After Genocide

AFTER GENOCIDE: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE, POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION, AND RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA AND BEYOND, pp. 1-19, Phil Clark & Zachary D. Kaufman, eds., Columbia University Press and C. Hurst & Co., 2009 (Re-published by Oxford University Press, 2013)

19 Pages Posted: 25 Aug 2011 Last revised: 1 Mar 2014

See all articles by Zachary D. Kaufman

Zachary D. Kaufman

University of Florida Levin College of Law; Boston University - School of Law; Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law; University of Houston Law Center; Stanford Law School; Yale University - Law School; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Phil Clark

University of Oxford - Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

This book chapter (co-authored by Phil Clark & Zachary D. Kaufman) is the first chapter in the book After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Reconciliation in Rwanda (co-edited by Phil Clark & Zachary D. Kaufman and co-published by Columbia University Press & C. Hurst & Co.). This introductory chapter explores the purpose, topics, terms, and themes of this book.

The purpose of this book is to assess the impact of the genocide in Rwanda, Africa, and beyond, and at the same time to analyze the nuances of the national and international, academic and political debates that have consequently developed. As the title of the book suggests, three topics dominate discussions therein: transitional justice, post-conflict reconstruction, and reconciliation. This book is intended to help clarify the theory and practice of these concepts by exploring, in part, six key terms: reconciliation, peace, justice, healing, forgiveness, and truth. The major themes this book covers are: the history and memory of the Rwandan genocide; post-genocide justice, reconstruction, and reconciliation; and the relevance of the genocide beyond Rwanda. The intersections and entanglements of these themes are crucial to grasping key debates in present-day Rwanda and to formulating effective responses to the genocide and atrocities elsewhere: how history is constructed and the past is remembered inevitably shapes questions about who is culpable for crimes, how they should be punished, who warrants redress, and how society as a whole should be reconstructed.

This book is intended to help scholars and practitioners working on conflict and post-conflict issues to formulate clearer, more nuanced responses to the questions they confront and to aid a more general audience in understanding some of the subtleties of the Rwandan genocide and its personal, communal, national, and international impact. The comprehensiveness of the debates in this book constitutes an attempt to respond holistically to the complex challenges of rebuilding lives after genocide. In doing so, this book commemorates the lives lost during those three horrific months in 1994.

Keywords: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Reconciliation, Conflict Resolution, Peace, Healing, Forgiveness, Truth, Revisionism, Memory, Rwanda, Darfur, DRC, Uganda, Africa, Kovoso, Genocide, Atrocities, Gacaca, ICTR, ICTY, ICC, International Law, International Criminal Law

Suggested Citation

Kaufman, Zachary D. and Clark, Phil, After Genocide (2009). AFTER GENOCIDE: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE, POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION, AND RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA AND BEYOND, pp. 1-19, Phil Clark & Zachary D. Kaufman, eds., Columbia University Press and C. Hurst & Co., 2009 (Re-published by Oxford University Press, 2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1912684

Zachary D. Kaufman (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/zachary-d-kaufman

Boston University - School of Law ( email )

765 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
United States

Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law ( email )

Campus Box 1120
St. Louis, MO 63130
United States

HOME PAGE: http://law.wustl.edu/faculty-staff-directory/profile/zachary-d-kaufman/

University of Houston Law Center ( email )

4104 Martin Luther King Boulevard
Houston, TX 77204-6060
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/zacharykaufman/

Stanford Law School ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

Yale University - Law School ( email )

P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
United States

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Phil Clark

University of Oxford - Centre for Socio-Legal Studies ( email )

Wellington Square
Oxford, OX1 2JD
United Kingdom

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