HR Lecture 1/14 - Introduction to Human Rights: The Problem Defined

Born in 1988 - What do you have to answer for?

RWANDA

Murambi

1994*

Brutal murder (mainly) of the Tutsi people by Hutu. Genocide, mass graves.

What is the will to live?

*Reflection:

I was six years old. Does this mean I'm "off the hook"? Hotel Rwanda came out in 2004. I first saw it in 2007, as a college freshman. I had recently decided I wanted to declare as an Anthropology major. Something in the film indicated to me that in a way Anthropology was at fault for the horrors in Rwanda. It was because of European Anthropologists coming in and categorizing the people into groups like Hutu and Tutsi, and then declaring both subtly and overtly that one should be superior to the other and creating institutions to reinforce this notion, which enacted the system of inequality and strife which catalyzed the violent retaliation.

I am definitely not off the hook for this one. This was a defining moment in my college career; it was a point where I decided how I should use my degree, and when I realized Human Rights was a minor, it seemed the obvious thing to do.

SUDAN

Darfur