Paper short abstract:

In the aftermath of genocide, modes of enabling pacified relationships between antagonists – mediation - is of analytical value and substance. The persistence and perseverance of scrutinizing acts - mistrust - becomes a necessity for individuals to navigate and anticipate their futures.

Paper long abstract:

I aim to lay out the topography of a state and a society that has chosen to stay together after acts of mass violence and genocide. Moreover, I intend to grasp some of the dynamics of coming to terms with the past through modes of pacifying relationships between antagonists - mediation - which is of analytical value and substance. Then again, I shed light on the persistence of mistrust and even more so, the perseverance of mistrust and its necessity for individuals to navigate and anticipate their futures, or formulated differently, to establish modes of feeling secure.

In Rwanda, mediation was re-introduced as institutionalized and regulated space of dispute settlement governed by law. However, what is more intriguing about this promise of mediation is its space of participatory engagements of citizens that comes in shapes of resistance, doubt and critique among other forms of making views public.

The unintended aspects of engaging citizens in mediation forums went down paths that are indicative of life worlds in the aftermath of mass atrocities and genocide. In this vein, mistrust which has become a forceful strategy in the everyday life of citizens and their struggle of survival translates in social forms of engagements that are worth being analysed.

Mistrust, silences, passivity and subversive actions are at the heart of this analysis. It is an attempt towards emphasizing actions that are heavy with meaning but often ignored because of rather being attentive towards what we perceive to see rather than what we cannot see.