State Control of Historical Memory in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Ananya Karthik’s human rights capstone explores how Rwanda's gacaca court system, established as a more localized transitional justice mechanism after the Rwandan genocide, operated within an authoritarian political climate and made shaky progress towards its objectives of truth and reconciliation. She analyzes how the post-genocide government set up systems of surveillance and censorship to erase its own crimes from the record and stifle dissent among different communities. In doing so, she explores how the state exercised control over public gatherings in order to reconstruct historical memory and national consciousness. She hopes this paper sheds light on the complicated nuances of transitional justice and how processes of justice should include direct community voices, sound government oversight, and understandings of political context. Student project deposited by department for archival purposes. Original work unavailable for public download due to permission restriction preferences of the author.