Jodi Mikalachki on Fraternity, Peace, and the 40 Young Martyrs of Buta Seminary, Burundi

Near and Far

Jodi Mikalachki is associate professor of English at the University of Burundi’s Institute of Applied Pedagogy in Bujumbura. She has written extensively on gender and nationalism. Her current project focuses on nonviolent responses to grief and loss in post–independence Burundi. Her essay, “Narrating Violence in Burundian Genocide and Civil War Literature: Pacifique Irankunda’s Playing at Violence,” appeared in ~Emerging Trends in Eastern African Literatures and Cultures~ (Galda Verlag, 2020). She has also translated two Burundian works engaging with the nation’s cycles of political violence: Zacharie Bukuru’s ~We Are All Children of God: The Forty Young Martyrs of Buta—Burundi~ (Paulines Africa, 2015) and Antoine Kaburahe, ~Hutsi: In the Name of Us All~ (Iwacu, 2019).