Pedagogy, Anthropology, and Psychology of Education will also be studied in order to make this research possible. (AU)