A History of Rwandan Identity and Trauma: The Mythmakers' Victims
by: Fegley, Randall

Softcover. Lanham MD, Lexington Books, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 167 pages. Introduces basic information on Rwanda and how it has been viewed by the outside world. Chapter One describes early Rwanda's political and cultural development, traditional narratives, group migrations, the effects of German and later Belgian colonialism, and the introduction of Christianity. It concludes with a look at how this early history has been interpreted and reinterpreted. The second chapter discusses the end of Tutsi dominance and the 1959 Hutu Revolution. It details Hutu Power ideology, Belgian domestic politics, early acts of genocide, refugee movements, and economic and political stagnation. The text documents the development of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, its 1990 invasion, and the Arusha peace process. An account of the 1994 genocide follows. Drawing on numerous sources and fieldwork, it discusses this east central African nation's deeply seated cleavages, atrocious recent past, and the internal and external myths that have directed its history and national life. Clean copy.