The Presence of Male Victims of the Congolese Genocide in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined

HWANG, JUNG SUK (황정숙)

The Presence of Male Victims of the Congolese Genocide in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined

Journal of Modern English Drama
Abbr : JMBARD
2022, 35(3), pp.187-206
Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama
Received : November 15, 2022
Accepted : December 8, 2022
Published : December 31, 2022

HWANG, JUNG SUK ¹

¹성균관대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Set in a small mining village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo) during the second civil war (1998–2003), Lynn Nottage’s Ruined (2008) depicts Mama Nadi’s bar in a warzone in eastern Congo, which she runs as a brothel with rape victims, such as Josephine and Salima, and a ruined girl, Sophie. These rape victims ironically work as prostitutes in the bar for soldiers (government militia) and rebels, both of whom rape civilians. The bar is relatively safe compared to the outside where these women, shunned and unprotected by their families and communities, become targets of deadly sexual violence and sex slavery. Focusing on raped women, many critics also examine how Nottage criticizes the exploitative nature of global capitalism and its devastating effect on eastern Congo. Although relatively neglected, Nottage depicts the impact of genocide by attrition in Congo and global capitalism on Congolese men who appear as miners, rape victims’ family members, and child soldiers. Focusing on her representation of male characters, I reveal how she challenges the popular representation of wars in Congo as a “rape pandemic” and negative stereotypes of Congolese men as irrational, violent, rapists and perpetrators. I will instead examine how Ruined represents the exploitative nature of global capitalism by blurring the binary between women (victims) and men (perpetrators).

KEYWORDS

Nottage, Ruined, Congo, male characters, global capitalism

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

[journal] Baaz, Maria Eriksson. / 2008 / Making Sense of Violence : Voices of Soldiers in the Congo(DRC) / The Journal of Modern African Studies 46(1) : 57~86

[journal] Chari, Tendai / 2010 / Representation or Misrepresentation? : The New York Times’s Framing of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide / African Identities 8(4) : 333~349

[journal] 최석훈 / 2014 / Exposing the Falsehood of War and Violence: Power of the Abject in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined / 영어영문학 / 한국영어영문학회 60(2) : 365~389

[journal] 전연희 / 2013 / Territory, Gender, and Body Politics: Lynn Nottage's Ruined / 현대영미드라마 / 한국현대영미드라마학회 26(1) : 179~206

[book] Deroze, Phyllisa Smith / 2015 / Documenting Gendered Violence: Representations, Collaborations, and Movements / Bloomsbury Academic &Professional : 171~191

[journal] Fox Ann M / 2011 / Battles on the Body : Disability, Interpreting Dramatic Literature, and the Case of Lynn Nottage’s Ruined / Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 5(1) : 1~15

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[journal] 강형민 / 2014 / The Congolese Strife for Survival and Stability Against Postcolonial Violence and Globalized Neoliberal Capitalist's Exploitation in Lynn Nottage's Ruined / 현대영미드라마 / 한국현대영미드라마학회 27(1) : 5~36

[journal] Muhi, Maysoon Taher / 2019 / ‘Unspeakable Suffering’ : Women’s Experience of Trauma in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined / Journal of University of Human Development 5(3) : 91~96

[book] Nottage, Lynn / 2009 / Ruined / Theatre Communications Group

[other] Nottage, Lynn / 2012 / Why Did I Go to Africa to Collect Their Stories? Because I Had to / Interview with Enough

[other] Nottage, Lynn / 2009 / Play on Rape in the Congo Wins Pulitzer / Interview with Marco Werman

[journal] Poll, Ryan / 2020 / Lynn Nottage’s Theatre of Genocide : Ruined, Rape, and Afropessimism / Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 35(1) : 81~105

[journal] Salih, Elaff Ganim / 2016 / Wartime Women Rape : A Means of Moral Attack and Emasculation in Lynn Nottage’s Ruined / International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 5(3) : 113~120

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