12 How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda
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Jacob Caponi
Abstract
This chapter examines contentious memory production through a comparative analysis of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We first outline an interpretive lens that shifts the analysis of genocide as a singular act to a relational process which reveals contention is entangled throughout the conceptualization of genocide, the agency of social actors, and narration of the larger context of genocide, especially in the post-genocidal phase. In applying our interpretive lens to our two cases, we suggest that the temporal and spatial boundaries of genocide expand beyond the initial collective physical destruction in the short-term to a long-term process of boundary making around trust, accountability, memory-making, and forgetting. Further, the public narration of genocide develops with attention to four often temporally linear, historical macro-episodes: colonization, nation-state formation, internal polarization, and post-genocidal (re)narration. Throughout these periods, powerful social actors work to abrogate claims about their accountability for acts of physical violence. By analyzing contentious memory production with our interpretive lens, we argue knowledge production about genocide must focus on accountability as it is ultimately what separates acknowledgement from denial.
Abstract
This chapter examines contentious memory production through a comparative analysis of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We first outline an interpretive lens that shifts the analysis of genocide as a singular act to a relational process which reveals contention is entangled throughout the conceptualization of genocide, the agency of social actors, and narration of the larger context of genocide, especially in the post-genocidal phase. In applying our interpretive lens to our two cases, we suggest that the temporal and spatial boundaries of genocide expand beyond the initial collective physical destruction in the short-term to a long-term process of boundary making around trust, accountability, memory-making, and forgetting. Further, the public narration of genocide develops with attention to four often temporally linear, historical macro-episodes: colonization, nation-state formation, internal polarization, and post-genocidal (re)narration. Throughout these periods, powerful social actors work to abrogate claims about their accountability for acts of physical violence. By analyzing contentious memory production with our interpretive lens, we argue knowledge production about genocide must focus on accountability as it is ultimately what separates acknowledgement from denial.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
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Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
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Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
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Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
-
Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
-
Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
-
Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
