Abstract

FEMRITE, the Ugandan Women Writers Association, was created in 1996, and over the last twenty years, it has become the largest and most successful women's writing group in East Africa and one of the most influential literary communities on the African continent. It has become an essential element of Ugandan literary society, and a large proportion of its writings reflect various forms of trauma, begging an engagement with trauma theories. I will argue that through strategies of narrative recuperation and the establishment of communities, FEMRITE has created avenues for women writers, their subjects, and their readers to engender healing from trauma. After discussing FEMRITE's social programs, such as interviewing war refugees or AIDS victims, I will analyze two texts by FEMRITE author Beatrice Lamwaka to demonstrate the manifestations of trauma and the ways it is narrated, as well as the way Lamwaka uses narrative and community in working through her own trauma. Through an analysis of its organizations and publications, I hope to show that FEMRITE represents a uniquely optimistic and socially persuasive approach to trauma and healing.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2015-03-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd7579

Keywords

trauma, Uganda, Women and Literature, FEMRITE, African Literatures

Language

english

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