May 28, 2009, Government Officials Enrolled
Posted on 6/8/2009
Reporting from Rwanda
Dispatch #3
May 28, 2009
By Samuel Totten
Last night, I conducted the first class session for the first course in the new master's degree in genocide studies that I designed for the National University of Rwanda (NUR). All day long, I was both excited and a bit nervous at the prospect of teaching a course on genocide "History of Genocide in the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries" to a group of individuals who experienced a relatively recent genocide (the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the extermination of between 500,000 and 1 million individuals in some 100 days during the spring and early summer of 1994).
Teaching a course on genocide is never easy as it involves both extremely complex issues and highly emotional subject matter. Teaching a course to survivors of a recent genocide is of another magnitude altogether. Such individuals have not necessarily studied about genocide (though some may have), but they have seen it up close. They have experienced the abject fear, witnessed the brutal killing of their loved ones and friends, seen the piles of bodies that had been hacked to death, smelled the sickly sweet scent of rotting bodies, and no doubt continue to experience daily grief due to their immense losses.
Introductions
As I prepared for the class in the days leading up to the first class session, I kept asking myself: "Without sounding patronizing or, conversely, arrogant, how do I fully convey that I realize that they, the students, have knowledge and experiences about genocide I certainly don't have and will likely never have and yet I am here to guide them through the study of the history of genocide and believe I have something of value to offer them?" Perhaps, I thought, I should simply speak from the heart.
The very day of the class I decided that, even though there were 31 individuals registered for the course, it was imperative to take the time to have each and every person introduce him/herself to me and the rest of the class. That decision proved to be extremely wise and valuable.
At about 5:15 p.m., folks began to arrive to class, which is actually a meeting room at The Commission for the Fight Against Genocide. By 5:30 p.m., most of the students were present, and by 5:35 p.m., class was under way. I was introduced to the class by the coordinator of the genocide master's degree program, Ms. Justine Mbazi. She kindly welcomed me as a professor from the United States, noted that I had designed the master's degree in genocide studies and had served as a Fulbright Scholar with the Centre for Conflict Management at the National University of Rwanda last year. She also noted that I was heading up the implementation of the new genocide studies program.
After thanking Justine for the nice introduction, I stated that it was a distinct honor to have been asked to teach the first course in the new genocide studies program and that it was a special honor, and one that humbled me, to teach such a course to so many who had experienced genocide. I noted that I certainly did not have the experiences that they had, and that, indeed, the closest I had come to seeing the brutalities of genocide up close was in 2004 when I served as one of the 24 investigators with the U.S. State Department Atrocities Documentation Project along the Chad/Darfur border where we interviewed over 1,000 recent refugees from the killing fields in Darfur. I told the group of assembled students who ranged in age from their late 20s to their mid-50s, with most in their 30s and 40s that I truly saw this course as an opportunity to learn from one another in that we all had unique backgrounds, experiences and knowledge vis-à-vis the subject of genocide.
Next, I said that I thought it would be worthwhile to have everyone introduce him/herself by stating his or her name, affiliation, position and interest in genocide studies. What was unveiled in the next 15 minutes was astonishing astonishing in regard to the backgrounds of the individuals, their respective positions, and the fact that such high powered and highly respected individuals in Rwanda had enrolled for a master's degree in genocide studies.
Among the 31 individuals were the following:
- A Rwandan Supreme Court Justice
- A Member of the Rwandan Parliament
- The Secretary General of The Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (who had formerly served as the Rwandan Minister of Justice)
- The Executive Secretary of IBUKA, the umbrella organization of all organizations in Rwanda working on the behalf of the survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide
- The Director of the Unit of Memory/National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide
- Two staff people from Rwandan President Paul Kagame's office
- Two staff people from the Rwandan National Prosecution Authority
- The Director of Training and Research Institute of Legal Practice and Development
- A highly respected journalist
- Several academics, among others
As I told the group, I have NEVER had such a remarkable group of students in my entire teaching career, meaning individuals with such significant positions and backgrounds.
"Earlier," I noted, "I told you that I was humbled to be your instructor. I must say that after hearing who you are, your affiliations and positions I am more than humbled, more than honored, and I thank all of you for giving me the wonderful opportunity to teach this course with you in it." I meant every single word I said.
Assignments and Theory
The next part of the class session involved going over the syllabus; highlighting the assignments (a paper, a major group presentation, and a final, comprehensive examination); and the books for the course (both of which I co-edited and contributed to: The Genocide Studies Reader edited by Samuel Totten and Paul R. Bartrop, who is a historian based in Australia; and Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts edited by Samuel Totten and William S. Parsons, who is the Chief of Staff, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). I explained that I did not select the books because I edited them but because both were ideal for the course on the history of genocide and both were up-to-date in that each had recently been published in 2009 by Routledge Publishers.
The last half of the class involved a discussion of how we would use key theories, the wording of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide (UNCG), and hard facts from the cases of various atrocities to conduct our analyses throughout the course. I explained that some of the cases we were going to examine during the course such as the 1932-1933 Soviet Manmade Famine in Ukraine, the atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia, the Serb-perpetrated massacre of Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, and the ongoing crisis in Darfur (2003 through today) have been classified by some as genocide but that such a designation has been contested by others.
Only by using key theories, legal terms in legal documents, findings in court cases at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and other legal bodies, along with the facts of each case, would we be able to make an objective decision in regard to the most applicable designation of such cases. Finally, I shared with them that I welcomed debate, but those who engaged in any debate over any issue had to present hard evidence from solid sources and not rely on their own opinions or the opinions of others bereft of solid evidence.
Mind-Map
We concluded the class session with the development of a graphic organizer frequently referred to as a "mind-map" or "cluster of ideas." I modeled a simplistic mind map around the target word "Holocaust," and then asked the students if the mind map was detailed enough to provide an actual "picture" or understanding of what the individual knew about the Holocaust. When a number of students said "No" and/or shook their heads back and forth, I asked them to provide an explanation.
I concurred with their comments that the notations were general and bereft of specifics and added other insights. I then modeled a much more detailed and comprehensive mind-map of the Holocaust, and asked the students if this mind-map was stronger than the first; and, if so, why and how. Following a discussion of the latter, I asked each student to create his or her own mind-map around the target word "genocide." Assuming that most had never created a mind-map of this sort, I provided a list of eight to 10 possible categories (e.g., the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG), theories of genocide, various cases of genocide, the prevention of genocide, the intervention of genocide, the United Nations and genocide) for them to consider.
That way, I figured, they would at least have a starting point and not be reduced to looking at the blank piece of paper in front of them. I also said, "Once you've completed your mind-map which you should do on your own without looking at the syllabus, any books or assistance from those sitting next to you please create your own definition of genocide based on your mind-map. If, as you are creating your definition, you discover you've left something of great significance off your mind-map then go ahead and add it."
Twenty minutes later, I asked for the folks to finish up their mind-maps. I then assigned the following for homework: "Various individuals have attempted to delineate the so-called stages of genocide. One individual, Gregory Stanton, a lawyer and historian who was involved in the establishment of the current tribunal in Cambodia trying the remnant of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity and genocide, has developed an outline that he calls The Eight Stages of Genocide.' While I greatly respect Greg Stanton, am friends with him, and have worked closely with him, I do not necessarily agree that what he has delineated constitutes THE final say vis-à-vis the stages of genocide. Thus, I wish each of you to take a good amount of time this weekend in order to come up with your own delineation of the stages of genocide. Please do not refer to Stanton's or anyone else's work for I am interested in your own thoughts and insights."
Concluding, I said, "Again, it is truly an honor to be here with you, to undertake this study of genocide with you, and I sincerely hope that I come to know each of you quite well over the course of the next month, and that we become good friends and colleagues in the process."
Word Spreads
With that I dismissed class. Folks stayed around for another 20 to 25 minutes chatting with me and one another and/or for the purpose of putting finishing touches on their mind-maps or definitions.
As we were walking back to our hotel, my colleague Rafiki Ubaldo said, "I assure you that tonight the phone lines and Blackberries will be buzzing all across Rwanda as the students in the class write and tell their friends and colleagues about what they just experienced. And I assure you, people in the highest reaches of the government will be receiving such messages."
Interestingly, over the weekend, while we were in Butare, the home of the National University of Rwanda, in order to conduct an interview for a book we are working on about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rafiki and I bumped into Paul Rutayisire, director of the Centre for Conflict Management at the Ibis Hotel, a favorite restaurant and bar in town, and he said: "I heard wonderful things about the class. The students loved it! They felt intellectually challenged and stimulated. People all over Rwanda received calls and e-mails Thursday evening about the course. It's becoming famous! Thank you!"
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