While there are still many things that we do not understand about 1994, there are a few things that we are clearer on:
Why have we been working on this topic of so long? Twenty years is a long time. There are several reasons for this. First, we believe that despite the fact that we are not always producing scholarship at the pace of popular and political debates, it is better to take time and be as close to accurate as one can be. This is the best way to honor those that have passed. Collecting source material, interviewing individuals, comparing information and then rechecking it all takes time. In addition to this, new source material has become available over time and sometimes this prompts us to modify something. Some times it does not. Second, we began our research with an effort to understand what took placed in Rwanda during 1994 and we were naive in believing that that was the interest of all that we came across as well as most that engaged in similar work. This assumption has not been uniformly accurate and the growing pains with this realization took some time to deal with. Indeed, the research provided here has resulted in a large amount of unsubstantiated criticism. We welcome evidence-based engagement. Polemic accusations/discussions with no evidence are not useful. Third, information is hidden, released and removed all the time. As the terrain of available information shifts, the project has needed to adjust to the new environment. Actually, in this light, we have come to accept that this project will likely never end. This leads us to a different question.
Why have we decided to put our research online? From the beginning of this project, we felt that it was necessary to make our research and research process as transparent as possible (by posting information as it was being compiled) and taking advantage of the technology available to us (e.g., the internet). This has allowed us communicate to an audience in a way that more traditional models of scholarship do not generally facilitate. Rather than simply work on a project for ten years in silence and then publish our work in the often inaccessible prose of academia while real-world discussions about Rwandan political violence were underway, we chose and choose to provide some insights and data as we complete our more traditional effort as well as move in directions like comics that are not generally pursued by academics. This acknowledges that research and awareness does not occur in a vacuum. Indeed, we feel that the more eyes that could be shed on Rwanda, 1994 the more insights could be developed so that we would never have to experience and witness events like this again.
- 1) there were several forms of political violence being enacted at once (genocide - mass killing of an ethnic group, politicide - mass killing of a political group [moderate Hutus], civil war [between the invading Rwandan Patriotic Front and Rwandan government], random violence and vendetta/reprisal killings),
- 2) the extremist Hutu government as well as the Rwandan Patriotic Front engaged in violent activity against Rwandan citizens (i.e., civilian targeting) and
- 3) the majority of victims were likely Hutu and not Tutsi. These findings have implications for public policy, advocacy, humanitarian intervention as well as post-conflict reconstruction as they fundamentally shift our understandings regarding the “lessons” of Rwanda 1994. A more detailed discussion of our three points developed several years ago are found here.
Why have we been working on this topic of so long? Twenty years is a long time. There are several reasons for this. First, we believe that despite the fact that we are not always producing scholarship at the pace of popular and political debates, it is better to take time and be as close to accurate as one can be. This is the best way to honor those that have passed. Collecting source material, interviewing individuals, comparing information and then rechecking it all takes time. In addition to this, new source material has become available over time and sometimes this prompts us to modify something. Some times it does not. Second, we began our research with an effort to understand what took placed in Rwanda during 1994 and we were naive in believing that that was the interest of all that we came across as well as most that engaged in similar work. This assumption has not been uniformly accurate and the growing pains with this realization took some time to deal with. Indeed, the research provided here has resulted in a large amount of unsubstantiated criticism. We welcome evidence-based engagement. Polemic accusations/discussions with no evidence are not useful. Third, information is hidden, released and removed all the time. As the terrain of available information shifts, the project has needed to adjust to the new environment. Actually, in this light, we have come to accept that this project will likely never end. This leads us to a different question.
Why have we decided to put our research online? From the beginning of this project, we felt that it was necessary to make our research and research process as transparent as possible (by posting information as it was being compiled) and taking advantage of the technology available to us (e.g., the internet). This has allowed us communicate to an audience in a way that more traditional models of scholarship do not generally facilitate. Rather than simply work on a project for ten years in silence and then publish our work in the often inaccessible prose of academia while real-world discussions about Rwandan political violence were underway, we chose and choose to provide some insights and data as we complete our more traditional effort as well as move in directions like comics that are not generally pursued by academics. This acknowledges that research and awareness does not occur in a vacuum. Indeed, we feel that the more eyes that could be shed on Rwanda, 1994 the more insights could be developed so that we would never have to experience and witness events like this again.
