Power dynamics of post-genocide street renaming in urban Rwanda - the territorial demarcation between the past and the present

Abstract

Drawing on critical toponymy, and at the intersection of human geography, urban studies, and sociolinguistics, this qualitative study analyses the 2012 renaming of all Rwandan streets with a special focus on Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Combining empirical data from document analysis and walking interviews with citizens in Kigali, the study critically analyses and contrasts post-independence street names to the new post-genocide names. In addition, it investigates how the 2012 renaming of streets is perceived by citizens. The analysis reveals that the Rwandan state has drawn temporal and territorial boundaries through renaming, by using technologies of control as a part of branding and positioning post-genocide Rwanda as a rational, modern state oriented towards the Anglophone world, as a part of shaping a new national identity. This is a demarcation against the past and pre genocide ideologies. The erasure of earlier street names is thus a discursive construction of the new official post-genocide narrative. The study indicates that ordinary citizens feel excluded and ignore the new street names and signs. Instead, they refer to old, coined names and use a traditional system of naming and navigation. This indicates a low-profile resistance different from what we often see in The Global North.