Traces, Memory and Resistance: A Semiotic Reading of *La Vie et demie* by Sony Labou Tansi and *Rescapés de la Shoah* by Kasereka Kalwaghe Jean-Hilaire

Abstract

Collective violence always leaves marks that outlive the events themselves and those who experienced them. The battered bodies, the names, the words, the writings and the places that bear these traces become vessels of memory.

This study offers a comparative semiotic analysis of *La Vie et demie* by Sony Labou Tansi and *Rescapés de la Shoah* by Kasereka Kalwaghe Jean-Hilaire. It examines how the traces of violence are transformed into signs of memory and forms of resistance.

The analysis draws on the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, Roland Barthes and Algirdas Julien Greimas. It adopts a qualitative approach and employs both comparative methodology and documentary analysis. The study shows that, in both novels, violence fails to erase the victims entirely: the traces remain, they circulate and acquire collective significance. In Labou Tansi’s work, these traces primarily fuel political and literary resistance, whilst in Kasereka Kalwaghe’s work they lead more towards testimony, solidarity and reconstruction.

Keywords: trace, memory, resistance, semiotics, violence, survival, reconstruction.

Received Date: June 19, 2026

Accepted Date: July 10, 2026

Published Date: August 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/928