Navigating Cultural Memory: Commemoration and Narrative in Postgenocide Rwanda

Navigating Cultural Memory explores how the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi evolved into a hegemonic narrative in Rwanda and globally, analyzing how Rwandans from different backgrounds have responded to the event through language, physical symbols of memory, art, and traditional and new media. It argues that a relational approach to dignity can help transform polarizing narratives towards healing and offers insights into the complexities surrounding individual and collective memory in societies recovering from violent conflict.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 18 August 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Navigating Cultural Memory delves into the intricate process by which a dominant narrative of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda emerged and gained global traction. By identifying key actors who played pivotal roles in shaping and responding to the evolution and enforcement of this master narrative during the initial two decades following the genocide and civil war, the book explores profound questions about collective memory, trauma, and power in the aftermath of violent and divisive events. Through a comprehensive analysis of interviews conducted by the author as well as secondary sources, Mwambari charts how Rwandans from diverse backgrounds, categorized as Champions, Antagonists, and Fatalists of the master narrative, have responded to this historical trauma through language, physical symbols of memory, art, and various forms of traditional and new media.

Mwambari argues that adopting a relational approach to dignity holds the potential to transform polarizing narratives away from their origins of competition, exclusion, and silence and toward the healing process. Recognizing the significance of these conversations in contemporary politics, the book also underscores their pivotal role in shaping Rwanda's present and future peace. By delving into the contradictions in memories between actors in Rwanda and abroad, Navigating Cultural Memory provides invaluable insights into the complexities surrounding individual and collective memory in societies grappling with the aftermath of violent conflict, mass atrocities, and genocide.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190942304