Modernity and The 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Madeline Zech

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: College of Liberal Arts

Major: MA.HOLOCAUSTGENOCIDE

Faculty Research Mentor: Goldberg, Adara  

Abstract:

Thirty-one years ago, devastating modern mass violence destroyed the relationship among people in Rwanda, in an event known as the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Friends, neighbors, and family turned to enemies and perpetrators. In only one hundred days, Tutsi and moderate Hutu were systematically murdered through coordinated efforts by Hutu extremists. The genocide tends to be overlooked by many, as there have been beliefs that it is tied back to tribal hatred and conflict among ethnic groups; however, it is the emergence of modernity that contributes to the violence in Rwanda. Drawing from primary and secondary sources, this study argues that the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda was a product of modernity, as the postcolonial modern development in Rwanda influenced how such genocidal actions were achieved in such a short period of time. Bureaucratic organization, propaganda, and technology enabled the spread of hatred and dehumanization of the Tutsi and moderate Hutu, mass mobilizing individuals in Rwanda to carry out genocide. The work of Zygmunt Bauman guides this study as he is one of the first scholars to evaluate modernity in the age of genocide. This study analyzes the use of the Radio Television Libre de Mille Collines (RTLM), the recruitment of children in the Interahamwe, and the use of agricultural warfare as modern tools of violence during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.