Susan Thomson, Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, recently had her work on Rwandan politics published in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.

From the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs:

There was no doubting that Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) would handily win September’s parliamentary elections, which it did with 76% of the vote. His party has ruled the country since July 1994, when it successfully ended the genocide of more than 500,000 ethnic Tutsi. In theory, the RPF was contending with nine other parties. In practice, Rwanda’s nearly six million voters had little choice on the ballot. A total of 98% of the votes went to the RPF and its four coalition parties. The additional five parties were not allowed to participate.

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Jonathan Hyslop (Peace and Conflict Studies, Africana and Latin American Studies, Sociology and Anthropology), along with faculty from English, History, ALANA Cultural Center, and the Office of the President, helped organize a celebration of the late Nelson Mandela on December 12th, 2013.

You can watch a recording of the event below:

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Peace and Conflict Studies major Jimmy Juarez ’15 was recently interviewed by Timmera Whaley ’15 for a student profile for the Office of Undergraduate Studies. In the interview, Juarez discusses his experiences studying abroad, in class at Colgate, and advice he has for this year’s first-year class.

CLICK TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

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Information from The University of Wisconsin Press

“Provides a rich discussion of the contemporary Rwandan context, giving voice to people who are largely excluded from public discussions of Rwanda. A much-needed corrective to the cheery presentation of Rwanda in the popular press.”
—Timothy Longman, author of Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda

For 100 days in 1994, genocide engulfed Rwanda. Since then, many in the international community have praised the country’s postgenocide government for its efforts to foster national unity and reconciliation by downplaying ethnic differences and promoting “one Rwanda for all Rwandans.” Examining how ordinary rural Rwandans experience and view these policies, Whispering Truth to Power challenges the conventional wisdom on postgenocide Rwanda.

Susan Thomson finds that many of Rwanda’s poorest citizens distrust the local officials charged with implementing the state program and believe that it ignores the deepest problems of the countryside: lack of land, jobs, and a voice in policies that affect lives and livelihoods. Based on interviews with dozens of Rwandan peasants and government officials, this book reveals how the nation’s disenfranchised poor have been engaging in everyday resistance, cautiously and carefully—“whispering” their truth to the powers that be. This quiet opposition, Thomson argues, suggests that some of the nation’s most celebrated postgenocide policies have failed to garner the grassroots support needed to sustain peace.

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