AbstractJulia Bloechl, MCAS '20 in International Studies, discusses her research conducted in the summer of 2019 with the assistance of a summer research grant from the Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

AbstractWhen Europe began colonizing Rwanda in the late nineteenth century, the Anglican Church played a significant and long-lasting role in controlling the colony through the Ruanda Mission. This informative volume shows how the church repeatedly aligned with the regime in power and failed to take account of its own history in fomenting ethnic tensions prior to the 1994 genocide. In recent years, the media has depicted Rwanda as a model of unity, development, and recovery, yet Phillip A. Cantrell II argues that not all is as it seems, as he takes a critical look at the church's complicity with authoritarian rule—from the Tutsi monarchy to the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Drawing from new archival materials as well as on-the-ground field research, Revival and Reconciliation is a Rwanda-centered account of the country's ecclesiastical and national historiography. Cantrell calls attention to the harms the postgenocide church risks doing should it continue to support false narratives about Rwanda's colonial and postcolonial past—with dangerous consequences for the future

AbstractJoin the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre for the launch of Professor Philippe Denis’ much anticipated new book, The Genocide against the Tutsi and the Rwandan Churches: Between Grief and Denial (James Currey/Boydell & Brewer). The launch includes an opening talk by historian and outgoing president of Ibuka France, Marcel Kabanda, on “Rwanda 1994, the Catholic Church at the test of the Tutsi genocide.”

AbstractPioneering study of the role of the Christian churches in the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi; a key work for historians, memory studies scholars, religion scholars and Africanists

AbstractThis volume deals with the contexts of violence. In an age of increasing concern for this type of missionary work, the missions community needs to hear from those that have reflected on the multifaceted elements involved in understanding the phenomenon of martyrdom-persecution violence as it relates to telling the age-old Gospel story. The place to begin is with Biblical and theological analysis followed by the grounding provided by constructing consequent lifestyles, strategies and practices in physically risky settings. Finally, insights from the live settings of violence are warranted.

AbstractEmmanuel Katongole & Graham Joseph Hill discuss Rwanda as a mirror to the church worldwide. They discuss identity, lament, healing, reconciliation, hope, and forgiveness. Episode 8 of Faith Across Borders, a Christian podcast hosted by Graham Joseph Hill at https://open.spotify.com/show/29rtTVf... Here's the description of Katongole's book: "Rwanda is often held up as a model of evangelization in Africa. Yet in 1994, beginning on the Thursday of Easter week, Christians killed other Christians, often in the same churches where they had worshiped together. The most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. With a mother who was a Hutu and a father who was a Tutsi, author Emmanuel Katongole is uniquely qualified to point out that the tragedy in Rwanda is also a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Rwanda brings us to a cry of lament on our knees where together we learn that we must interrupt these patterns of brokenness But Rwanda also brings us to a place of hope. Indeed, the only hope for our world after Rwanda’s genocide is a new kind of Christian identity for the global body of Christ—a people on pilgrimage together, a mixed group, bearing witness to a new identity made possible by the Gospel." Katongole's research interests focus on politics and violence in Africa, the theology of reconciliation, and Catholicism in the global South. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain and a diploma in theology and religious studies from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Katongole, a Catholic priest ordained by the Archdiocese of Kampala, has served as associate professor of theology and world Christianity at Duke University, where he was the founding co-director of the Duke Divinity School’s Center for Reconciliation. He is the author of books on the Christian social imagination, the crisis of faith following the genocide in Rwanda, and Christian approaches to justice, peace, and reconciliation. His most recent book is The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa (Eerdmans, 2010). Professor Katongole's other books include Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda, (Zondervan, 2009), A Future for Africa: Critical Essays in Christian Social Imagination (University of Scranton Press, 2005), African Theology Today (University of Scranton Press, 2002), and Beyond Universal Reason: The Relation Between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas (Notre Dame Press, 2000). As a major part of his research at the Kroc Institute, Katongole will contribute to Contending Modernities, a cross-cultural research and education initiative examining Catholic, Muslim, and secular forces in the modern world. Graham Joseph Hill's ministry website is www.GrahamJosephHill.com

AbstractEmmanuel Katongole & Graham Joseph Hill discuss Rwanda as a mirror to the church worldwide. They discuss identity, lament, healing, reconciliation, hope, and forgiveness. On "The GlobalChurch Project". Shortened version of interview. Full 45-minute version available at https://theglobalchurchproject.com Here's the description of Katongole's book: "Rwanda is often held up as a model of evangelization in Africa. Yet in 1994, beginning on the Thursday of Easter week, Christians killed other Christians, often in the same churches where they had worshiped together. The most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. With a mother who was a Hutu and a father who was a Tutsi, author Emmanuel Katongole is uniquely qualified to point out that the tragedy in Rwanda is also a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Rwanda brings us to a cry of lament on our knees where together we learn that we must interrupt these patterns of brokenness But Rwanda also brings us to a place of hope. Indeed, the only hope for our world after Rwanda’s genocide is a new kind of Christian identity for the global body of Christ—a people on pilgrimage together, a mixed group, bearing witness to a new identity made possible by the Gospel." Katongole's research interests focus on politics and violence in Africa, the theology of reconciliation, and Catholicism in the global South. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain and a diploma in theology and religious studies from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Katongole, a Catholic priest ordained by the Archdiocese of Kampala, has served as associate professor of theology and world Christianity at Duke University, where he was the founding co-director of the Duke Divinity School’s Center for Reconciliation. He is the author of books on the Christian social imagination, the crisis of faith following the genocide in Rwanda, and Christian approaches to justice, peace, and reconciliation. His most recent book is The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa (Eerdmans, 2010). Professor Katongole's other books include Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda, (Zondervan, 2009), A Future for Africa: Critical Essays in Christian Social Imagination (University of Scranton Press, 2005), African Theology Today (University of Scranton Press, 2002), and Beyond Universal Reason: The Relation Between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas (Notre Dame Press, 2000). As a major part of his research at the Kroc Institute, Katongole will contribute to Contending Modernities, a cross-cultural research and education initiative examining Catholic, Muslim, and secular forces in the modern world. Graham Joseph Hill is the Founder and Director of The GlobalChurch Project (the website https://theglobalchurchproject.com). The GlobalChurch Project films Christian leaders and churches from Africa and Asia and Latin America. We also film in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, First Nations, Indigenous communities, the Middle East, and Oceania, and in diaspora and immigrant communities. Today, these non-Western cultures are the Majority World. The GlobalChurch Project presents resources to support these films. Small group resources. Curriculum for college classes. Books. Training videos. A blog. Coaching. Consultancy. College and short courses.

Abstract"We learn who we are as we walk together in the way of Jesus. So I want to invite you on a pilgrimage." "Rwanda is often held up as a model of evangelization in Africa. Yet in 1994, beginning on the Thursday of Easter week, Christians killed other Christians, often in the same churches where they had worshiped together. The most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. With a mother who was a Hutu and a father who was a Tutsi, author Emmanuel Katongole is uniquely qualified to point out that the tragedy in Rwanda is also a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Rwanda brings us to a cry of lament on our knees where together we learn that we must interrupt these patterns of brokenness."

AbstractCivil war, famine, genocide, AIDS--the peoples of Africa have endured horrific human tragedies. Those crises plus widespread economic, political, and social instability have combined to produce what some consider a dire and nearly hopeless situation. Even as this book was going to press, the leaders of the G-8 nations were meeting to talk about what could be done to ""aid Africa"" in these critical times. A careful look at history would indicate that the answer must come from within Africa and from the African people themselves, not from other nations or the economic programs and solutions

AbstractAnselm House Communities: https://anselmhouse.org/communities/ Get Info & Schedule a Visit: http://anselmhouse.org/visit The 24th annual Holmer Lecture featured Dr. Emmanuel Katongole, Professor of Theology and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The November 14, 2019 lecture was co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Department of African American and Africa Studies and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Twenty-five years ago in Rwanda, Christian leaders and laypersons contributed to the massacre of their neighbors only a few days after celebrating Easter. During the violence that enveloped the country between April and July 1994, an estimated 500,000 to one million Tutsi and their perceived Hutu and Twa allies were killed in a country in which nearly 90% of the population identified as Christian. Why and how did Christians become involved in the 1994 genocide? And yet a minority group of churches and Christian leaders did oppose genocidal violence and pursue peaceful resistance. How do stories of participation in and resistance to violence relate to the journey of reconciliation in Rwanda and around the world? What does it look like for Christians to embody an ethic of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation given the culpability of Christians and churches in past injustice and violence? Professor Tade Okediji (UMN Applied Economics; African American and African Studies) and Brooke Chambers (UMN Sociology PhD candidate and 2018 Badzin Fellow in Holocaust & Genocide Studies) offered responses to the lecture.

AbstractRevision of a paper originally prepared for a Conference on Genocide, Religion, and Modernity at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 11-13 May, 1997.

AbstractAn inclusive look at the causes and consequences of the Rwandan genocide. -- Provided by publisher

AbstractAt a time of significant change in the in the practice of African history, this article is an appeal for a renewed respect for conventional historiography — referring both to careful acquaintance with earlier work and to the practice of historical analysis. Focusing on Rwanda, the argument is presented at four levels. First, it identifies four myths evident in recent presentations on Rwandan history. Second it assesses a work that avoids such assumptions by drawing on broader empirical sources than is the norm. It then examines a work that, while highlighting an important theme, neglects much of the historical work done on Rwanda over the past forty years. It concludes by proposing a way out of such "dead-end discourses." Au moment où l'on voit des changements importants apparaître dans la pratique d'écriture de l'histoire africaine, cet article se présente comme un appel au respect renouvelé pour l'historiographie conventionnelle, évoquant à la fois l'importance d'une connaissance approfondie des œuvres antérieures, et la pratique de l'analyse historique. L'argument est présenté sur quatre niveaux, tout en se concentrant sur l'exemple de l'histoire du Rwanda. Premièrement, il identifie quatre mythes manifestes dans des présentations récentes sur l'histoire du Rwanda. Ensuite il examine une œuvre qui évite ce type d'idées préconçues en se basant sur plus de sources empiriques qu'il n'est coutume dans la pratique. Enfin, il examine une œuvre qui, bien qu'elle mette en lumière un thème important, néglige de se référer à la plupart du travail historique fait sur le Rwanda au cours des quarante dernières années. Cet exposé propose en conclusion une alternative à ce type de "discours sans perspectives."

AbstractOriginally presented as the author's thesis (master's)--University of Rwanda, 2013

AbstractThree years ago in September 2005 a sociotherapy program started in the former Byumba province in the North of Rwanda. Sociotherapy is a method which enables people to come in small groups together, to reconnect and rebuild their personal lives and their community. This book is written This book is written mainly by sociotherapists themselves. It tells about their perception of life and what they were able to give to their community through sociotherapy.

AbstractIn 1994, genocide put Rwanda on the map for most of the world. It also exposed one of the most shameful scandals of the Rwandan churches-the complicity of the Christian churches in the genocide. Rwanda is the most Christian country in Africa. More than 90% of its people are baptized Christians, with the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches having the greatest number of adherents. According to Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "The story of Rwanda shows both sides of our humanity. The churches were sometimes quite superb in what they did in the face of intimidation and at great cost to themselves. But there were other times when [they] failed dismally and seemed to be implicated in ways that have left many disillusioned, disgruntled and angry." Genocide In Rwanda provides a variety of perspectives through which to assess the complex questions and issues surrounding the topic, and, even raise some new questions that could provide some new insight into this historical event. They are questions we must ask - otherwise, how can the Church begin to make moral restitution, change structures and behaviors, and once again reveal the human face of God in our fragile world?

AbstractThe anthropological and historical literature dealing with Africa abounds with references to a people called the 'Hamites'. 'Hamite', as used in these writings, designates an African population supposedly distinguished by its race-Caucasian-and its language family, from the Negro inhabitants of the rest of Africa below the Sahara. There exists a widely held belief in the Western world that everything of value ever found in Africa was brought there by these Hamites, a people inherently superior to the native populations. This belief, often referred to as the Hamitic hypothesis, is a convenient explanation for all the signs of civilization found in Black Africa. It was these Caucasoids, we read, who taught the Negro how to manufacture iron and who were so politically sophisticated that they organized the conquered territories into highly complex states with themselves as the ruling elites. This hypothesis was preceded by another elaborate Hamitic theory. The earlier theory, which gained currency in the sixteenth century, was that the Hamites were black savages, 'natural slaves'-and Negroes. This identification of the Hamite with the Negro, a view which persisted throughout the eighteenth century, served as a rationale for slavery, using Biblical interpretations in support of its tenets. The image of the Negro deteriorated in direct proportion to the growth of the importance of slavery, and it became imperative for the white man to exclude the Negro from the brotherhood of races. Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798 became the historical catalyst that provided the Western World with the impetus to turn the Hamite into a Caucasian. The Hamitic concept had as its function the portrayal of the Negro as an inherently inferior being and to rationalize his exploitation. In the final analysis it was possible because its changing aspects were supported by the prevailing intellectual viewpoints of the times

AbstractThis study analyses the role of religion in the Rwandan genocide, providing new explanations to the complex dynamics of devaluation and victimisation processes in genocidal violence. The thesis explains how religion was used in different contexts prior to, during, and after the 1994 genocide. The following questions guide this study: What kinds of religious concepts and arguments were used in the context of the Rwandan genocide, and how? Why were they used and what did these concepts and arguments mean? Finally, did the meanings of the religious arguments change over time and between different contexts, and if so why? Texts from three sources were analysed: the Hutu extremist propaganda in Kangura magazine and in RTLM broadcasts, and testimonies from the ICTR trials. The analysis was guided by Roger Dale Petersen’s theory on Fear, Hatred, and Resentment, as well as theories on devaluation, social identity, self-victimisation, and competitive victimhood. This thesis utilises the computer software MAXQDA to search for concepts and arguments, which are analysed through the contextual approach developed by Quentin Skinner. This thesis demonstrates that the Hutu propagandists used religious mythology to argue that the Tutsis were not of Rwandan origin and therefore had no rights in Rwanda. The devaluation of the Tutsi was not only or even primarily done through downgrading animalistic epithets, but through the elevation of Tutsis with emphasis on the historical, and allegedly divine, superiority of the Tutsi. This devaluation allowed the Hutu extremists to claim victimhood, a necessary conviction to argue that violence committed by the Hutus were acts of self-defence. In the deeply Christian context of Rwanda, the extremist Hutu propagandists constructed a Hutu God, while claiming that the Tutsis were non-Christian, irreligious, or atheists, in order to create different religious identities for the two groups. This study also assesses the judicial aftermath, and argues that religious concepts were used in similar ways in ICTR testimonies to claim innocence, credibility, and victimhood. This thesis thus sheds new light on the importance of religious belief systems in genocidal violence, highlighting the crucial role of religion prior to, during, and after the genocide in Rwanda.

AbstractThe stories of Rwandans transformed from haters to healers, bringers of violence to makers of peace.

AbstractSites of violence often provoke conflicts over memorialization. These conflicts provide insight into the construction and use of memory as a means of achieving public recognition of past wrongs. In this groundbreaking collection, scholars of religious studies, sociology, history, and political science, as well as African, Caribbean, Jewish, and Native American studies, examine the religious memorialization of violent acts that are linked to particular sites. Supported by the essays gathered here, the editors argue that memory is essential to religion and, conversely, that religion is inherent in memory. Other books have considered memory and violence, or religion and place—this collection is the first to discuss the intersection of all four.Contributors are David Chidester, James H. Foard, Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht, Juan A. Herrero Brasas, Janet Liebman Jacobs, Flora A. Keshgegian, J. Shawn Landres, Edward T. Linenthal, Timothy Longman, Tania Oldenhage, Michelene E. Pesantubbee, Terry Rey, William Robert, Théoneste Rutagengwa, Oren Baruch Stier, Jonathan Webber, and James E. Young.

AbstractMarcel Uwineza, S.J., a Jesuit priest studying at Boston College, co-organizes an international conference that seeks to reimagine the Church and society in post-genocide Rwanda.

AbstractAn article about the ruthless press campaign against Catholic Church leaders in Rwanda which is jeopardizing the future harmony of the entire African continent.

AbstractThe first comprehensive examination of the Catholic Church’s role in the genocide against the Tutsi and its attempts at reconciliation. From April to July 1994, more than a million people were killed during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tutsi men, women, and children were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in churches and school buildings, and their lifeless bodies were left rotting in these sacred places under the deep silence of church authorities. Pope Francis’s apology more than twenty years later presents the opportunity to reimagine the essence of the Church, the missionary enterprise, theology in its multiple dimensions, the purification of memory, and the place of human dignity in the Catholic faith. Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda critically examines the Church’s responsibility in Rwanda’s tragic history and opens the dialogue to construct a new theology. Contributors to this volume offer moving personal testimonies of their journeys to reconciling the evil that has marred the Church’s image: bystanders’ indifference to the suffering, despite their claim as members of the Church. The first volume of its kind, Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda is a necessary step toward the Rwandan Catholic Church and humanity’s restoration of fundamental peace and lasting reconciliation. Catholic clergy, lay people, and human rights advocates will benefit from this examination of ecclesial moral failure and subsequent reconciliatory efforts.

AbstractThis year marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, a human rights atrocity that left approximately one million Tutsi dead over the course of about 100 days. Marcel Uwineza, a Jesuit priest and Boston College graduate, was a young teen in Rwanda in 1994. He was beaten and his home and all his family's belongings were burned. His two brothers, a sister, and an aunt were killed. In Risen From The Ashes, Fr. Uwineza reviews the history that led to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and recounts the painful experience of being a witness to the genocide. He also writes of his journey to the priesthood and the liberating power of forgiveness, specifically, the moment when he forgave the man who killed his siblings. His book offers an inspiring challenge to theologians and ecclesial ministers to prayerfully reconsider the depth of their vocation, their craft, and their mission.-- BC website

AbstractFrom the 1930s the East African Revival influenced Christian expression in East Central Africa and around the globe. This book analyses influences upon the movement and changes wrought by it in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Congo, highlighting its impact on spirituality, political discourse and culture. A variety of scholarly approaches to a complex and changing phenomenon are juxtaposed with the narration of personal stories of testimony, vital to spirituality and expression of the revival, which give a sense of the dynamism of the movement. Those yet unacquainted with the revival will find a helpful introduction to its history. Those more familiar with the movement will discover new perspectives on its influence.