This book brings together scholars and practitioners for a unique inter-disciplinary exploration of justice and memory within Rwanda. It explores the various strategies the state, civil society, and individuals have employed to come to terms with their past and shape their future. The main objective and focus is to explore broad and varied approaches to post-atrocity memory and justice through the work of those with direct experience with the genocide and its aftermath. This includes many Rwandan authors as well as scholars who have conducted fieldwork in Rwanda. By exploring the concepts of how justice and memory are understood the editors have compiled a book that combines disciplines, voices, and unique insights that are not generally found elsewhere. Including academics and practitioners of law, photographers, poets, members of Rwandan civil society, and Rwandan youth this book will appeal to scholars and students of political science, legal studies, French and francophone studies, African studies, genocide and post-conflict studies, development and healthcare, social work, education and library services.
Q. Why this book, and why now?
The book brings together scholars and practitioners for a unique interdisciplinary exploration of justice and memory within Rwanda. It explores the various strategies the state, civil society, and individuals have employed to come to terms with their past and shape their future. The book evolved from a conference on the twentieth anniversary of the Rwanda genocide held in Ogden, Utah. The main objective or focus of the volume is to explore broad and varied approaches to post-atrocity memory and justice through the work of those with direct experience with the genocide and its aftermath. This includes many Rwandan authors as well as scholars from around the world who have conducted fieldwork in Rwanda. By exploring the concepts of how justice and memory are understood, we have compiled a book that combines disciplines, voices, and unique insights that are not generally found elsewhere.
Q. Who should read this book?
We created the book for a wide audience. The chapters were written by academics and practitioners of law, photographers, poets, members of Rwandan civil society, and Rwandan youth. The book will appeal to scholars and students of political science, legal studies, French and francophone studies, African studies, genocide and post-conflict studies, development and healthcare and social work education, and library services, as well as those interested in how memory and justice intersect in the aftermath of conflict.
Q. What is the most important takeaway you hope your readers gain from this book?
As we encounter two major conflicts in the world today, how narratives of conflict are historically constructed, contextualized, complicated and critiqued – how they are or will be remembered, and what constitutes justice – in the perfervid aftermath are lessons worth considering. One of the takeaways from the book is that memory is vulnerable as, in some ways, even culpable. The book reflects a cross-section of the various perspectives on the events of 1994 and how, three decades later, the project of memory and memorializing can be seen and understood.
Q. How did you decide on the title and cover art?
The title is descriptive and fits with the other volumes in the larger series at Routledge; the cover art was suggested by the publisher.
Professor Ansah teaches Contracts, International Human Rights, International & Comparative Law, Law & Literature, Conflicts, and Legal Theory. He joined the faculty at New England School of Law – Boston in 2002, and received tenure there in 2007. Before joining the New England faculty, he was a visiting assistant professor at Syracuse University College of Law. Prior to that, he was a legal consultant with JPMorgan Chase; a contract attorney for Cravath, Swaine & Moore; and an assistant prosecutor for the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, Canada. His international legal experience includes service with the Council of Europe (Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the United Nations Human Rights Field Operation (Kigali, Rwanda), and the United Nations Centre for Human Rights (Geneva). Professor Ansah was a Visiting Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve School of Law in the Fall of 2010. Upon joining the faculty at FIU College of Law in 2011, he served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for six years, and then as Acting Dean in 2017-2018.