Telling the neglected history of decolonisation and violence in Burundi, Aidan Russell examines the political language of truth that drove extraordinary change, from democracy to genocide. By focusing on the dangerous border between Burundi and Rwanda, this study uncovers the complexity from which ethnic ideologies, side-lined before independence in 1962, became gradually all-consuming by 1972. Framed by the rhetoric and uncertainty of 'truth', Russell draws on both African and European language source material to demonstrate how values of authority and citizenship were tested and transformed across the first decade of Burundi's independence, and a post-colony created in the interactions between African peasants and politicians across the margins of their states. Culminating with a rare examination of the first postcolonial genocide on the African continent, a so-called 'forgotten genocide' on the world stage, Russell reveals how the postcolonial order of central Africa came into being.
Russell
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Introduction: talking politics and watching the border prologue, 1796–1959: people of the land; Part I. 1959–1961: 'To See the Son of a King': 1. Ukuri ni kumwe: talking truth; 2. Ibigendajoro: rebels in the name of the king; Part II. 1961–1967: 'A Most Total Anarchy': 3. Abanyabihuha: talking loyalty; 4. Ukuri n'ubutungane: the fate of the Bourgmestres; Part III. 1968–1972: 'Please Send Me a Car to Take Them Away': 5. Politiques bw'insaku: talking vigilance; 6. Couper tout ce qui dépasse: truth and violence; Conclusion: the Court of Baribuka; Bibliography.
Russell, Aidan
Aidan Russell is Associate Professor of International History at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. He is the author of articles in Africa, The International Journal of African Historical Studies and the Journal of Eastern African Studies. He is the editor of Truth, Silence and Violence in Emerging States: Histories of the Unspoken (2018).
