1994 as Year Zero: remembrance and meanings of historical violence in post-Genocide Rwanda

The paper examines the public displays (and absences) of memory of the violence in 1950 and 1960s Rwanda that led to large scale refugee movements. These moments of violence, such as the wave of incendiarism and attacks during the ‘Hutu Revolution’ of 1959, and the sporadic violence of 1960; 1961-2 and 1963-4, have a problematic place in the construction of memory and identity in post-Genocide Rwanda. These moments are key windows into a process of political mobilisation of ethnic identity, decolonisation, and the construction of independent Rwanda. In the narratives of the new Rwanda, however, they are largely unremembered; or are positioned as simple precursors to the 1994 genocide – an undifferentiated trajectory of violence. The paper argues that these moments need to be salvaged from a trend of seeing Rwandan history as beginning in 1994; and explores the impact of returned refugees in the creation of meanings of Rwanda and its past. The paper engages with the anthropological work of Liisa Malkki on the construction of national identity in exile, and examines the issues through the framework of public and collective memory theory. It draws on archival material of the events themselves; and an analysis of the museology, public commemoration and discussion (including media representations). The paper emphasises the importance of individualising and contextualising past violence in a country trying to rebuild a sense of self after massively destructive (and definitive) genocidal violence. In doing this, it seeks to support a more nuanced understanding of the history, memory and meaning of ethnic identity in Rwanda by emphasising different historical expressions and outcomes of ethnic identity, hoping to promote meaningful co-existence and alternative futures