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TOO FEW VOICES; TOO MANY DISTRACTIONS; TOO LITTLE UNDERSTANDING: THE AMERICAN MEDIA DURING THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE OF 1994 by SKIP-THOMAS PARRISH B.A. University of Central Florida, 2002 A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2013 ABSTRACT Too Few Voices; Too Many Distractions; Too Little Understanding: the American Media During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 Upwards of one million people died during the Genocide, Civil War, and Refugee Crisis in Rwanda and surrounding nations, during one of the fastest Genocides to occur in modern history. Even though the United Nations and its member states had a legal mandate to intervene in cases of Genocide due to the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the world chose not to. While there were a myriad of reasons for this the media played a part in this situation. Using the coverage of US print magazine articles, this thesis argues that the media missed the point and the signs of what was happening on the ground due to a fundamental lack of understanding of Rwanda, the African Great Lakes region, and Africa itself. Borrowing concepts of the creation of the “other,” lack of understanding of Africa, imperial language, and first world views of the third world from Edward Said and Curtis A. Keim this master’s thesis shows that there were intellectual disconnects happening within the American press that made intervention nearly impossible. Once the Genocide was nearly complete and a more prosaic refugee crisis started America jumped at the chance to aid the refugees, a large number of them perpetrators of the Genocide, and the media showed reinvigorated interest in Rwanda. What misconceptions about Rwanda caused the media to miss the point? Did the print media help perpetuate those misconceptions, knowingly or unknowingly? With a death toll from the Genocide alone of roughly 8,000 people per day and the vast majority of them dying within ii the first several weeks of the Genocide, many lives may have been saved if Rwanda was made a priority by the media. Instead, while the media reported stories about chthonic hatred, the world was more concerned about a much slower Genocide in Eastern Europe. While attention was focused on other global and national stories, a racist regime intent on exterminating the Tutsi was allowed to stay in power in Rwanda. iii For Linda, CEDP, BB, Jolan, and Eddie For the victims of Genocide throughout the world. While I know that it not enough, it is what I have to give. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the following people without whom this would not be possible: Dr. Ezekiel Walker for sticking with me through this long, arduous process. You have helped me grow as both a scholar and a person through our long years together. Without you I might never have followed this path. Dr. Edmund Kallina for being a great mentor and the best boss I ever had. Dr. Peter Larson and Dr. John Sacher for doing so much to see me through this process. Dr. Bruce Pauley for the course on American media and the Nazi Germany that inspired this work. Dr. Ken Hanson and Dr. Nancy Stockdale for opening my eyes to so many different facets of what I have spent so many years studying. Carole Gonzalez and Nancy Rauscher for helping me grow by showing me all of the other things it takes to keep the historians moving. Jake Ivey, Ashley Moreshead, David Fear, Christopher Beats, Keegan Shepherd, and Nate Hill for being great colleagues and better friends. Lindsey Blair for editing, proofreading, and technical support. Linda Parrish for everything. v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Why the Genocide Occurred ....................................................................................................... 6 Theoretical Background .............................................................................................................. 8 On Civilizing Missions and the Word Tribal ............................................................................ 12 Methods and Scope ................................................................................................................... 17 Placement within the Historiography ........................................................................................ 18 Chapter Layout .......................................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER ONE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE ............................................................................................................ 25 A Brief History of Genocide in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries ............................. 25 The 1948 Genocide Convention and the Question of was Rwanda a Genocide? ..................... 32 Historical Background of the Rwandan Genocide .................................................................... 34 Historiography ........................................................................................................................... 42 American ............................................................................................................................... 44 International/NGO/UN .......................................................................................................... 45 France .................................................................................................................................... 47 Legal ...................................................................................................................................... 48 Firsthand Accounts ................................................................................................................ 49 The Churches and Religious Matters..................................................................................... 51 Historigraphic Trends ............................................................................................................ 53 CHAPTER TWO: TOO FEW VOICES; TOO MANY DISTRACTIONS; THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE ............................................................................ 55 Investigative Journalistic Books Written after the Genocide .................................................... 56 Timeline of Coverage ................................................................................................................ 58 April ....................................................................................................................................... 59 vi May ........................................................................................................................................ 63 June ........................................................................................................................................ 68 July......................................................................................................................................... 73 August .................................................................................................................................... 78 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 88 CONCLUSION: TOO LITTLE UNDERSTANDING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ............... 98 APPENDIX A: TIMELINE OF THE RWANDA GENOCIDE................................................. 105 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 112 vii INTRODUCTION The Rwandan Genocide has been the subject of considerable scholarly and popular attention. International relations and United Nations involvement have been addressed. Studies on the role of nongovernmental organizations and churches have also been released. Firsthand accounts from military personnel, survivors, NGO workers, and journalists have been published. Works on international and internal court systems, the role of Rwanda in the region, and the repercussions of the Genocide have also been written. Attention has been paid to media in all forms, be it newspapers, magazines, radio, and broadcast and cable television; Rwandan, American, French, or otherwise. This thesis fills a gap in the literature by focusing on American written media coverage of and the interplay between language and the “othering” of Rwandans. It should be noted that one of the main thrusts of this work is to show how the language used within the US print media served to lessen, exoticize, and limit understanding of the Genocide. Whether this was intentional or not, the power of language can be seen in the general inaction and hand wringing of Western governments and international organizations. As language is, in its own way, power, language can be used for many purposes. One of the uses of language in this work is to always capitalize Genocide whether the topic is the Rwandan Genocide, any other historical Genocides, or even Genocide as a concept. Something as horrific as the purposeful attempted slaughter of an entire population group for political, military, or cultural reasons should have a name; which it already does. It should have laws banning it. It has that