Kwibuka 30 / April 17, 2024

Kwibuka, which means “to remember” in Kinyarwanda, is how Rwandans refer to their annual commemorations of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. To mark the 30th remembrance of the genocide, the students of Dr. Jacob Ari Labendz’s Fall 2023 course, “Paradigms of Genocide,” prepared this digital exhibition. We did not aim to present a comprehensive overview of the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda. The panels, instead, reflect the individual choices that students made about what to research and present—after close study and meaningful meetings with survivors and witnesses. This exhibit reflects the Gross Center’s commitment to training students and the regional public to uphold their responsibilities to learn and teach about genocide—to become influential storytellers in the digital age.

Learn more about the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda

Historical Overview and Oral Testimonies via the USC Shoah Foundation

Kigali Genocide Memorial: Remembrance and Learning

Vox Primer / USHMM Website

In 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, the British Red Cross deployed 55 members to help, investigation measures for families were provided. British Red Cross, 26 June 2006.

View our Exhibition Immersive Virtual Reality

Before the Genocide: Colonialism and Division

Hutu and Tutsi: A Casualty of Colonialism

Last Kings of Rwanda and the Genocide

Rwandan Identification Cards

Genocidal Propaganda against the Tutsi

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM)

Simon Bikindi

Kangura Magazine

The Genocide

Tutsi Women During the Genocide

The Hutus’ Machete

Failure of the International Community

United Nations Inaction

The French Government

Roméo Dallaire

Justice, Recovery, and Commemoration

Gacaca Courts

Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

Psychological Impacts on Child Soldiers

Education in Rwanda

Kigali Memorial

International Attention and Denial

International Media Attention

U.S. Popular Culture and the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda

Genocide Denial

View our Exhibition Immersive Virtual Reality

Our student researchers included: Christopher Alepa, Isabella Apgar, Giavanna Barras, Colin Caliciotti, Lizbeth Coliente, Hope DeWitt, William Egner, Paul Fiorello, Alessia Guerriero, James Jackson, Aime Lara, Patrick Larsen, Tyler McConnell, Trent Montgomery, Lisa Mujica, Christian Navarro, Juan Navarro, Gina Reyes, Alan Rosenberg, Joseph Salerno, Stefanie Viera, Madeline Zech.

Luc Bernard generously built an immersive, virtual-reality version of our exhibition, which may be accessed here. Dr. Hollie Nzitatira provided scholarly and editorial guidance.

We would additionally like to thank Providence Umugwaneza, Erick Nkurunziza, Carl Wilkens, Maddie Zech, and Hope DeWitt.

Texts have been edited for content and form.