French Research Seminar with Dr Catherine Gilbert (Newcastle University)

'Decolonizing collective memory from within: Rwandan remembrance in Belgium and France’ 

Dr Catherine Gilbert

This paper proposes an exploration of the forms of memorialization that have emerged among Rwandan communities in Belgium and France, paying particular attention to the use of public space in remembrance practices. As well as large public events such as annual remembrance walks that raise awareness of the Rwandan presence in Belgium and France, a number of monuments to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi have been erected at key public sites in both countries in recent years, particularly in Brussels and Paris. What does it mean for the Rwandan community to claim a public space for memorialization in the heart of former colonial powers? What challenges does this memorialization pose to dominant understandings of (post)colonial history in Belgium and France?