Credits:
MODL 498 or 898/3 credits
Additional credit may be arranged.

Cost:
Program cost in 2010 is $4,800 - 5,074(includes meals) plus UNL tuition & fees

Payment Schedule:
March 1 – $800 deposit
April 1 – $800 payment
May 1 - Balance of costs

Application Deadlines:
March 1 -- reservation deadline with deposit

Download as a
PDF file:
Rwanda

Contact:
Chantal Kalisa
Modern Languages and
Literature
1129 OLDH
Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0315
(402) 472-3747
Email: mkalisa2@unl.edu

International Affairs
420 University Terrace
Lincoln, NE 68588-0682
(402) 472-5358
E-mail: iaffairs@unl.edu
www.unl.edu/iaffairs

Rwanda is located in Central Africa. This small country, about the size of Maryland has been in the news in the last decade because the genocide that took place in 1994 when about a million of people were killed. Most of the victims were from the minority Tutsi ethnic group. Others were sympathizers from the majority Hutu group. Postgenocide Rwanda has become an important site of knowledge from which we learn about violence, human rights, reconciliation, justice as well as human capacity to re-imagine the world after such catastrophe. The Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center (www.igscrwanda.net), Kigali, Rwanda will host the course.

Participants will be exposed to a unique post-genocide situation where survivors live with perpetrators. They will visit sites of genocide, prisons, institutions, communities, governmental and non-government organizations. They will attend lectures by academic and professional guests who work in or on Rwanda. The program will include: the background of the genocide, the role played by the media in the 1994 genocide, the responsibility of the international community (UN, France, USA, etc.), the role of the Church, the denial of genocide, the concepts of memory and reconciliation, structures and mechanisms of justice systems (regular courts, Gacaca courts, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda). Specific post-conflict topics such as gender, education, traumas will be explored. Also, there will be opportunities to interact across disciplines as well as with Rwandans and non-Rwandans around the question of postconflict societies.

The first two weeks of the program will take place on the last two weekends of June (June 18-19 and June 25-26). This will be an informative workshop in preparation for the stay in Rwanda. It will provide historical background information that led to the genocide, readings, movie screenings and discussions. During these sessions, students will be given socio-cultural information that will help them understand the postgenocide Rwandan society.

The Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center (IGSC) - Rwanda is a nonprofit organization based in Kigali, Rwanda.

http://www.igscrwanda.net/

IGSC's mission is to testify, to study genocide through rigorous cross-disciplinary scholarship, and to understand various mechanisms and structures of violence, with the goal of preventing genocide and mass violence.

• Encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary research on the Rwandan genocide
• Gather, organize, preserve and catalogue documentation on the Rwandan genocide
• Create a library of the Rwandan genocide
• Publish and disseminate scholarship on the genocide
• Record and publish testimonials
• Organize and host conferences, colloquia and symposia on the genocide
• Organize and facilitate summer courses at the Center
• Promote affiliations and collaboration with academic institutions and professional associations, domestically and internationally
• Fight revisionism and negationism

Much of the program will take place in Kigali, the capital city, but participants will also travel to the South of the country, in the city of Butare to meet with experts and to see more of Rwanda. A visit to Akagera Park (not Gorilla Park) will be planned.

Located at Rwanda's geographical heart, the rapidly growing city of Kigali is not only the national capital, but also the country's most important business center and main port of entry. Despite concessions to modernity, Kigali City retains the feel of a garden city, with a satisfyingly organic shape dictated by the verdant slopes over which it sprawls. The compact, low-rise city center surrounds a busy, colorful market, and is studded with souvenir stalls displaying a wide range of lovingly executed local crafts. The atmospheric Muslim quarter abutting the city centre is well worth a visit. Among the safest and friendliest of African capitals, Kigali City is blessed with a moderate high altitude climate that belies its tropical location. The Rwandan capital provides both a comfortable and welcoming introduction to this land of a thousand hills and an ideal springboard from which to explore this magical country.

For senior students and graduate students: This course can be used towards a research project on understanding the Rwandan genocide. It will be an intensive experiential tour of Rwanda for students who are working on projects related to the genocide and post-conflict issues .

Students will earn three credits for MODL 498 or 898. The language of instruction is English, and when necessary, translations of guest speakers will be provided to all participants. Prof. Kalisa will work privately with each student to determine a topic for his/her research paper which is required towards the end of the program. The length of the paper and due date will be determined later. Graduate credit can only be obtained by previous arrangement with the Graduate College.

Additional credits may be earned on an independent study basis by arrangement with Professor Kalisa or another UNL professor in a related subject area.