Mary Kathleen (MK) Speth

Since the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis, Rwanda has seen a rapid growth in memorialization – particularly sites of memory – along with its tourism industry. This has contributed to a profound socio-political and economic transformation, respectively. While much research has examined these developments separately, the intersection between tourism and memory remains underexplored. My project addresses this gap. It analyzes how tourism in Rwanda (re)creates globalized public spaces wherein local to global narratives/imaginaries converge. Through ethnographic research in Kigali, Nyanza/Butare, and Musanze, I will examine how local tour guides, heritage educators, and the more-than-human (artifacts/animals) discursively and materially (re)produce memories of the 1994 Genocide. By focusing on tourism, the project moves beyond official narratives and the binary of state control versus resistance, instead revealing how the tourism sector circulates diverse and, at times, conflicting post-genocide memories. It argues that Rwanda’s tourist sites, including those directly and indirectly related to the 1994 Genocide, function as dynamic memory spaces that shape how everyday Rwandans remembered the past, live in the present, and imagine the future. Ultimately, my project will shed light on the complex relationship between tourism and collective memory in post-genocide Rwanda, offering insights into the country’s evolving socio-cultural land/memoryscapes.