The danger of a single story: Iconic stories in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Abstract

In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, the government of Rwanda-much like other transitional regimes around the world-has prioritized reconciliation initiatives that educate civilians with a highly politicized understanding of the conflict, and encourage them to speak about the conflict and its aftermath in a manner that reinforces the legitimacy of the current government. However, individual survivors, bystanders, excombatants and/or perpetrators of the genocide find various subtle ways to reinforce, resist or complicate the current official history. This article analyses a series of 'iconic stories' that are repeated by Rwandans in different settings due to their historical and personal resonance for what they can tell us about the ethnic and political tensions that often continue to divide Rwandans and the overall challenges associated with everyday life since the genocide. Yet engaging with these iconic stories places the researcher in a difficult position where the democratizing potential of oral history is potentially undermined. This paper argues that even while qualitative researchers have an obligation to listen deeply to their informants, their moral and professional obligations to avoid reproducing narratives that promote potentially reprehensible agendas-for example, genocide denial-make contextualizing their participants' narratives in relation to the personal, historical, and political climate in which they are being produced essential.

Of other times: Temporality, memory and trauma in post-genocide Rwanda

“…In an effort to mitigate the risk of politicised ‘iconic stories’ (Jessee, 2017), I searched for very personal and intimate accounts of how survivors re-made their worlds after the Genocide. I acknowledge, however, that survivor accounts and testimonies can be co-opted and instrumentalised by state elites for power purposes and the search for legitimacy.…”

“… 6. Rombouts (2002) details some challenges of a victim-approach such as identifying and defining who is a victim, issues pertaining to the construction and politicisation of victimhood and competition between victims. There is also the danger, as asserted by Jessee (2017), that researchers reproduce hierarchies of victims or dominant narratives about the genocide. …”

Policing Insecurity

“…Situated within an interpretivist tradition, the second phase of the project sought to explore how security actors, with a particular emphasis on police officers as the most visible face of the state for many, understood the security and stabilization practices they were enmeshed within (Fujii 2010;Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2006). After conducting six interviews with police officers, I developed an interview approach inspired by oral history techniques (Blee 1993;Jessee 2017;Shesterinina 2020). Although my interviews with police were fairly structured, focusing predominantly on the work of policing, it is not easy to disentangle work and employment histories from histories of war and of family.…”

Beyond Personal Empathy: Perceiving Inclusive Empathy as Socially Shared Predicts Support for Transitional Justice Mechanisms

“…In post-conflict societies, emotions about past conflict are often publicly expressed through the commemoration of collective losses or victories (Rimé et al, 2010 ). These tend to be limited however to the expression of official narratives of the victor and to be less open to critical and diverse conflict memories (Jessee, 2017 ; McDowell & Braniff, 2014 ). Moreover, in asymmetric conflicts, the powerful side may aim to suppress the voices and memories of entire groups of people (McDowell & Braniff, 2014 ).…”