Friday Seminar in Africa Studies

Our last Friday Seminar of the semester takes place on 16 May, 2025, 9.30-11.00. The seminar is hybrid and held in Eng 3-2028 and on Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/61368072719

Teaching Rwandan history between 1971 and 1994:

Content analysis of primary and secondary school textbooks

by

Eric Mutabazi, Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers (France)

In the 1990s, Rwanda experienced war and massacres, culminating in the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in 1994. Many researchers have attempted to analyze the conflicts between ethnic groups in Rwanda, even though they live on the same territories, share the same cultural values and beliefs, speak the same language and intermarry. In this conference, we will try to understand the responsibility of colonial knowledge in these tragic events, in particular by analyzing the content of Rwandan history textbooks used between 1971 and 1994 in the country's primary and secondary schools. Using the method of content analysis (Grawitz, 2001), I will first show how textbooks privilege the representation of colonizers, to the detriment of traditional Rwandan beliefs and knowledge. Secondly, I will highlight the consequences of this knowledge on the development of educational systems from the colonial period to the genocide. Finally, I conclude with a reminder of Rwandan traditional values and knowledge, which are all too often forgotten, but which nevertheless constitute an essential foundation for national unity.

Speaker presentation

Eric Mutabazi is a doctor and lecturer in education at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers (France). He is the author of Viser la justice éducative (Peter Lang, 2025), Second-Class Citizenship. Sociological Analyses and Educational Remedies (Eds. with Nathanaël Wallenhorst, Springer, 2025), Communautés et apprentissage de la citoyenneté (Le Bord de l'eau, 2023), School, Family and Community Against Early School Leaving: International Perspectives (Eds. with Albina Khasanzyanova, Peter Lang, 2023), D'une citoyenneté empêchée à une éducation citoyenne (Eds. with Nathanaël Wallenhorst, Le Bord de l'eau, 2021), Citoyennetés de seconde classe (Eds. with Nathanaël Wallenhorst, Le Bord de l'eau, 2022). He is also the author of several articles and book chapters on citizenship and interculturality. He heads the Altérité, Vulnérabilité et Citoyenneté (AVC) research group at UCO's LIRFE (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherches en Formation et en Éducation). He is a research associate with LISEC UR 2310 at the Université de Haute-Alsace and an international collaborator with GREE at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)