Transforming ordinary people into killers: A psychosocial examination of Hutu participation in the Tutsi genocide.

Abstract

Seventeen Hutu men who were convicted of murder and other crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda participated in in-depth semistructured interviews regarding the psychological motivation for their participation in the genocide. The interviews were analyzed using grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and the emergent theory identified 3 core themes: (a) early discriminatory messages; (b) fear; (c) desensitization to violence. Participants described living in a highly discriminatory environment and although it did not affect their interpersonal relationships with Tutsis, it created an "other" and set-the-stage for the genocide to occur. Participants also talked about how fear of both Tutsis and Hutus influenced their participation. Participants described that as they became involved in the genocide, they became desensitized to killing and overtime participants described something akin to losing sight of their own sense of humanity. A core theme of transformation emerged whereby, through a process of punishment and reeducation, they rehumanized themselves and their victims and restored the sense of humanity they had lost.

The pursuit of quality in grounded theory

“…Before outlining quality in grounded theory research, we wish to point out that many researchers, psychologists among them, use this method for a variety of worthy purposes instead of or in conjunction with theory construction. Such purposes include exploring a new area of study (Bronk 2012) explicating and understanding a major process (Qin and Lykes 2006), illuminating the situations of people denied a public voice (Ayón et al 2017;Gibson 2016;Scull, Mbonyingabo, and Kotb 2016;Tuason 2013), developing policy (Faija et al 2017), and implications for professional practice (Song and de Jong 2013;Yakushko 2010). Numerous researchers use several grounded theory strategies for conducting thematic analyses (cf.…”

A Winding Road to Peace Building: Longitudinal Outcomes of a Peace Intervention for Survivors and Génocidaires of the1994 Genocide Against the Tutsiin Rwanda

“…This reasonably explained significantly lower scores on dispositional forgiveness among g enocidaires after the workshops (Time 2 ). During the workshops, many g enocidaires' interactions with survivors conceivably triggered bitterness about broader socio-political circumstances that influenced their regrettable actions during the genocide and resulted in their prison sentence (Scull et al, 2016). 6 Similarly for survivors, after an impressive increase in their willingness Note: Red Straight Line: Cow + Cell Group; Blue Dotted Line: Cell Group.…”

“…Based on previous findings (Kang et al, 2016;Schaal et al, 2012;Scull, Mbonyingabo, & Mayriam, 2016), the extensive field work of our community partner, and the aims of CFP, we selected the following measures that reflected how survivors and g enocidaires were impacted differently by the genocide in 1994.…”

Motivational change in the perpetration of genocidal violence

“…If the individual becomes so desensitized to the violence that they no longer recognize their action as the act of killing, the inhibition and the underlying need would, for example, also be removed, as it is no longer related to the action in question. One Rwandan perpetrator that Scull et al (2016) interviewed stated: “When I saw the first person dying, I was scared. When I killed Bernard, 11 I was more scared.…”

“…When I killed Bernard, 11 I was more scared. But after his death, I was used to it and had no problems” (Scull et al, 2016: 340). Beside this process of desensitization that this perpetrator went through, the victims of the Rwandan killing processes were normally dehumanized and labeled as animals (Semelin, 2005: 38).…”