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Since taking power in July 1994, the RPF government has strived to eliminate the Hutu/Tutsi identities from public discourse, replacing the previous divisive identities with a unified nationalist one. For those who use Hutu/Tutsi identities outside the context of the genocide, they are considered genocidaire sympathisers, negationists and spreading divisionism. However, within the context of the genocide, the role of “ethnicity” is being reinforced and reaffirming ethnic divisions. In 2008, the Rwandan parliament officially changed the 1994 Rwandan genocide to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Based on ethnographic data collected from March until October 2008, this paper will argue that within the public discourse on the genocide, the victim/perpetrator dichotomy has become intertwined with the Tutsi/Hutu identities, creating a hierarchy of victimhood. It will explore how through the process of reconciliation and in particular through gacaca the Hutu and Tutsi identities are imbued with collective guilt and victimization.

The social categories “Hutu” and “Tutsi” have long been central to Rwandan politics, though never more so than during the 1994 genocide, when they formed the ultimate divide: kill (Hutu) or be killed (Tutsi). Since then, the Rwandan government has sought to eliminate these categories and replace them with a new, national identity category of “Rwandan.” This chapter draws on theories of state symbolic power and legibility to analyze how top-down projects of remaking Rwandans are being received from below. Specifically, we examine ordinary Rwandans' responses to gacaca, a community justice practice central to the state's National Unity and Reconciliation Program, and find Rwandans resent efforts to “unmake race” in favor of “nation” because the state's account of genocide in gacaca does not allow them to sincerely express their experiences; it activates traumatic pasts for what they feel is superficial national reconciliation; and it detracts from their material needs. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between compliance and conviction in research on state efforts to transform civilian subjectivities. They also suggest directions for further research. Namely, future research on state symbolic power should attend to how individual experiences with violence mediate top-down efforts at remaking civilian subjectivities, to how different forms of governance shape civilian resistance to state categorization and classification projects, and to what kinds of interests are likely to motivate people to alter their self-perceptions. We conclude by arguing for more work on state race and nation-making from the perspectives of its targets.

The emergence of intrastate conflicts has not only laid bare the limitations of ‘liberal peace’ strategies but has also raised questions on the utility of such ‘top-down’ strategies in societies that use traditional methods for conflict resolution and transformation. Such limitations in liberal peace strategies have also generated interest in the utility of traditional conflict resolution and transformation methods, especially in the Global South. Using Volker Boege's framework of traditional conflict transformation and employing case studies from Papua New Guinea (PNG), Rwanda and Timor-Leste, this chapter argues why traditional methods of conflict resolution and transformation still bear relevance in societies where culture and custom play an important role in social harmony and peace. By discussing these cases and using the lessons learnt from their discussion, the chapter concludes that even with their apparent utility and use in ‘hybrid’ models of peace, such traditional methods should be employed with care and after understanding of various social, cultural and historical variables.

Bringing together anthropological and sociological conceptions of “the everyday” with the new social studies of childhood, this paper seeks to challenge the predominance of the trauma paradigm in understanding the impact of the 1994 Rwandan genocide upon children and youth.

In focus group and ethnographic research conducted with Rwandan children and young people aged between 12 and 25, the challenges identified were primarily within their everyday lives, relationships and environments.

Building on the assertion that “we have great resilience to keep going” the resiliency and agency of children and young people in negotiating an ongoing nexus between violence and peace is emphasized.

This is not to deny the horrendous nature of the genocide, or that there are some children with enduring severe psychological problems. However, the trauma paradigm is only one way of capturing the legacies of the genocide and can give rise to a misplaced emphasis on passivity and vulnerability. The framework of the everyday provides a holistic paradigm for policies and programmes addressing the situation of children and young people post‐conflict and builds upon their resources and competencies.

This paper offers a more complex and nuanced understanding of trauma, resilience and the legacies of genocide for children and young people.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) preservation efforts in South Africa, with a focus on the National Recordal System and the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centres (IKSDCs) across South Africa.

Anchored in the interpretivist paradigm, the qualitative research approach was adopted to explore the objectives of the study. The multiple case study method was considered appropriate and adopted for the study. The data for this study was collected through comprehensive face-to-face interviews and Web content analysis. The population of the study consisted of the staff at the IKSDCs in the selected academic institutions. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the following set of participants in each academic institution: IKS managers/coordinators, digitization officers and online collection administrators.

The findings provide an in-depth understanding of the IKS landscape in South Africa. The findings and recommendations of this paper would be useful to researchers who wish to know more about digitization efforts in South Africa. It would also be useful to all stakeholders and policymakers.

The paper brings to the fore the efforts of the South African government in preserving IKS through documentation and digitization. The paper highlights the sources of indigenous knowledge, types of indigenous knowledge captured, how the indigenous knowledge is ingested in the repositories and how the data is captured. Generally, the roles of the IKSDCs in the capture and preservation of IKS are highlighted.

The purpose of this study is to explore indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms for resolving ethnic-based conflicts between the Awi and Gumuz communities in Ethiopia.

This study followed a qualitative research approach and it has a case study design that is appropriate to collect in-depth information about indigenous mechanisms of resolving conflicts that arise between Awi and Gumuz ethnic groups. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document review.

The results revealed that the Awi and Gumuz ethnic groups resolve conflict through the elder council or shimigilina. This indigenous mechanism conflict resolution mechanism is well recognized, accepted and respected both by the Awi and Gumuz ethnic groups. Shimiglina has different phases and rituals which are finally concluded by kale-mehala (oath) or promising not to take revenge and harm. The Awi and Gumuz ethnic groups view shimigilina as a vital and effective conflict resolution mechanism.

This study clearly indicated important implications for policy, practice and future research. The Awi and Gumuz communities have used the elders’ council (shimiglina) to solve ethnic-based conflicts for a long time. Therefore, there should be policy frameworks at different levels (national, regional and local) for the integration of the elders’ council with the formal justice system. Put in other words, this indigenous conflict resolution mechanism should be properly organized and institutionalized. However, a comprehensive study should be conducted to understand how to organize and institutionalize this indigenous conflict resolution mechanism.

This is an original study that contributes to peacebuilding by discovering the role of indigenous knowledge in conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

In this paper, I apply the discourse of transitional justice to the case study of survivor docents at the Japanese American National Museum, a site that has come to represent and serve as a form of reparation for the traumatic memory of Japanese American internment during World War II. As a longer term supplement to trials or Truth and Reconciliation Commissions or an alternative in cases where no such structures exist, I illustrate how the museum tour becomes an empowering platform for survivors of the American Internment camps to work through and instrumentalize traumatic memories within the dialogic museum sphere, even as this alternative space forms its own new silences. Thus, by applying the very theories and criticisms through which scholars of memory politics evaluate official platforms of transitional justice, I aim to complicate and evaluate this alternative form of testimony, and in so doing explore areas of growth in the fields of both transitional justice and museum practice. Bridging the gap between testimony, oral history, and museum interpretation, survivor docents represent a sustained dialogic approach to history that perpetuates, preserves, and activates – rather than resolves – discourse around contentious memories.

The conflict in Darfur reached crisis proportions in 2003 when rebel groups began to attack Government of Sudan forces. These attacks were motivated by years of neglect by the government and by political polarization of the area. Despite ceasefires and peace talks, the violence continues in 2018. This essay examined the crisis in Darfur from the perspective of social structure. Three social structures were identified: global climate change, race, and gender. Although there are significant complexities associated with these three social structures, possible paths to agency for the people of Darfur are discussed.