Sunday, August 12, 2012

Rwanda: Say it Ain't So

Over at A Living Text Joel Martin has written a timely post ("Playing An Away Game") that warrants careful reflection for American Anglicans aligning with the Anglican Church of Rwanda (PEAR). As Joel points out, there is a backstory to the Rwandan genocide (as well as other dimensions of African culture and history) on which we Americans, in haste to prove our post-colonial credentials, haven't bothered to get up to speed.

There are important links in the post, especially one to a PDF of a scholarly paper by Phillip Cantrell (2007) on the link between PEAR and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Among Cantrell's troubling points is PEAR's complicity in the RPF-concocted narrative that Tutsis and Hutus are simply constructs of the colonial past (i.e., "we're all Rwandans now").

A Rwandan blogger responded to Joel's post, corroborating the existence of the PEAR/RPF connection. I looked at his blog and found this unsettling piece. Again, worthy of careful consideration.

2 comments:

jmw said...

That's a good find Chuck. I hope to have more on this later. I think we should be wary of the source you link, although it is worth looking into. And horrible if true.

Chuck Hicks said...

The Cantrell article is the most substantive and even-handed treatment of this issue. I'm in agreement with you that we need to get a better grasp of where alignment leads.