tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65326781058674278842009-10-16T22:18:59.294-05:00a blog about my experiences conducting research in Rwanda, and my general musings about how the westerners perceive Africa.Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-32827504780695587372007-07-28T07:11:00.000-05:002007-07-28T07:59:51.640-05:00

Recently, the government of Rwanda has legally abolished the death penalty. This has been lauded by international human rights organisations and activists as proof of "... the political and democratic commitment of the country towards national reconciliation" (statement made by European commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel). I remain troubled by the unabashed

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-51149653710664968472007-07-26T08:36:00.001-05:002007-07-26T09:08:13.806-05:00

David Cameron, leader of the British Conservative Party, is currently in Rwanda. Yesterday, he spoke to the Rwanda's Lower Chamber where he called for increased trade between "Rich" and "Poor" Countries (See, for example, http://allafrica.com/stories/200707250331.html). I won't even comment on this as his arguments for increased aid transparency and a reduction in conditionality not only ring

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-74473732464606675612007-07-23T05:22:00.001-05:002007-07-23T06:09:20.094-05:00

i am bloody sick and tired of all these so-called Rwanda experts (what self-respecting expert uses the title expert anyway?) who say the country is back on track and doing it right. They fail to define 'it'. If they mean oppressive and authoritarian practices that piggy back the so-called success of the government in restoring peace, generating social harmony and reconciliation and promoting

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-13571197675277824312007-07-20T09:37:00.000-05:002007-07-20T09:57:29.585-05:00

So, the recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine has done a full feature issue on Africa. The general theme of the issue is a celebrity bonanza of what is being done to save Africa. My pessimistic feelings about celebrity activism aside, who is kidding who in this arrangement? Bono as the guest editor. Really? Brad Pitt interviewing Desmond Tutu. Strange combination as Pitt clearly used someone

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-87798280536391537102007-07-16T08:24:00.000-05:002007-07-19T09:44:54.265-05:00

I am increasingly concerned about growing rifts between the Rwandan government and critics of the gacaca process. Gacaca courts were established by the government to clear the backlog of individuals detained on charges of crimes committed during the 1994 genocide. Suspects are judged by a panel of twelve judges in their home community courts. All participants in the process, the judges, the

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-18030082817498886802007-07-13T07:12:00.000-05:002007-07-13T09:00:29.423-05:00

Recently, the ECA voted to allow Rwanda and Burundi to become members. Surely big news for both countries as the official line is that membership has it rewards.I am always bemused when these countries pony up to the big boys because they, particularly Rwanda, has a habit of punching above its weight. Yes, membership with the more economically and politically stable markets of Kenya, Uganda and

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-61832885862526857842007-07-11T19:49:00.000-05:002007-07-11T20:10:15.982-05:00

In March of this year, I was publicly denounced as a "master of disinformation" by the Rwandan Ambassador to Canada. He was speaking to a group of graduate students and faculty at Dalhousie University in Halifax when he mentioned my work as "very dangerous" and "not to be tolerated". After much to-ing and fro-ing with the Rwandan Embassy in Ottawa, I decided to stop posting for a while... My

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-30858143091498380192007-05-10T11:38:00.000-05:002007-05-10T11:40:05.637-05:00

Post-Genocide Rwanda : Achievements and Challenges November 2-3, 2007 California State University, Sacramento. The Ethnic Studies Department at California State University at Sacramento is organizing an interdisciplinary conference on Rwanda. Confernce organizers are soliciting papers in all fields of Rwandan studies : politics, history, economics, culture, education, justice, public

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-73559403943097701192007-03-07T14:12:00.000-05:002007-03-07T14:17:25.718-05:00

i have been getting a lot of emails about what some see as an obvious contradiction in my posting about the Gates Development Foundation. People want to know if I have investments, and if I do, are they socially responsible. I am the first to admit that it is difficult to rectify investment planning with social justice but hey, I have two kids so am saving for them (and let's be honest, for me

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-1055960922943481632007-03-02T20:23:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:47:56.860-05:00

last week, i attended a conference on "peacebuilding and trauma recovery" at the University of Denver (http://www.du.edu/con-res/center/February2007Conference.htm), and co-hosted with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (http://www.emu.edu/cjp).i gave a presentation to a room of about fifty scholars, ranging from graduate students at the Master's level to some

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-67599738311761207422007-02-16T10:10:00.004-05:002007-03-02T20:22:51.499-05:00

I recently attended a roundtable sponsored by the Canadian Consortium on Human Security in Toronto, Canada where I was asked to present the research that I conducted in Rwanda between April and October 2006. Some of my remarks focussed on the difficulties of carrying out research in places like Rwanda where psychosocial trauma abounds, and is compounded by poverty and other social inequalities.

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-40461713863695831342007-02-06T19:56:00.000-05:002007-03-02T19:58:43.054-05:00

I recently was asked to participate in conducting survey research on the imaginings of the American public on Africa. I am not an American, but was asked through one of my research working groups to participate as imagining the other is one of my research interests. I think a survey that will consider and assess what Americans think when they think of Africa is a good idea. It reminds

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-58473143276283954642007-01-29T19:54:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:22:28.035-05:00

On 7 January 2007, the LA Times ran a piece that was the result of an investigative report on the contradictory practices of the Gates Foundation. Its development programmes are financed by investment income reaped from some of capitalism’s most rapacious companies. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story The story caused quite a burn to the

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-3379799806738317092007-01-15T10:12:00.000-05:002008-12-10T06:05:27.697-05:00

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-41848443034824792082006-11-19T19:54:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:22:08.313-05:00

ok, i am a HUGE Borat fan. i’ve been watching and recommending his comedy for years now. i first came across him (ok, sasha baron cohen as Borat as well as Bruno and Ali G) on the advice of an Irish friend in 2002. so i was pretty chuffed to learn that a movie was coming out. i even waited to see the movie with a friend who also enjoys Borat’s social critique of the U.S. and A as well as his

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-15608185801112515562006-10-24T19:53:00.000-05:002007-03-02T19:54:00.860-05:00

this is an amazing website: http://www.politicaltheory.info/about.htm this is a great website for anyone interested in the relationship between politics and philosophy. it is overflowing with information onon political theory across a variety of approaches and on a multitude of subjects. Enjoy!

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-24019854427342279772006-10-19T19:52:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:21:47.716-05:00

for all you fellow book nerds out there, check out this website: http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/hot_library_smut/

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-38650890346987712822006-10-07T19:51:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:21:01.245-05:00

iving in rwanda for about 6 months gave me lots of free time to read NOVELS. i love to read but have always neglected novels because i read so much academic stuff that i usually prefer to watch Ab Fab or Seinfeld in my down-time. i read some doozies. great books that i simply have to recommend. one that left a big impression is Michela Wrong’s I Didn’t Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-10395316679259442872006-10-04T19:46:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:20:37.658-05:00

So it finally hit the fan last night. A soldier, armed with an aging AK47, shot one of his mates just in front of my house. I saw them take away the body this morning. He was a young man, maybe 25. I wondered what would come of his family if he was the sole breadwinner, or if he was perhaps a student at the university. The whole family may have had their hopes and dreams of future (

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-3055062966946893932006-10-04T19:43:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:20:05.554-05:00

so my access to the internet was blocked. i am a member of several list-servs and am always participating in one debate or another. i think the posting that did me in was this one that i made to a members’ only list at Queen’s University. a few days after posting, i was called to ‘account’ for my revisionism by both survivors’ organisations as well as some members of the government,

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-10525730880521358432006-10-04T19:42:00.000-05:002007-03-02T19:43:34.845-05:00

or so goes power relations in rwanda. i was apprised that EVEN powerful ministers can fall afoul and they can too fight their way back, but with the appropriate apologies and enough contrition. i like the quote alot since it was reflective of how my time in rwanda has been going. one day i was up, all was well; next day, calls to present in the big offices of kigali, hat-in-hand,

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-28211463492867797772006-08-22T19:41:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:19:41.876-05:00

the government is at it again. about 3 weeks ago, a government order to close all kiosks and other informal road-side businesses, like newspaper sellers, water vendors, and the kids that sell sweets and biscuits from over-stuffed boxes they so carefully balance on their tiny heads. the logic is that these individuals are not paying tax and so cannot conduct business until they register

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-15176292049753053042006-08-06T19:40:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:19:20.631-05:00

one of my good friends, eva g, is a videographer with reuters in the drc. she recently reported on the elections there. check it out:http://www.blogger.com/profile/27413590

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-83110205455066740012006-08-03T19:39:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:18:55.426-05:00

National unity actually reinforces ethnic divisions by foisting ethnic identity on Rwandans. the core assumption of the government is that individual identity is caught up in being either Hutu or Tutsi (notice no mention of the Twa). But many Rwandans have not hardened around their ethnic identity as the myth suggests. I have spoken to Hutu who did not they were different from their

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6532678105867427884.post-84969954690956271462006-08-01T19:38:00.000-05:002007-03-02T20:23:18.294-05:00

Part of the code has been cracked. It is now plainly obvious how associational life works here in rwanda, or at least among the survivors. survivors are the bread and butter of the governments public face. Survivors are why certain policies are chosen over other ones; survivors are why the emotional blackmail about the failure to stop the 1994 genocide lingers and is a viable option

Susan M. Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825121011749681576noreply@blogger.com0