Social cohesion in Rwanda: Results from a public good experiment

We describe a public good experiment, a type of economic experiment commonly used to examine feelings of prosociality—that is, behaviour which is positive, helpful and intended to promote social acceptance and friendship—and community cohesion, carried out in Rwanda. Contributions in different parts of the country are affected by the local intensity of the 1994 genocide, with more generous contributions being made in areas where violence was greater. This supports earlier research indicating that conflict experience leads to greater prosociality. However, we also find that people who have not, themselves, been targets of violence give lower contributions than people who have. The considerable group‐related and regional differences in social behaviour may have implications for the country's policies to deal with social cohesion.     

Mobilising diasporas for justice. Opportunity structures and the presencing of a violent past

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how the global dominance of the transitional justice (TJ) discourse and practice – and the controversies and conflicts that arise around TJ – have come to make up an important context for diaspora mobilisation. The article looks at the increasingly globalised mechanisms and norms of transitional justice as a set of opportunity structures – political, legal and discursive – which shape diaspora mobilisation. Diaspora engagement in commemoration, truth-seeking and legal justice in relation to atrocities in Rwanda and Sri Lanka is studied. The article shows that in relation to Rwanda, state dominance and divides are largely replicated in the diasporic space, while the Sri Lankan case provides examples of how Tamil diaspora engagement have been able to reverse power dynamics around TJ. Combining opportunity structures with the concept of ‘past presencing’, the article shows how diaspora groups appropriate and strategise in relation to the dominant norms and practices of TJ, and how in doing so the past is performed and experienced in ways which are both personally and politically meaningful.     

Genocide Reconsidered: A Pragmatist Approach

The recent literature on genocide shows signs of taking what might be called a “processual turn,” with genocide increasingly understood as a contingent process rather than a singular event. But while this second generation's turn may be clear to those within the literature, the theory guiding the change is insufficiently specified. The theory regarding process and contingency is implicit, and, as such, genocide theory does not realize its full generative potential. The primary goal of this article is to provide a more robust theoretical framework for making sense of the continually evolving dimensions of genocide. It builds on the literature's existing foundations, most notably Mann's (2005) notion of “contingent escalations.” In the spirit of the recent revival of American Pragmatism in sociology, it draws on the work of Dewey, Mills, Follett, and Addams (among others) as part of a theoretical reconstruction using pragmatist concepts such as rupture, perplexity, vocabularies of motive, and experimentation to consider examples from the Rwandan genocide and show how we might explore the potential for non‐teleological intentionality on the part of genocidal actors. The result is an enhanced theoretical framework that offers “fresh eyes” for considering one of the worst (and most under‐theorized) social problems.     

A validity assessment of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™

Development organisations need easy-to-use and quick-to-implement indicators to quantify poverty when requested to measure program impact. In this paper we assess the validity of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™, a country-specific indicator based on ten closed questions on directly observable household characteristics, by its compliance to the SMART criteria. Each response receives a pre-determined score, such that the sum of these scores can be converted into the likelihood the household is living below the poverty line. We focus on the PPI scorecard for Rwanda, which was validated using two national household surveys conducted in 2005/06 and 2010/11. The PPI is Specific, Measurable, Available cost effectively, and Timely available. Yet, its Relevance depends on the way it is used. Although it accurately distinguishes poor from non-poor households, making it a useful reporting tool, its limited sensitivity to changes in poverty status restricts its usefulness for evaluating the impact of development projects.     

Narrating Genocide: Time,Memory, and Blame

More than 20 years have passed since the Rwandan genocide, yet we know little about how Rwandans remember the violence. This article draws upon more than 100 interviews with genocide survivors to assess collective memories of the atrocity. We find that survivors organize their narratives by conceptualizing the genocide as a watershed event that divides time into two distinct eras. When discussing the pregenocide period, survivors focus on macrolevel events and structures, locating blame for the genocide in institutions rather than on Rwandan citizens. By contrast, narratives of life after the genocide focus on perceived progress since 1994. We interpret these findings in light of the state's memory projects, the potential functionality of the memories, and the time needed for collective memories to resonate.     

Dilemmas of 'community' in post-emergency Rwanda

This paper examines social relations and social support in communities in Rwanda in the aftermath of genocide. Communities in Rwanda have experienced unprecedented fragmentation and reconstitution as a result of death, exile and the massive repatriation of refugees. A social education methodology was used to examine the feasibility of mobilising communities to support vulnerable children. This prompted questions about what is ‘community’ and the need to describe community rather than working from an aspirational model of what community ‘should be’. In workshops, chronic poverty and reconstituted family structures emerged as significant barriers to collective responsibility. The paper explores fundamental issues of the impact of violence on social identity in communities. Rwandan communities are struggling in their reconstruction efforts where the overwhelming concern is ‘to get on with it’. This paper raises the tension that is experienced in the development of community-based initiatives in which the voicing of ‘difference’ in communities is politically and psychologically threatening yet where such differences are fundamentally embedded in social relations and practice. La présente étude considère les relations sociales et les appuis sociaux au Rwanda parmi les séquelles du génocide. Les communautés du Rwanda ont expérimenté une fragmentation et une reconstitution sans précédent à cause du nombre des morts, du départ en exil et du retour en masse des réfugiés. Une méthodologie puisée dans l'éducation sociale a été employée pour examiner les possibilités de la mobilisation des communautés afin de soutenir des enfants en situation vulnérable. Elle a suscité des débats au sujet de la définition d'une ‘communauté’ et du besoin de la décrire au lieu de partir d'un modèle basé sur des aspirations orientées vers ce que ‘doit être’ une communauté. Pendant les ateliers réunis la pauvreté chronique et les structures familiales reconstituées ont été identifées comme des barrières d'importance contre la responsabilité collective. La présente étude explore les questions de base au sujet de l'influence de la violence sur l'identité sociale dans une communauté. Les communautés rwandaises poursuivent à grand-peine leurs luttes pour achever la reconstruction, et leur préoccupation principale est d'en finir aussi vite que possible. La présente étude souligne les tensions senties quand il s'agit de développer des initiatives basées dans la communauté là où l'expression de ‘différence’ dans les commaunautés constitue une menace sur le plan politique et psychologique, mais dans lesquelles de telles différences se trouvent néanmoins au coeur des relations et des pratiques sociales.     

Transforming gender roles in domestic and caregiving work: preliminary findings from engaging fathers in maternal,newborn, and child health in Rwanda

This article draws on Promundo and RWAMREC's programmatic experiences in Rwanda of implementing MenCare+, a gender transformative approach to engaging young and adult men (ages 15–35) in caregiving, maternal, newborn, and child health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. We present initial results from fathers' groups with more than 600 men, including the impact of participation in these groups on men's participation in care work. The results confirm the importance for practitioners' planning strategies to engage fathers to think beyond men's token participation in care work, to use father participation as an entry point to truly transform gender dynamics within the home. The article provides practical lessons learnt to guide other organisations interested in working with men to transform norms around fatherhood and care work.     

Youth,presence and agency: the case of Kigali’s motari

This paper concerns young men who drive motorcycle taxis in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. Through an ethnographic account of the livelihoods of these motari, it seeks to account for their continued presence in a city whose authorities are openly hostile to their business, yet in which they remain a significant social force. I argue that it is not either by the exercise of ‘agency’ that motari achieve a social presence in Kigali, but through the social relations in which they are engaged. These relations immobilise them and effectively prevent them from mounting any concerted political challenge to hostile city authorities. However, I suggest that this lack of agency is one reason for their significance, since it makes them available as a resource for the schemes of others. I use this case study to argue for a rethinking of the notion of agency in the anthropology of youth. Rather than celebrating autonomous action or the creative, subversive play of the young, I propose instead a relational understanding in which the capacities and opportunities presented by groups of people in social relations grounds their social significance. It may be the very fact of young people’s domination that makes them socially significant.