The Art of Reconciliation in Rwanda Meredith Shepard Submitted In
The Art of Reconciliation in Rwanda Meredith Shepard Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2019 ©2018 Meredith Shepard All rights reserved Table of Contents Acknowledgments ii Preface iii Introduction: The Paradox of Reconciliation 1 Chapter One: The Revenge Cycle as History and Genre 25 Chapter Two: Reconciliation as Transfiguration 57 Chapter Three: Reconciliation as Trial 91 Chapter Four: Reconciliation as Memorialization 123 Coda: Beyond Transfiguration, Trial, and Memorialization 167 Works Cited 170 i Acknowledgments This dissertation could not have been written without the support of countless people. First, I thank the Rwandans who have educated me about their country: Fidel, my first translator and dear friend, Frederick, whose own story and advocacy is as miraculous as it is real, Potien, Claudine, Alex, and my other colleagues at Kagugu School, the guides at Gisozi, Nyamata, Ntarama, Nyarubuye, Bisesero, and Murambi memorials from 2008 to the present, my brilliant in-laws, especially Grace, Charles, Alphonse, Jolly, Victor, Bonita, Tiara, Consul, and Alex, and the countless other Rwandans who have inspired and guided me over the last decade. My education has been blessed with teachers who demonstrated the link between literature and social justice. At Cornell University, it was Eric Cheyfitz’s course on colonial literatures that encouraged me to stay in school instead of running back to Africa. J. Robert Lennon’s unstinting mentorship through four years of my writing about Rwanda kept me believing I had something worthwhile to say. Serendipity landed me in Elizabeth Anker’s classroom.
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