Becoming Rwandan: Education, Reconciliation, and the Making of a Post-Genocide Citizen

In the aftermath of the genocide, the Rwandan government has attempted to use the education system as a way to sustain peace and shape a new generation of Rwandans-a generation focused on a unified and patriotic future rather than the ethnically divisive past. Through the teaching of citizenship, human rights, and reconciliation, the government has sought to mitigate intergroup conflict and promote reconciliation across groups. Yet the government’s efforts to manipulate global models around citizenship, human rights, and reconciliation to serve its national goals have had mixed results, with new tensions emerging across social groups. Becoming Rwandan argues that although the Rwandan government utilizes global discourses in national policy documents, the way in which teachers and students engage with these global models distorts the intention of the government, resulting in unintended consequences and undermining a sustainable peace.