Genocide lives in us [electronic resource] : women, memory, and silence in Rwanda / Jennie E. Burnet.

ISBN:

9780299286439

9781283692243

Title:

Genocide lives in us [electronic resource] : women, memory, and silence in Rwanda / Jennie E. Burnet.

Author:

Burnet, Jennie E.

Personal Author:

Burnet, Jennie E.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 277 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Series:

Women in Africa and the diaspora

Contents:

Social classification, state power, and violence -- Remembering genocide : lived memory and national mourning -- Amplified silence : hegemony, memory, and silence's multiple meanings -- Sorting and suffering : social classification in the aftermath of genocide -- Defining coexistence and reconciliation in the new Rwanda -- Paths to reconciliation -- Reconciliation, justice, and amplified silence.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Women -- Rwanda -- Social conditions.

Women in public life -- Rwanda.

Genocide -- Rwanda.

Geographic Term:

Rwanda -- History -- 1994-

Rwanda -- History -- Civil War, 1994 -- Atrocities.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
967.5710431 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, Rwandan women faced the impossible--resurrecting their lives amidst unthinkable devastation. Haunted by memories of lost loved ones and of their own experiences of violence, women rebuilt their lives from "less than nothing." Neither passive victims nor innate peacemakers, they traversed dangerous emotional and political terrain to emerge as leaders in Rwanda today. This clear and engaging ethnography of survival tackles three interrelated phenomena--memory, silence, and justice--and probes the contradictory roles women played in postgenocide reconciliation.
Based on more than a decade of intensive fieldwork, Genocide Lives in Us provides a unique grassroots perspective on a postconflict society. Anthropologist Jennie E. Burnet relates with sensitivity the heart-wrenching survival stories of ordinary Rwandan women and uncovers political and historical themes in their personal narratives. She shows that women's leading role in Rwanda's renaissance resulted from several factors: the dire postgenocide situation that forced women into new roles; advocacy by the Rwandan women's movement; and the inclusion of women in the postgenocide government.

Honorable Mention, Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize, Women's Caucus of the African Studies Association

Author Notes

Jennie E. Burnet is associate professor of global studies and anthropology at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on women's roles in peace-building and democratization and on the long-term consequences of gender-based violence in conflict.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Between April and July 1994, some 800,000 civilians were slaughtered in Rwanda, including three-fourths of the Tutsi population and thousands of Hutus who opposed the extremist government and its policies. Based on more than a decade of field research in 9 of Rwanda's 12 prefectures, this intensely researched ethnography is a significant contribution to the scholarship on the genocide and on women's agency in post-conflict reconstruction and peace building. Poignant stories told by Rwandan women about their experiences, which varied according to ethnic group, education, region, and personal circumstances, enrich the text. Burnet (anthropology, Univ. of Louisville) raises critical questions about survivorship and its politicization. The rebel movement that stopped the genocide and came to power in its aftermath considered only Tutsis to be genocide survivors, erasing Hutu victims who died resisting the extremist government, who were killed because they were mistaken for Tutsis, or who were murdered by neighbors or rebel forces. Burnet also examines women's coping mechanisms; the politics of memory, which resulted in tensions between personal memories and the politicized remembering mandated by the post-genocide state; and reconciliation, in which women as the primary connection between families and communities became leaders. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. E. S. Schmidt Loyola University Maryland