Genocide scholar Samuel Totten of the University of Arkansas reports from Rwanda in summer 2009, where he is teaching the first course in genocide studies at the National University of Rwanda. Totten developed the curriculum for a master’s degree program in genocide studies at the National University of Rwanda as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. Nearly 50 students are enrolled in the program, and Totten's two assistants are survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
June 25, 2009, Search for Funding
Posted on 7/15/2009
On my last day in Rwanda, I decided to try to meet with officials of the United States Agency for International Development about obtaining external funding for the master's degree program in genocide studies and prevention. When I got to the embassy and put in a call, no one was available. I called the director of education, whom I had briefly met with two days earlier, and asked her if she knew of any funding opportunities at all that USAID or the American Embassy had that could possibly provide funding for the National University of Rwanda's new master's degree in genocide studies and prevention. She stated that she was not aware of any.
June 21, 2009, Aiding Scholarship Students
Posted on 7/6/2009
Having spent three weeks on reconstituting the master's degree in genocide studies so that it once again would provide students with a global versus a parochial view of genocide studies and prevention, Rafiki Ubaldo and I have finally begun our effort to secure external funding for the master's degree program. The latter was something we had planned on doing from the outset of our arrival in Rwanda but due to the fact that the curriculum had been radically changed (and not for the better) either prior to or during the validation process at the National University of Rwanda, we had no choice but to focus all of our attention and time on a radical revision of the curriculum.
June 20, 2009, Curriculum Continues Evolving
Posted on 6/29/2009
Rafiki Ubaldo, my assistant, and I spent five hours revising the curriculum of the master's degree in genocide studies and prevention so that it, once again, had a global focus versus a Rwanda-centric focus (and one that was largely bereft of the prevention/intervention component so essential to a solid curriculum on genocide studies).
June 17, 2009, Murambi Survivor Tells His Story
Posted on 6/24/2009
From the moment I first met Emmanuel, I knew I needed to interview him.
June 8, 2009, Students Want to Make Impact
Posted on 6/19/2009
The student said that her idea was to develop, along with some of her fellow students in class, a radio show on genocide. She said that each show might feature a special topic – a topic that they (the producers of the show) knew would be of special interest to the citizens of Rwanda, or, conversely, topics actually suggested by listeners.
June 4, 2009, Presidential Consultation
Posted on 6/16/2009
It is not every day that a researcher or outsider has ready access to inner corridors of power within the country in which he or she is either conducting research and/or serving as a consultant. The fact that I had just that here in Rwanda speaks to the seriousness with which the development of the new master's degree in genocide studies is taken here.
June 2, 2009, Post-Genocide Progress
Posted on 6/10/2009
As we threaded our way through crowded Kigali traffic, circled the two beautifully manicured roundabouts near the city center with their neat rows of green and yellow hedges and multicolored lilies, and headed toward the outskirts of town, just the thought of heading to Butare and crossing over the scores of green-clad "land of a thousand hills" (milles collines) energized me.
May 28, 2009, Government Officials Enrolled
Posted on 6/8/2009
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.
May 28, 2009, Curriculum Conundrum
Posted on 6/4/2009
The warm glow from a kind welcome began to cool when hints started being dropped that the NUR Senate validation of the original curriculum I developed had resulted in some deletions and additions of courses.
May 24, 2009, On the Ground
Posted on 6/2/2009
The 1994 genocide, which began on April 6, 1994, and was halted the first week of July 1994, lasted 100 days. During that time, between 500,000 and 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slain at the hands of extremist Hutus wielding traditional farm tools such as hoes and machetes.
