Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T21:15:37.454Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do We Understand Life after Genocide? Center and Periphery in the Construction of Knowledge in Postgenocide Rwanda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Bert Ingelaere
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Do we really understand life after genocide? A reflection on the construction of knowledge in and on Rwanda reveals that it is rife with contradictory assertions and images, and that there is a discrepancy between image and reality. This article attempts to map the center(s) of knowledge construction in postgenocide Rwanda, the place not only where policy is made, but also where knowledge is actively construed, managed, and controlled. It argues that an overall cultivation of the aesthetics of progress and a culturally specific communication code have contributed to an active interference in the scientific construction of knowledge. It stresses the need for scholars and observers to reveal the social and historical context for the knowledge being generated. It also urges them to physically and mentally move away from the center of society: to adopt a bottom-up perspective that captures the voices of ordinary people.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , April 2010 , pp. 41 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

African Peer Review Mechanism. 2005. Country Report for the Republic of Rwanda. Midrand, South-Africa: African Peer Review Mechanism.Google Scholar
Ansoms, An. 2008. “Striving for Growth, Bypassing the Poor: A Critical Review of Rwanda's Rural Sector Policies.” Journal of Modern African Studies 46 (1): 1–32.Google Scholar
Ansoms, An. 2009. “Re-engineering Rural Society: The Visions and Ambitions of the Rwandan Elite.” African Affairs 108 (431): 1–21 Google Scholar
Centre de Lutte contre L'impunité et L'injustice au Rwanda. 2005. Mémorandum sur l'impossibilité d'une justice équitable et l'instauration d'une nouvelkforme d'Apartheid et d'esclavage au Rwanda. Brussels: Centre de Lutte contre L'impunité et L'injustice au Rwanda.Google Scholar
De Boeck, Filip, and Plissart, Marie-Francoise. 2005. Kinshasa: Tales of the Invisible City. Ghent: Ludion.Google Scholar
Crepeau, Pierre. 1985. Paroles et Sagesse: Valeurs Sociales dans les Proverbes du Rwanda. Tervuren: Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale.Google Scholar
de Lame, Danielle. 2004. “Mighty Secrets, Public Commensality and the Crisis of Transparency: Rwanda through the Looking Glass.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 38 (2): 279–317.Google Scholar
de Lame, Danielle. 2005. A Hill among a Thousand: Transformations and Ruptures in Rural Rwanda. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Des Forges, Alison. 1999. Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Friends of Rwanda, n.d. “Passing through the Fire: Rebuilding Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide.” www.friendsofrwanda.com.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Phillip. 1999. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda. Picador: New York.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Phillip. 2009a. “The Life After: Fifteen Years after the Genocide in Rwanda, the Reconciliation Defies Expectations.” The New Yorker, May 4, 37–49.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Phillip. 2009b. “The Abu Ghraib We Cannot See.” New York Times, May 24.Google Scholar
Holvoet, Nathalie, and Rombouts, Heidy. 2008. “The Challenge of Monitoring and Evaluation under the New Aid Modalities: Experiences from Rwanda.” Journal of Modern African Studies 46 (4): 577–602 Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2008. “Law and Reality: Progress in Judicial Reform in Rwanda.” New York: Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2009. “Burundi: Stop Deporting Rwandan Asylum Seekers.” New York: Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org.Google Scholar
Ingelaere, Bert. 2006. “Political Transition (s) and Transitional Justice: Case Study on Rwanda.”Google Scholar
Ingelaere, Bert. 2007. “Living the Transition: A Bottom-Up Perspective on Rwanda's Political Transition.” Antwerp: Institute of Development Policy and Management.Google Scholar
Ingelaere, Bert. 2009. “‘Does the Truth Pass across the Fire without Burning?’ Locating the Short Circuit in Rwanda's Gacaca Courts.” Journal of Modern African Studies 47 (4): 507–28.Google Scholar
Ingelaere, Bert. forthcoming, 2010. “Peasants, Power and Ethnicity: A Bottom-Up Perspective on Rwanda's Political Transition.” African Affairs.Google Scholar
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2007. Rwanda: Drought. Final Report. Emergency Appeal MDRRW001. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, September 4. www.ifrc.org.Google Scholar
Kinzer, Stephen. 2008. A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It. New Jersey: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Lestrade, Arthur. 1972. Notes d'ethnographie du Rwanda. Tervuren: Museé Royal de L'Afrique Centrale.Google Scholar
Longman, Timothy. 2004. “Placing Genocide in Context: Research Priorities for the Rwandan Genocide.” Journal of Genocide Researh, 6 (1): 29–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbembe, Achille. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mgbako, Chi. 2005. “ Ingando Solidarity Camps: Reconciliation and Political Indoctrination in Post-Genocide Rwanda.” Harvard Human Rights Journal 18: 202–24.Google Scholar
National Audit Office. 2007. “Department of International Development: Tackling Rural Poverty in Development Countries.” London: National Audit Office. www.nao.org.uk.Google Scholar
The New Times. 2006. “Hunger: Government Refutes WFP Claims.” The New Times, Kigali, May 14.Google Scholar
The New Times. 2007a. “75 Percent of Population Have Reconciled—James Musoni.” The New Times, Kigali, April 12.Google Scholar
The New Times. 2007b. “I Did Not Read UN Report before Launch—Musoni.” The New Times, Kigali, August 24.Google Scholar
The New Times. 2008. “Mixed Reactions on MHC Report.” The New Times, Kigali, October 10.Google Scholar
Ntampaka, Charles. 1999. “Vérité et Opinion Dans la Société Rwandaise Traditionelle” Dialogue 221: 3–24.Google Scholar
Overdulve, Cornells M. 1997. “Fonction de la langue et de la communication au Rwanda.” NeueZeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft 53 (4): 271–83.Google Scholar
Panapress. 2006a. “1.8 Burundians Face Grave Food Crisis.” January 19.Google Scholar
Panapress. 2006b. “Nkurunziza urges Burundians to Assist Famine Victims.” February 20.Google Scholar
Péan, Pierre. 2005. Noires Fureurs, Blancs Menteurs: Rwanda 1990–1994. Paris: Mille et Une Nuits.Google Scholar
Pottier, Johan. 2002. Re-Imagining Rwanda: Conflict, Survival and Disinformation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Republic of Rwanda. 2006a. Genocide Ideology and Strategies for Its Eradication. Kigali: Republic of Rwanda.Google Scholar
Republic of Rwanda. 2006b. Preliminary Poverty Update Report: Integrated Living Conditions Survey 2005/06. Kigali: National Institute of Statistics.Google Scholar
Republic of Rwanda. 2007. Cohesion Sociak 2005-2006: Sondage d'Opinion. Kigali: National Unity and Reconciliation Commission.Google Scholar
Republic of Rwanda. 2008. Social Cohesion in Rwanda: An Opinion Survey, Results 2005–2007. Kigali: National Unity and Reconciliation Commission.Google Scholar
Reyntjens, Filip. 2004. “Rwanda, Ten Years On: From Genocide to Dictatorship.” African Affairs 103: 177–210.Google Scholar
Reyntjens, Filip. 2007. “Chronique Politique du Rwanda, 2005–2007.” In L'Afrique des Grands Lacs, Annuaire 2006–2007, edited by. Marysse, Stefaan, Reyntjens, Filip, and Vandeginste, Stef, 1–19. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Rukebesha, Aloys. 1985. Esotérisme et Communication Sociale. Kigali: Printer Set.Google Scholar
Scott, James. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcipts. New Haven: Yale University.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Shabas, William A. 2008. “Transfer and Extradition of Genocide Suspects to Rwanda.” Paper presented at the conference “The Extradition of Rwandese Genocide Suspects to Rwanda: Issues and Challenges,” Brussels, July 1.Google Scholar
Straus, Scott. 2000. “Genocide in Rwanda.” African Studies Review 43 (2): 126–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, Susan M. 2009a. Resisting Reconciliation: Everyday Life and State Power in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Ph.d. diss., Dalhousie University.Google Scholar
Thomson, Susan M. 2009b. “Book Review: Stephen Kinzer, A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It .” African Studies Review 52 (1): 194–96.Google Scholar
Turner, Simon. 2005. “‘The Tutsi Are Afraid We Will Discover Their Secrets’: On Secrecy and Sovereign Power.” Social Identities 11 (1): 37–54.Google Scholar
Turner, Simon. 2009. “Cyberwar of Words: Expressing the Unspeakable in Burundi's Diaspora.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34 (7): 1161–80.Google Scholar
United Nations Development Programme Rwanda. 2007. Turning Vision 2020 into Reality: From Recovery to Sustainable Human Development. National Human Development Report, Rwanda 2007. Kigali: UNDP Rwanda.Google Scholar
Uvin, Peter. 2001. “Reading the Rwandan Genocide.” International Studies Review 3 (3): 75–99.Google Scholar
Uvin, Peter. 2007. “Human Security in Burundi: The View from Below (by Youth).” African Security Review 16 (2): 38–52.Google Scholar
Waldorf, Lars. 2006. “Mass Justice for Mass Atrocity: Rethinking Local Justice as Transitional Justice.” Temple Law Review 79 (1): 1–88.Google Scholar
Waldorf, Lars. 2007. “Censorship and Propaganda in Postgenocide Rwanda.” In The Media and the Rwandan Genocide, edited by Thomson, Allan, 404–16. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
West, Harry, and Sanders, Todd, eds. 2003. Transparency and Conspiracy: Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
The World Bank. 2004. Rwanda: The Impact of Conflict on Growth and Poverty. Social Development Notes: Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction 18. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Wierzynska, Aneta. 2004. “Consolidating Democracy through Transitional Justice: Rwanda's Gacaca Courts.” New York University Law Review 79: 1934–69.Google Scholar