KIBOGO by Scholastique Mukasonga

Translated by Mark Polizzotti

The legend of Kibogo looms large in the remote Rwandan village from which he is said to have climbed the nearby mountain and faced down the clouds to end the country’s famine. It is a story told and retold, sometimes with awe, sometimes in horror. Then there is the priestess Mukamwezi who is said to have joined him in the clouds, and Akayezu who might just be a certain messiah. In typically brilliant fashion, Scholastique Mukasonga weaves their tales through four distinct historic periods, each characterised by an insidious colonial or missionary intrusion.

It’s a wonderfully rich tale, a many-layered celebration of storytelling itself and a razor sharp critique of colonisation. Whether the outsiders are corralling the locals into their armies to fight the Germans, using Jesus to ride roughshod over traditional understandings of natural phenomena, sewing division between the area’s tribes or imposing condescendingly paternalistic academic opinions on the village’s history (a visiting professor is only interested in evidence of human sacrifice, whether or not it exists), we know it can’t end well for the villagers.

A magnificent little book that left me equally joyful, melancholic and indignant.

Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga (Tr. Mark Polizzotti)
DB Originals, 2023
155 pages