{"id":2726,"date":"2019-04-07T22:31:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T22:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/?p=2726"},"modified":"2019-04-07T22:33:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T22:33:11","slug":"a-better-country-a-better-life-a-better-future-the-1994-rwandan-genocide-twenty-five-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/a-better-country-a-better-life-a-better-future-the-1994-rwandan-genocide-twenty-five-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Better Country, A Better Life, A Better Future:\u201d The 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Twenty-Five Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twenty-five years have now passed since the Rwandan genocide. On the evening of April 6th<\/sup>, 1994, the assassination of President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana served as a final trigger for violence after decades of propaganda, animosity, and killing. Within 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis were dead, as were numerous Hutu political opponents of the genocidal state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many Rwandans and foreigners have sought to capture this moment through media coverage, memoirs, film, and documentaries. Images of the killings and of refugee processions, of machetes and of bullet holes, are familiar across the world. But for those who grew up in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, the pain of this violence is far more immediate than these decades-old snapshots have the capacity to show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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For many young\nRwandans, the genocide continues to have a regular presence in daily life. As a\ngraduate student at the University of Minnesota, I study this generational\ntrauma, or the social effects of conflict that are experienced by the\ndescendants of those who experience violence. I speak with Rwandans in their\nearly twenties about the effects of past violence on their lives. The genocide\nseparated families, destroyed communities, and left young children to make\nsense of this loss. As one interviewee poignantly put it, \u201cParenting when you\nare 28, 29 – you were never a kid. And you never knew how to do this, because you\nhad no parents to teach you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For\nRwandans born after 1994, this trauma manifests differently for each individual.\nI\u2019ve met with young men and women who lost most, or all, of their family\nmembers during the genocide. As one such woman succinctly reflected, \u201cYou feel\nthat gap that you have, always.\u201d These young adults have had to navigate the\npast twenty-five years while carrying their loss, depending on peers or\nremaining family members as they find their way. Many young adults who lost\nloved ones seek to remember through annual commemorations or visits to memorial\nspaces \u2013 for others, the pain is too much to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some have\nsought out those responsible for the death of family members, seeking answers\nor closure. One young man who did so shared, \u201cI [had] to go there and know what\nwas in his mind.\u201d Many children of perpetrators have too struggled in the\naftermath of the genocide, with incarceration sometimes leaving responsibility\nfor the household on the shoulders of young boys and girls. The genocide was\ncommunally-based and wide-reaching; most Rwandans are personally affected in\nsome way, and they must seek to make sense of this past while they move forward\nwith their lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    While this trauma has marred the trajectory of so many young adults, our conversations don\u2019t solely dwell in tragedy. Interspersed in our conversations about memory are their goals, joys, and desires for the future. Many hope to be involved with tourism, showcasing Rwanda\u2019s beauty to visitors. Some seek to thrive in the nation\u2019s bustling business sectors, while others seek to create art that captures their journey. And more than anything else, interviewees express a hope for happy families and for peace. As one woman expressed, \u201cWhat you’re looking is a better country, a better life, a better future.\u201d As we remember the 1994 Rwandan genocide on its 25th<\/sup> anniversary, those depictions of the genocide, snapshots of the violence and suffering, again come to the fore. And the memory of those lost is essential. But we should also reflect on these next generations of Rwandans, those who live with these scars as they strive for their futures. And we must also reflect that no country is wholly defined by violence. In the Global North, many know Rwanda solely for the 1994 genocide. But these young adults are among Rwandans who are advocating for a future shaped, but not defined, by the country\u2019s past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brooke\n Chambers is a PhD student in the University of Minnesota\u2019s Department \nof Sociology. Her research interests include collective memory, cultural\n trauma, political sociology, genocide, and mass violence. Her current \nwork examines generational trauma in contemporary Rwanda, with a focus \non the commemorative process. She is the 2019-2020 Badzin Fellow in \nHolocaust and Genocide Studies.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Twenty-five years have now passed since the Rwandan genocide. On the evening of April 6th, 1994, the assassination of President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana served as a final trigger for violence after decades of propaganda, animosity, and killing. Within 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis were dead, as were numerous Hutu political opponents of the genocidal state. Many Rwandans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48285,142],"tags":[81239],"class_list":["post-2726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eye-on-africa","category-news","tag-rwandan-genocide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2726"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2733,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726\/revisions\/2733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/holocaust-genocide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}