MEMORIALISATION OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
"Perhaps there is no better case than Rwanda, of state killing in which colonial history and global economic integration combined to produce genocide. It is also a case where the causes of the killing were carefully obscured by Western governmental and journalistic sources, blamed instead on the victims and ancient tribal hatreds."
From Richard H. Robbins's "Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism"
 |  |  |
|---|
Dark tourism, also called Thanatourism (Foley & Lennon, 1996), 'grief tourism' (Blom, 2000) and 'atrocity heritage' (Ashworth, 2002) are all terms used to define travel to sites associated with death and disaster. Stone (2006) argues that it is an ever increasing phenomenon in contemporary Western society but it is often said to be a much older form of tourism (Seaton, 1996). There are many issues surrounding Dark Tourism but this website will focus on issues and consequences in terms of memorialisation.
Rwanda can be a paradise again, but it will take the love of the entire world to heal my homeland. And that's as it should be, for what happened in Rwanda happened to us all - humanity was wounded by the genocide (BBC News, 2011).
ABSTRACT
This website has critically analysed dark tourism memorialisation with specific reference to the memorials of the Rwandan Genocide. It examines the dark tourism spectrum and how this can be applied to memorials as well as using a model devised by Foote to categorise memorials. With this in mind two memorials have been used as case studies; Kigali Memorial Centre and Nyamata Memorial. Both are very different, one a purpose built centre and the other a site of genocide left in its original state. Both sites have been analysed in terms of issues surrounding the memorialisation along with consequences which are apparant at both sites.