The Colonial Legacy and Rwanda

About the course

This course places the repeated episodes of mass violence in Rwanda within a broad historical and international perspective. Focus is on the period of decolonisation after the Second World War and how this process reshaped the political and social landscape of Africa. The course examines how global powers, international organisations, and local independence movements influenced the transition, as well as the ideologies—such as nationalism and various forms of socialism—that guided newly emerging states. Through this lens, the course highlights the expectations, conflicts, and power struggles that followed in the wake of decolonisation.

Particular attention is given to how the shift from colonial rule to self-governance generated new lines of conflict, identity transformations, and political structures that contributed to recurrent mass violence in Rwanda. Students explore how ethnic tensions intensified during the postwar period, and how state institutions evolved amid rapid political change. The course offers a deeper understanding of how decolonisation and its aftermath created the conditions that ultimately led to the genocide in the 1990s and its long-term societal consequences for the Rwandan society.