History Of Rwanda And The Genocide - 1579 Words

HISTORY OF RWANDA AND THE GENOCIDE It is believed that the Hutu and the Tutsi were originally one community who shared some value culture and even religion until the colonialist announced their arrival. Rwanda has experienced a disturbing and prolonged cycle of violent conflict since 1959. The conflict which has been characteristically political and socio-economic in nature has played out mainly on the basis of ethnicity and regionalism. It was first German and Belgium colonialism that created and nurtured the country’s ethnic rivalry between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi. The rivalry was constructed on the basis of a myth of Tutsi superiority over the Hutu in order to serve both the colonial policy of divide and rule and the colonial division of labor. The Tutsi were designated as the administrative supervisors and the Hutu s the labor force of the extractive colonial economy. The 1959 revolution brought the Hutu to power and ended colonialism. Unfortunately, though it succeeded in changing the colo nial socio-political relations, it failed to crush the ethnic stereotypes that continued to haunt the country (Maundi†¦et al, 2006:31). Later on the Rwandan government at that time itself perpetuated the ethnic hate since its 1962 independence. The 30 years governance fought reflected the ideology of division, hate anger, among others resulted into genocide in April 1994 leading to the death of Tutsi approximately 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi lost their lives. However,Show MoreRelatedGhosts of Rwanda Essay1374 Words   |  6 PagesGhosts of Rwanda Reflection Does the Genocide in Rwanda have a singular cause? I do not believe so; the cause of genocide in Rwanda in 1994 was due to years of built up hatred between the Tutsis and the Hutus along with many other occurrences. The Rwandan Genocide is no exception with many variables contributing to the horrific events that took place. According to the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, in 1994, Rwanda experienced a premeditated, systematic and state sponsored genocide with the aimRead MoreWhat Was Happening Of Your Town?1094 Words   |  5 Pages What was happening in your town? I was born on April 13, 1994, in a small town in the USA. Today, I am a college going student, busy with my studies and other activities. However, during a history lesson, something made me ponder as to what the world would have been like in the year I was born or the month. I listen regularly to the news, but those headlines are forgotten by the end of the day. I just wondered what my city or town or the country was like in the year 1994. I was thinkingRead MoreGenocide : Genocide And Genocide1021 Words   |  5 Pages In Rwanda during 1994 Genocide happened between the Hutus and Tutsis. Hutus and Tutsis had disagreements on who will have power which effected the whole population of Rwanda. This leads to the question why there is Genocide in Rwanda? 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The post-genocide nation of Rwanda witnessed one of the most horrific events a nation could experience, genocide. However, it has rebuilt itself to become an example nation for transitional justice, political stability and economic development. Rwanda’s militaryRead MoreThe Genocide Of The Rwandan Genocide1307 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Rwandan Genocide has been a subject of research and debate for decades. Typically, ethnic and cultural differences between segments of Rwanda’s diverse population, namely the Hutu and the Tutsi, is the reason given to explain the genocide. Although this is a valid argument, the roots of the conflict are more compl ex stretching back to the era of colonialism. The impact of colonialism on Rwandan politics and society set the foundations for revolution in 1959 and, ultimately, genocide in 1994. 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Analysis Of Antoinette Cosways Defiant Journey In Wide...

The Importance of Self-Truth and Active Protest: Analysis on Antoinette Cosway’s Defiant Journey in Wide Sargasso Sea Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys calls forth ideas of feminism and self-worth in the fight against colonization during the 19th century. Antoinette Cosway lived in Jamaica her entire life, and yet, as a white woman, remains alienated from her neighbors throughout the novel. Just a few short years after the Emancipation Act, her family is still greatly suffering from the loss of slave labor and receiving the backlash due to their ties to the slave business. Antoinette is placed into an uncomfortable situation; she is torn between her past life as a slave owning Jamaican and her position as a member of the newly restructured†¦show more content†¦In a fit of rage and curiosity, Rochester angers Antoinette with unkind words about her mother and cruel accusations of madness within her. After realizing that Antoinette was close to opening up in an emotional, messy way, Rochester attempts to push the conversation to another, more reasonable time. Antoinette responds with passion of h er own: â€Å"‘You have no right,’ she said fiercely. ‘You have no right to ask questions about my mother and then refuse to listen to my answer’† (Rhys 117). With her fierce and aggressive words, Rochester eventually succumbs and listens to Antoinette’s truth about her mother’s life. Rhys portrays a defiance to the early and perpetual idea of women being regarded as a lesser sex and having a more passive, emotional, and second-class lifestyles in their relationships. This is greatly seen in Antoinette’s interactions with Rochester. Antoinette’s ability to attack Rochester’s oppressive nature with such forceful language not traditionally seen in women of her time shows her resistance to a submissive, lonely life typical for her gender. In an interest to preserve their futures and relationships with their husbands, most women would stand back and take whatever blows came their way, but Antoinette stand aside. Antoine tte’s direct opposition, specifically when she says â€Å"you have no right to ask questions†¦ and then refuse to listen to my answer† shows how she fought back against Rochester’s dominance. Antoinette’s

Imposing Meaning Upon Chaos free essay sample

The journey itself is a metaphor for human existence—the suggestion that our place as humans on earth is purely by chance, and we seek to find things to take as â€Å"signs† in order to validate that humans are purposed individuals and not accidental products of random science. An example of how Pynchon’s representation of the way in which people impose interpretation on the meaningless is a way to force order into an environment that is unequivocally disordered. Oedipa is faced with all sorts of information and all sorts of imaginings, but she cannot easily determine what is real and what she should dismiss as the product of an overactive imagination. She is desperate for any sign of confirmation that there is a purpose for where she is in life. Pynchon displays her desperation as Oedipa goes to the ladies’ room during intermission—â€Å"she looked idly around for the symbol she’d seen the other night†¦but all the walls, surprisingly, were blank. She could not say why, exactly, but felt threatened by this absence of even the marginal try at communication latrines are known for† (Pynchon 53). The mention of â€Å"marginal communication† is indicative of Oedipa’s frustration with the lack thereof in her own life, and obsessive search for more information on the Trystero. The way Oedipa wants to turn the mystery of the Trystero into a constellation, relates to the problem of communication theme. The real problem to Oedipa is why Driblette referred to the Trystero in his production of The Couriers Tragedy, but once again, his death acts as a breaking down of communication, which prevents her from ever finding out. Her labeling the Trystero as a constellation is a feeble attempt—it does not hold up as truly ordered. Oedipas quest to construct a constellation seems to indicate that she is only looking for a superficial system. Indeed, she never succeeds in figuring out the meaning behind the Trystero, and, further, the novel ends with the very strong likelihood that the mystery may hold no mystery at all. And just as she is unable to piece together the puzzle of the Trystero, she is similarly unable to refashion her life after it begins to fall apart. Oedipa has placed all of her time and effort into finding an answer for her mystery quest that it becomes her hope for placing meaning in her own life—â€Å"the Trystero [could] bring an end to her encapsulation in her tower† (Pynchon 31). Pynchon also uses the concepts of entropy and the possibility of meaning to emphasize the huge gaps between theory and understanding that theory, which is something Oedipa will perpetually struggle with. Entropy being the tendency of things to disorder themselves over time into chaos is a perfect symbol of what Oedipa is threatening to become as she becomes more and more frustrated with lack of communication, as well as becoming less and less sure of what is or is not reality: â€Å"she had only to drift†¦at random, and watch nothing happen, to be convinced it was purely nervous, a little something for her shrink to fix† (Pynchon 88). The Nefastis Machine, supposedly working against entropy, is a model for the themes of order and disorder through the novel. Like the machine, interpretation is an effort to impose order on disorder, but also like the machine, that interpretation is itself founded upon disorder. The entire ordering structure is called into question; Oedipa turns out not to be a sensitive, and she is never able to solve the story of the Trystero. Ultimately, Pynchon’s ability to use communication as a basis for something that should create order, instead ironically creating disorder—makes it nearly impossible to distinguish between the two, which leads characters such as Oedipa and Dr. Hilarius to attempt to translating order and meaning out of random things, not ever entirely sure whether or not they are hallucinating. Oedipa, in the end does not even attempt to deny that she is committed to attach meaning to things that may not coincide with what she believes—â€Å"Nothing†¦could touch her. Nothing did. The repetition of symbols was to be enough†¦she tested it, shivering: ‘I am meant to remember. Each clue that comes is supposed to have its own clarity, its fine chances for permanence’ † (Pynchon 95). Dr. Hilarius, in a sense, is used to help Oedipa temporarily see communication as potentially workable—Dr. Hilarius gets to finish his sentences and convey his opinions to her, raving or otherwise. By telling her to â€Å"cherish it,† it adds to the theme of attaching meaning to chaos where possible, â€Å"to hold it dear, for when you lose it, you go over by that much to the others. You begin to cease to be† (Pynchon 113). Although Oedipa still begins to lose herself through isolation resulting from being unable to make sense of the Trystero, it is clear that it is an almighty struggle to let go of the compulsion to make sense of nonsense. Finally, Pynchon is careful to highlight the fact that Oedipa becomes increasingly isolated from other people. The most striking image of this isolation comes early in chapter five, when Pynchon writes, Oedipa sat, feeling as alone as she ever had, now the only woman, she cannot even relieve her boredom and isolation by engaging in sex (Pynchon 94). She has distanced herself from her husband, her physician, and even her lover. Her social world is disintegrating along with the culture in which she lives. This part is useful in explaining how her obsession is obviously intertwined with finding meaning in a perceived conspiracy, because if it is not, the fact that these things in her life are completely meaningless will become her personal hell, which she cannot face. This is why the end of the novel shows Oedipa clinging to the hope that the crier of Lot 49 will be a link to her theory. The Crying of Lot 49 displays a fragmented world in which there are always winding distractions, in which information leads to more of the same, rather than to answers. In the face of such an onslaught of information communication breakdowns, Oedipa feels compelled to impose interpretations that might not fit for the simple reason that she needs a constellation,† recognizable, to hold on to. In trying to create order, Oedipa alienates herself from the very world she is trying to organize. As the novel demonstrates, in the Trystero conspiracy Oedipa, in vain, tries to solve, in the ending that is not really an ending at all, reality can be constructed as a way to validate importance in individuals’ existences.