Indirect pathways are ways in which the genocide and its aftermath affect the life circumstances of the children, and through that, the child. Direct pathways concern the ways in which the genocide and its aftermath are reflected upon, reconstructed and explicitly communicated or silenced to the second generation. Through an in-depth analysis of qualitative interviews with 41 mothers and one of their adolescent children, we identified direct and indirect pathways through which the legacies of the genocide are transmitted to the second generation. This study aims to (i) understand how the legacies of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and its aftermath are transmitted to the next generation within Rwandan families and (ii) explore how institutional support plays a role in the pathways of intergenera-tional transmission. The comparative analysis will show that the Rwandan experience of tarrying with transitional justice could be characterized as negative Ubuntu or victor’s justice ideology, while the South African experience can be portrayed as Ubuntu in the positive, championing authentic Ubuntu ethics, which avoids an Othering process that often leads to further violence between aggrieved parties. However, Rwanda’s authoritarian government presented quite successfully Gacaca as a restorative justice model. By contrast, the Gacaca courts, set up by a Tutsi-dominated government with approval of the world (legal) community, unraveled a retributive victors’ justice while eliding true restorative justice. I will argue that the TRC may have fallen short of such lofty goal of forgiveness, but in the end it did not succumb to a logic of revenge. Similarly, the Gacaca informal justice proceedings have been considered by restorative justice advocates as a paradigm case of overcoming ethnic hatred. The TRC popularized the quasi-religious ethics of Ubuntu (i.e., shared humanity) engendering feelings of forgiveness in victims of apartheid injustice. Both transitional justice practices have been praised as restorative or even therapeutic. This chapter analyzes ideological claims regarding South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Rwanda’s Gacaca courts. Some possible implications of this will be explored in this article. A significant difference between these two countries is that South Africa has allowed for contending narratives about the past to be in dialogue with one another, whereas Rwanda has chosen the route of preferring one narrative over others. Some preliminary thoughts related to memory after violent conflict through comparisons between how South Africa and Rwanda have remembered their violent pasts will be considered, particularly in terms of their impact on second and third generations. Exploring individual and collective memory in the Rwandan and South African contexts, this article argues that how we remember is more important than what we remember if the process of remembering is to contribute positively to the post-conflict recovery process. In addition to this, the effects of collective trauma that remains unresolved within a society may become symptomatic amongst the second and third generation. Recent studies in the area of trauma after violent conflict have found that second generation survivors may carry memories of trauma that occurred prior to their birth. Post-conflict transitional justice, reconciliation and restoration must reflect the needs of the populace, which will depend on the type of conflict that was endured. As a result, future social development is easier to recover, as culture is not destroyed and family hierarchies remain mainly intact. While high-level conflicts are both brutal and devastating in their own right, they do not result in the same breakdown of culture and family structures. Gabor Mate will also be drawn from in order to demonstrate how long-term, low-level conflicts can result in the decimation of the fabric of a culture and a malformation of family structures, leaving intergenerational trauma that stunts future social development. Frantz Fanon’s work will be used to locate the struggle for identity in post-apartheid South Africa, while also showing the lesser need for this search in post-genocide Rwanda. This paper will argue that long lasting, low-level conflicts, such as apartheid, often has more of a detrimental effect on the social development of a country than short-term, high-level conflicts, such as the Rwandan genocide.
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