“Unspeakable Suffering”: Women’s Experience of Trauma in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21928/juhd.v5n3y2019.pp91-96Keywords:
Congo, Lynn Nottage, memory, Ruined, trauma, violent rape, womenAbstract
Lynn Nottage's Ruined, a Pulitzer Prize play, tackles the plight of women’s survival during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The play is a loud scream for the whole world to view the physical violence of women and hear their traumatic memories, hoping that this attempt might save them from their disastrous lives resulting from the brutalities of civil war. In this play, women are portrayed beyond victims of the political and armed conflicts as they serve as a reflection of a serious issue that threatens the human race in general: the continuing dehumanization whereby women are considered minorities and the “others,” even within their own society. By applying a critical analysis technique, the current paper aims to shed light on women's experience of their violated bodies and their unspeakable suffering in the context of their trauma.
References
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Amnesty International. (2004b). Democratic Republic of Congo: Mass Rape – Time for Remedies. Media briefing. October 26 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/afr620222004en.pdf
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García, C. M.. (2012). ‘This is my place, Mama Nadi’s’: Feminine Spaces and Identity in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined. Investigaciones Feministas, vol. 3: 129-139.
Gener, R. (2009) Mama Nadi and Her Women. American Theatre, 26.3: 20-32.
Daughtr, J. M. (2015). Listening to war: Sound, music, trauma, and survival in wartime Iraq. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Tramboo, I. A. & Khanna, D. (2015). The Affirmation of Life in Ruined by Lynn Nottage. American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 93, pp.191-194.
Jordan, H. (2016). Melodrama or Simply Drama: Hope of Women Examined Ruined. Common Place V.1, 5.
Kern, K. (2006). Corporate Complicity in Congo’s War. Tikkun 21(2), pp. 38-67. http://search.ebscohost.com/.
Laub, D. (1992). Bearing witness or the vicissitudes of listening.” In Felman, S.& Laub, D. Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. New York: Routledge.
McGee, C. (2009). Approaching Brecht, by way of Africa. The New York Times.Htpps://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/theatre/25McGee.Html. Retrieved on 5th February 2019.
Nottage, L. (2009). Ruined. New York, NY: Theater Communications Group.
Nottage, L. (2012). Why Did I Go to Africa to Collect Their Stories? Because I Had To. Interview, Enough, 22 Mar. Retrieved on 5th February 2019.
Pratt, M, & Werchick, L. ( 2004). Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; An Assessment of Programmatic Responses to Sexual Violence in North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, and Orientale Provinces. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development/Democracy,Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/DRC/USAIDDCHADRC.pdf.
Shannon, S.G. (2007). An Intimate Look at the Plays of Lynn
Nottage. In Colin, P.C. Contemporary African
American Playwrights: A Casebook, 185-193. Oxon
and New York, Rutledge.
Ullman SE. (2004). Sexual assault victimization and suicidal behaviour in women: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behaviour.9:331–351.
Ullman SE, Brecklin LR. (2002). Sexual assault history and suicidal behavior in a national sample of women. Suicide Life Threat. Behaviour.32, pp.117–130.
Wakabi, W. (2008). Sexual violence increasing in Democratic Republic of Congo. The Lancet, 371, pp. 15-16
Whoriskey, K. (2009). Introduction. In Nottage, Lynn. Ruined, IX-XIII. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Amnesty International. (2004b). Democratic Republic of Congo: Mass Rape – Time for Remedies. Media briefing. October 26 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/afr620222004en.pdf
Arieff, A. (2009). Sexual violence in African conflicts. Congressional Research Service 7-5700. Retrieved February 2019 from www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R40956.pdf
Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Clarkson, H. (2004). War crimes. New Internationalist, 17. http://search.ebscohost.com/.
Cruz, N. (2010). Interview with Lynn Nottage. Dramatists, 12.4: 20-28.
Edmondson, L. (2018). Performing Trauma in Central Africa: Shadows of Empire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Friedman, S. (2010). The gendered terrain in contemporary theatre of war by women. Theatre Journal 62 . The Johns Hopkins University Press, 597.
García, C. M.. (2012). ‘This is my place, Mama Nadi’s’: Feminine Spaces and Identity in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined. Investigaciones Feministas, vol. 3: 129-139.
Gener, R. (2009) Mama Nadi and Her Women. American Theatre, 26.3: 20-32.
Daughtr, J. M. (2015). Listening to war: Sound, music, trauma, and survival in wartime Iraq. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hartman, G. H. (2003). Trauma Within the Limits of Literature. European Journal of English Studies vol.7, no. 3, pp. 257-74.
Herman, J. L.. (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence –From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.
Hynes, H. P. (2004). On the battlefield of women’s bodies: An overview of the harm of war to women. Women’s Studies International Forum, 441.
Iqbal, N. (2010). Lynn Nottage: a bar, a brothel and Brecht. Guardian News. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/apr/20/lynn-nottage-ruined. Retrieved on 10th of March 2019.
Tramboo, I. A. & Khanna, D. (2015). The Affirmation of Life in Ruined by Lynn Nottage. American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 93, pp.191-194.
Jordan, H. (2016). Melodrama or Simply Drama: Hope of Women Examined Ruined. Common Place V.1, 5.
Kern, K. (2006). Corporate Complicity in Congo’s War. Tikkun 21(2), pp. 38-67. http://search.ebscohost.com/.
Laub, D. (1992). Bearing witness or the vicissitudes of listening.” In Felman, S.& Laub, D. Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. New York: Routledge.
McGee, C. (2009). Approaching Brecht, by way of Africa. The New York Times.Htpps://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/theatre/25McGee.Html. Retrieved on 5th February 2019.
Nottage, L. (2009). Ruined. New York, NY: Theater Communications Group.
Nottage, L. (2012). Why Did I Go to Africa to Collect Their Stories? Because I Had To. Interview, Enough, 22 Mar. Retrieved on 5th February 2019.
Pratt, M, & Werchick, L. ( 2004). Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; An Assessment of Programmatic Responses to Sexual Violence in North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, and Orientale Provinces. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development/Democracy,Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/DRC/USAIDDCHADRC.pdf.
Shannon, S.G. (2007). An Intimate Look at the Plays of Lynn
Nottage. In Colin, P.C. Contemporary African
American Playwrights: A Casebook, 185-193. Oxon
and New York, Rutledge.
Ullman SE. (2004). Sexual assault victimization and suicidal behaviour in women: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behaviour.9:331–351.
Ullman SE, Brecklin LR. (2002). Sexual assault history and suicidal behavior in a national sample of women. Suicide Life Threat. Behaviour.32, pp.117–130.
Wakabi, W. (2008). Sexual violence increasing in Democratic Republic of Congo. The Lancet, 371, pp. 15-16
Whoriskey, K. (2009). Introduction. In Nottage, Lynn. Ruined, IX-XIII. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
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Published
2019-07-21
How to Cite
Muhi, M. T. (2019). “Unspeakable Suffering”: Women’s Experience of Trauma in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined. Journal of University of Human Development, 5(3), 91–96. https://doi.org/10.21928/juhd.v5n3y2019.pp91-96
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Conference Paper
