Paper short abstract:

This paper presents the narratives of male Banyamulenge soldiers as the final protectors of their community and the Congo. This narrative has evolved from periodic participation in conflict. Yet, these periods included a deployment of violent masculinity and moralisation of violence and atrocity.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the evolution of masculine narratives and moral justifications of violence in the Congolese Banyamulenge community from 1960s to present. The narrative and conceptualisation of masculinity in this community has evolved in response to perceptions of threat, even genocide. This paper focuses on four phases of evolving masculinity, from 1960s Cold War conflicts, investment in the Rwandan Patriotic Front in the early 1990s, isolationism in Second Congo War, and contemporary views on current dilemmas of survival, existential threat, employment and belonging. These phases saw the building and shaping of a narrative of masculinity that has moralised participation in violence classified as both Pan-African liberationist and at times genocidal or involving crimes against humanity. The protection of their community, since the 1960s, was considered a male endeavour, and came full circle to localised conflict from 1998 onward. The product of this narrative is that Banyamulenge men considered themselves the final protectors of their community and the Congo. This paper will use both literature on African military masculinities and original fieldwork interviews with Banyamulenge soldiers and political actors active in the 1990s.