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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Catholic Mass in Kigali: Contested Views of the Genocide and Ethnicity in Rwanda
Authors:Newbury, CatharineISNI
Newbury, DavidISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:33
Issue:2-3
Pages:292-328
Language:English
Geographic term:Rwanda
Subjects:ethnicity
genocide
Religion and Witchcraft
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/486267
Abstract:The 1994 genocide and war in Rwanda have left in their wake a fractured and severely polarized society, one in which different, contested histories complicate what was already a complex political landscape. In this context, ethnicity has become a catch-all explanation for those who wish to neglect recent political economy or social processes in Rwanda. The authors argue that the dynamics of ethnicity in Rwanda are more subtle and complex than can be accounted for by interpretations based on either ethnic essentialism or ethnic invention. Both neglect the social processes that forged ethnic identities. Building on work which highlights the contingent nature of ethnicity, some authors have proposed a 'constructivist' approach to understanding ethnicity. The present authors argue that the element of contingency is important in the Rwandan case, because it places particular responsibility on those who make State policy and those who compete for control of the State. The violence which engulfed Rwanda in 1994 was a political phenomenon which had strong overtones of class conflict as well. Ethnicity served as a language through which fears and ambitions were expressed, but it was not ethnicity that 'caused' the violence. Instead, the genocide was the result of a calculated, conscious, and planned action on the part of a political elite who feared losing their positions of privilege. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French.
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