Belgian Hutu diaspora narratives of victimhood and trauma

Abstract

The dominant narrative of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is one that labels Hutu as the 'other.' This stigma has had an impact both on the space for dialogue and on the process of meaning making for diaspora communities. This article draws on an in-depth study of Hutu diaspora communities in Belgium that involved 46 individual interviews and a survey of 149 respondents. The study explored the impact of the Rwandan government's one-sided, dominant narrative of the genocide on efforts to deal with this legacy by different generations. This insight into marginalized voices is critical in framing opportunities for more inclusive processes of reconstructing memory and identity.