Through the camera's eye: Gukurahundi genocide, sexual violence and collective trauma in Zimbabwe

This paper examines traumatic memories of survivors of theGukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe as seen through filmdocumentaries. While there has been a plethora of research onthe Gukurahundi genocide, few studies have looked at trauma.The power of film documentaries in communicating traumacomes in that visuals can communicate a full spectrum ofemotions: joy, anger, fear, disgusts, sadness, trust, surprise andanticipation. This qualitative study focuses on two documentariesthe Centre for Innovation and Technology produced: I Want MyVirginity Back and One Night in 1985. Findings demonstrate thatthese documentary films use the body as a ‘geography of pain’and ‘site of memory’ where trauma is evoked and transmitted tothe generation after. Furthermore, the next generation inheritedthe pain their ancestors experienced, and for that, they will passon the information to the other generations, leading to theentrenchment of collective trauma. This study concludes byarguing that visuals, in this case being those in documentaryfilms, give evidence of the trauma and suffering thatGukurahundi victims are experiencing. More so, the study notesthat documentaries participate in the construction of trauma.