Association for Africanist Anthropology

Volunteered - Oral Presentation Session

“You had beans and rice while in prison, right?”: Agency and intergenerational communication in post-genocide Rwanda

Genocide, Discourse, Children and Youth

Presenter(s)

• 

  Cameron Voss

  Undergraduate Student
  Albion College

This research strives to understand and record the various ways caregivers (dis)engage with the children under their care through discussions of their own, others’, and their country’s challenging history within Rwandan families. The informal aspects of family structures, while highly influential, are difficult to navigate. This research endeavors to unveil some of the hidden trends in Rwandan families with children born after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. This preliminary study explores how a generation of survivors, perpetrators, returnees, and other Rwandan citizens undertake the essential act of caring for children post-genocide. An analysis of 37 interviews with Rwandan caregivers shows that while children are asking questions about Rwanda’s past within their home setting, not all caregivers are engaging in the conversation. Each unique response, or lack thereof, provides a better insight into the complexities surrounding the informal education of children in a post-genocide society.