International Heritage Tourism in Rwanda: Paving Over the Past at the Musanze Caves

Imagining genocide heritage: Material modes of development and preservation in Rwanda

“…Here, the jagged edges of bricks have been smoothed with cement, buildings open to the unmanageable outdoors have been enclosed, and floors displaying the messy pockmarks of grenade explosions have been repaved – even though these forms of renovation and rehabilitation actually erase the very evidence that is theoretically to be preserved. In other words, the changes to Ntarama are of a kind with the government’s widespread grappling with physical modernity, and its tendency to pave over the messiness of history in the service of other projects (Giblin et al, 2017). The new Ntarama is clean, rational, and legible, and as such it reflects ambitions of the government for the New Rwanda as a whole.…”

“…Additionally, government-directed transformations make politically strategic use of the past through projects of education, including at heritage sites, especially for nation-building purposes (Giblin, 2012; Jessee, 2017). Heritage is also a key component of economic development efforts, particularly through the conservation and use of natural heritage for international tourism (Giblin et al, 2017), although in recent years, the government has sought to increase domestic and cultural tourism (Mazimhaka, 2007; Rwanda Development Board, 2016). These efforts toward national change have reached into all areas of Rwandan life.…”

Rwandan solutions to Rwandan problems: Heritage decolonization and community engagement in Nyanza District, Rwanda

“…Cultural heritage sites are less highlighted in both scholarship and in management. Indeed, when cultural and natural heritage come into conflict, for example, in questions of tourism and preservation, natural heritage tends to emerge victorious (Giblin et al, 2017), and cultural heritage has “long been regarded as being a sector of minor importance” (Ministry of Sports and Culture, 2008: 12). However, Rwanda does not lack cultural heritage sites, including cultural landscapes.…”