AGACIRO, VERNACULAR MEMORY, AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY IN POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA

TY - JOUR

T1 - AGACIRO, VERNACULAR MEMORY, AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY IN POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA

AU - Mwambari, David

PY - 2021/10/20

Y1 - 2021/10/20

N2 - Recent debates in post-genocide and post-war Rwanda have explored howofficial commemorations of the Genocide Against the Tutsi in many waysborrow and ‘mimic’ the Holocaust memory ‘paradigm’. The academiccanon on post-1994 Rwanda focuses the mostly on politics around thisofficial memory that has evolved into hegemonic memory and on how ithas been mobilized to promote a selective memory of the past. However,there is little analysis of vernacular, bottom-up memory practices that haveevolved alongside the official one. Using observation, semi-structuredinterviews, and secondary sources, this article examines vernacular memorypractices of mourning the wartime missing in Rwanda. Through theconcepts of ‘multidirectional’ and ‘traveling’ memory, this study examineshow survivors of these interconnected violent histories that unfolded intwo different countries claim multi-faceted Agaciro (dignity, self-respect,and self-worth) through two different memory approaches. The articleargues that while actors in official memory approach claim Agaciro throughborrowing from another global hegemonic memory, respondents in thisstudy created vernacular avenues to remember their missing loved ones.The article finds that while hegemonic memory might appear to only competewith vernacular memory, there are also ‘knots’ that connect these twomemory forms in Rwanda’s context and beyond. In its conclusion, thearticle proposes an Agaciro-centred approach to examine the relationshipsbetween official and unofficial memory practices that have been reenergizedthrough protests both offline and online in Rwanda and beyond. Thearticle contributes to scholarship on Rwanda’s post-genocide memorypolitics, transcultural memory, and decolonial perspectives on dignity.

AB - Recent debates in post-genocide and post-war Rwanda have explored howofficial commemorations of the Genocide Against the Tutsi in many waysborrow and ‘mimic’ the Holocaust memory ‘paradigm’. The academiccanon on post-1994 Rwanda focuses the mostly on politics around thisofficial memory that has evolved into hegemonic memory and on how ithas been mobilized to promote a selective memory of the past. However,there is little analysis of vernacular, bottom-up memory practices that haveevolved alongside the official one. Using observation, semi-structuredinterviews, and secondary sources, this article examines vernacular memorypractices of mourning the wartime missing in Rwanda. Through theconcepts of ‘multidirectional’ and ‘traveling’ memory, this study examineshow survivors of these interconnected violent histories that unfolded intwo different countries claim multi-faceted Agaciro (dignity, self-respect,and self-worth) through two different memory approaches. The articleargues that while actors in official memory approach claim Agaciro throughborrowing from another global hegemonic memory, respondents in thisstudy created vernacular avenues to remember their missing loved ones.The article finds that while hegemonic memory might appear to only competewith vernacular memory, there are also ‘knots’ that connect these twomemory forms in Rwanda’s context and beyond. In its conclusion, thearticle proposes an Agaciro-centred approach to examine the relationshipsbetween official and unofficial memory practices that have been reenergizedthrough protests both offline and online in Rwanda and beyond. Thearticle contributes to scholarship on Rwanda’s post-genocide memorypolitics, transcultural memory, and decolonial perspectives on dignity.

M3 - Article

SN - 0001-9909

SP - 611

JO - AFRICAN AFFAIRS

JF - AFRICAN AFFAIRS

M1 - African Affairs 120/481

ER -