This study will examine how people try to build their morality after the 1994 Rwandan genocide through apparatuses established by the Rwandan state, like genocide commemoration forums and the Survivors’ Fund. Although these apparatuses have been expected to subsume all of those divided by the genocide and all of whom should be classified as “Rwandan,” the national history has recognized Tutsi as “survivor,” whereas Hutu as “perpetrator” with uniformity.
Almost all “genocide survivors” recognized by the state in K village, where is the presenter’s research site, are Hutu women who lost a Tutsi husband during the genocide. They could receive the distribution from the genocide survivors’ fund by telling clearly the tragic story of their husband’s death in line with the national history.
However, it should be noted that most people in villages were threatened during the genocide and caught in the “gray zone” in which one was unable to distinguish right from wrong. The morality of the local community is also open to those who might be excluded due to being classified as “Hutu perpetrators.” This orientation is possible because of the people’s silence regarding their own experience. The silence works as a strong deterrent to the generalization of people's individual experiences. Silence with affect can cause developments of imagination around these personal and complex experiences, memories, and the accompanying sufferings. Apprehending the pain of others is possible for people to overcome the system based on politics of recognition that produces the differences between national citizen and others.
