Narrating transitional justice : creative and legal responses to genocide and war in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia

My thesis offers a comparative analysis of creative and legal responses to war and genocide in order to elucidate and extend existing understandings of transitional justice concepts. Focusing on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the Croatian and Bosnian wars in the 1990s, this project brings genocide fiction - including literature, film and drama - that circulates in English alongside the transcripts and other archival materials of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR). The comparison of the two conflicts is based on their temporal proximity and international involvement during and in the wake of atrocity. The heightened international human rights consciousness led to peacekeeping operations and the establishment of the two tribunals. While this thesis foregrounds shared questions and concerns, it also acknowledges the distinct historical, political and cultural contexts of the two events and narratives about them. Analysing together the creative and legal texts that contain international and local components allows me to explore the potential of interdisciplinary methodologies of working across the two distinct narrative forms. These narratives complement and complicate memories of genocide and the aftermaths of atrocity. Each chapter conceptualises a selected goal of transitional justice: truth, justice, healing and reconciliation. I analyse the construction of truth in dialogue, highlighting the role of social interaction. Discussion about the divergence between justice and a sense of justness introduces the question of what level of injustice is bearable. The examination of healing advocates for a broad understanding of the concept to account for those who try to learn to live with pain or only find momentary relief. I also ask under what circumstances reconciliation can occur, identifying ways in which fear and mistrust hinder the process. Overall, three objectives guide my thesis: navigating the simultaneous universality and specificity of the experiences of genocide, finding ways to work across law and literature, and conceptualising goals of transitional justice.