Between past and future. An assessment for the transition from conflict to peace in post-genocide Rwanda

Forschungseinrichtung: Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (HSFK)

Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Lothar Brock

Publikationen:

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Development assistance and conflict assessment methodology. In: Journal for Conflict, Security and Development (CSD) Vol. 3. No. 1. 2003. S. 117-25.

———, with Bernard Tabaire, Preventing Violent Conflicts? UK Policy on Uganda. London: ISIS Policy Paper 87, March 2003.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Ruanda: Sich erinnern – mit gemischten Gefühlen. In: Frankfurter Rundschau 12.04.04.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Between Past and Future. An Assessment of the Transition from Conflict to Peace in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Nov. 2004.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: "The Truth Heals"? Gacaca Jurisdictions and the Consolidation of Peace in Rwanda. Die Friedens Warte Vol. 80, No. 1-2 2005, pp. 113-130.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Remembering to Forget. Chosen Amnesia as a Strategy for Local Coexistence in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Africa - Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 76, No.2 2006, pp 131-150.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: In-Between War and Peace. Identities, Boundaries and Change after Violent Conflict. In: Millennium Journal of International Studies Vol. 35 No.1 2006. pp 3-21.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Dividing and Uniting. The Use of 'Citizenship' Discourses in Conflict and Reconciliation in Rwanda. In: Global Society, Vol. 20, No. 1 2006, pp. 101-113.

———, Wahrheitskommissionen. Das Enthüllen der Vergangenheit als Weg zum Frieden? Wort und Antwort Special Issue on ‚Wahrheit’ no. 4, 2007, pp. .181-184.

———, The Gacaca Tribunals in Rwanda: Community Justice? In: Resümee der  Tagung „Civil Society and Civilian Crisis Management: Enhancing Cooperation and Coherence by Multi Level Dialogues“ (Plattform für Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung, 2.-4. Februar 2007/Berlin) 2007.
http://www.konfliktbearbeitung.net/downloads/file831.pdf

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Frieden entwickeln? Eine kritische Analyse der Strategien der Internationalen Gebergemeinschaft zur Friedenskonsolidierung in Ruanda. In: Sicherheit und Frieden 25 2007, S. 77-81.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Grief As A Resource For Politics, A Review of Judith Butler, Precarious Life. The Powers of Mourning and Violence (London/New York: Verso, 2004). In: borderlands e-journal, Volume 5, Number 3, 2006. URL: http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol5no3_2006/buckleyzistel_butler.htm

Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Gewählte Amnesie. Die soziale Dimension von Erinnern und Vergessen nach dem Völkermord in Ruanda. Peripherie 109/110 (2008): 131-147.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: We are Pretending Peace: Local Memory and the Absence of Social Transformation and Reconciliation in Rwanda', in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond eds. Philip Clark and Zachary Kaufman New York: Columbia University Press 2009, pp. 153-171. URL:http://www.aftergenocide.com/table-of-content.php

———, Between Past and Future. An Assessment of the Transition from Conflict to Peace in Post-genocide Rwanda. Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung 2008.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Demokratisierung als Mittel zur Friedenskonsolidierung, in: Lutz Schrader: Innerstaatliche Konflikte. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung Online Dossier, 2008. http://www.bpb.de/themen/RMQI3R,0,Demokratisierung.html

———, Transitional Justice. Plattform für Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung (2007).
http://www.konfliktbearbeitung.net/downloads/file889.pdf

Nichtbegutachtete Zeitschriften:

Susanne Buckley-Zistel: Living in the Shadow Index on Censorship, Vol. 2 2005, pp. 46-50.

———,Ethnographic Research after Violent Conflicts: Personal Reflections on Dilemmas and Challenges. Journal of Peace, Conflict and Development 10 (2007).
http://www.peacestudiesjournal.org.uk/docs/FIELD%20WK%20Ethnographic%20research%20after%20violent%20conflict%20FINAL%20EDIT.pdf

Buchkapitel:

Buckley-Zistel, S./Moltmann, B. (2006): Versöhnung: Balancieren zwischen Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit. in R. Muntz et. al. (eds.) Friedensgutachten 2006, Berlin: LIT, pp. 136-145.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Conflict Transformation and Social Change in Uganda. Remembering after Violence. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2008.

Zusammenfassung

Between Past and Future focuses on the consolidation of the precarious peace in post-genocide Rwanda. Through analysing how former adversaries relate to each other today prospects for the possibility of peaceful co-existence are being assessed and obstacles highlighted. In this context, the study also evaluates the intervention of third parties in the process of conflict resolution, extracting valuable lessons for peace-building and reconciliation.
Focusing on both Hutu and Tutsi constituencies, the project places particular emphasis on the language used when referring to former enemies, as well as when referring to the individual and collective past of the genocide. The subject of investigation is the Rwandan civil society, the ‘normal people’, who were both victims and perpetrators during the genocide as well as during the decades of violence leading to the event in 1994.
The study seeks to explore how a discourse of peace is ‘invented’ through a particular peace-building or reconciliation project. The field research considers the impact of two different agents of reconciliation, the Rwandan government and non-governmental movements, as well as an environment without reconciliation projects such as Internally Displaced People’s camps. Through comparing these different settings it is hoped to gain insights into how reconciliation is encouraged, or discouraged.
Methodologically, the project draws on theoretical approaches which situate the construction, and deconstruction, of ‘enemies’ in language and discourse. Apart from practical insights into post-conflict reconstruction it therefore also attempts to contribute to post-positivist approaches to peace and conflict studies through developing a theoretical framework. The field research relies on participatory approaches and greatest efforts are undertaken to feed-back the findings to the Rwandan society.