https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250406/reconciling-the-rwandan-genocide-ethnicity-vs-identity-survivor-healing-vs-perpetrator-trauma-1073074950.html
Reconciling the Rwandan Genocide: Ethnicity vs Identity, Survivor Healing vs Perpetrator Trauma
Reconciling the Rwandan Genocide: Ethnicity vs Identity, Survivor Healing vs Perpetrator Trauma
Sputnik Africa
In 1994, Rwanda’s genocide saw over 800,000 killed in 100 days. Today, the nation pursues radical reconciliation—abolishing ethnic labels, forcing killers and... 06.04.2025, Sputnik Africa
2025-04-06T12:02+0200
2025-04-06T12:02+0200
2025-05-14T17:44+0200
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Reconciling the Rwandan Genocide: Ethnicity vs Identity, Survivor Healing vs Perpetrator Trauma
Sputnik Africa
In 1994, Rwanda’s genocide saw over 800,000 killed in 100 days. Today, the nation pursues radical reconciliation—abolishing ethnic labels, forcing killers and survivors to coexist, and confronting perpetrator trauma. In this episode, we examine colonial roots and the psychological toll of enforced unity. Can genocide truly be reconciled?
In this powerful documentary-style podcast, we trace Rwanda’s unthinkable journey from genocide to reconciliation. Through archival audio and expert analysis, the episode opens in the 1930s, when Belgian colonizers imposed ethnic identity cards—seeding divisions that would erupt in 1994 with the slaughter of over 800,000 Tutsis in just 100 days. But Rwanda’s story didn’t end there. The nation embarked on a radical experiment: outlawing ethnic labels, trying 120,000 perpetrators in grassroots Gacaca courts, and mandating survivors and killers to live side by side in reconciliation villages. What can the world learn from this fraught pursuit of unity?Scholar and pracademic Cynthia Chigwenya guides us through the psychological minefield of post-genocide Rwanda. We examine the successes—like the 67% confession rate in Gacaca trials—and the unresolved tensions lurking beneath enforced cohesion. Most provocatively, we confront perpetrator trauma: how many killers, themselves manipulated by propaganda, now carry invisible wounds. With immersive soundscapes and firsthand accounts, this episode asks whether true reconciliation is possible when the past remains an open wound.To hear the full version, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Deezer, Podcast Addict and Afripods.► Check out all the episodes of AfroVerdict.
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podcasts, rwanda, genocide, trial, court, human rights, victims, commemoration, аудио
podcasts, rwanda, genocide, trial, court, human rights, victims, commemoration, аудио
Reconciling the Rwandan Genocide: Ethnicity vs Identity, Survivor Healing vs Perpetrator Trauma
12:02 06.04.2025 (Updated: 17:44 14.05.2025) Viktor Anokhin
Producer, Podcast host
In 1994, Rwanda’s genocide saw over 800,000 killed in 100 days. Today, the nation pursues radical reconciliation—abolishing ethnic labels, forcing killers and survivors to coexist, and confronting perpetrator trauma. In this episode, we examine colonial roots and the psychological toll of enforced unity. Can genocide truly be reconciled?
In this powerful documentary-style podcast, we trace Rwanda’s unthinkable journey from genocide to reconciliation.
Through archival audio and expert analysis, the episode opens in the 1930s, when Belgian colonizers imposed ethnic identity cards—seeding divisions that would erupt in 1994 with the slaughter of over 800,000 Tutsis in just 100 days.
But Rwanda’s story didn’t end there. The nation embarked on a radical experiment: outlawing ethnic labels, trying 120,000 perpetrators in grassroots Gacaca courts, and mandating survivors and killers to live side by side in reconciliation villages. What can the world learn from this fraught pursuit of unity?
Scholar and pracademic Cynthia Chigwenya guides us through the psychological minefield of post-genocide Rwanda. We examine the successes—like the 67% confession rate in Gacaca trials—and the unresolved tensions lurking beneath enforced cohesion.
Most provocatively, we confront perpetrator trauma: how many killers, themselves manipulated by propaganda, now carry invisible wounds. With immersive soundscapes and firsthand accounts, this episode asks whether true reconciliation is possible when the past remains an open wound.
To hear the full version, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on
Telegram.
► Check out all the episodes of AfroVerdict. 
