The Rwandan Genocide

A detailed Summary of The Rwandan Genocide

Sacrifice as Terror is witnessed from an anthropologist's perspective. This book, by Christopher C. Taylor, attempts to find reasoning for such a horrible consequence of genocide. He struggles to interpret the meaning of terror in another cultures eyes. What grounds could lead a culture to the genocide of another, especially two that are so relatively close? Taylor challenges this question by writing on his experiences during his two-year visit to (1993-1994) Rwanda. Genocide is not uncommon, he discovers. It is something that the Jews, Gypsies, and Bosnians have experienced. The author introduces the book by telling his personal experiences in efforts to share the terror that he encountered. After the introduction, in a non-biased fashion, Taylor is trying to capture and explain the concept of mass violence. The atrocities that took place during the Rwandan genocide showed how sacrifice and terror are culturally defined. This topic is appropriate because it helps gain insight of conflict within culture.

This story of ethnic conflict begins with two small African countries of Rwanda and Burundi. About 80-85% were Hutu, 15-20% were Tutsi, and less than 1% were Twa. The Twa was the lowest class, and they were often sh

Sacrifice as Terror, makes a very convincing claim that we define meaning culturally and socially. This is because Taylor merely states the occurrences as they are in a nonbiased form. The evidence that he provides is strong and believable. He supports his information with dates, and locations. For every claim that the author makes, he is able to confirm it with valid information, or an in depth description. For each subject that the author discusses, there is a specific section in the book that is devoted to it. For instance, Taylor devotes a section of the book to the Hamitic hypothesis, so that the readers can understand where this extremist way of thinking derived from. Not only does Taylor tell his readers what the hypothesis is but he tells of it's origins; the Old Testament Bible. The Hamitic hypothesis is what led to the genocide.

Taylor kept reiterating certain pieces of information. He would repeat the social status of the three types of Africans. Which I stated previously, derived from Hamitic thinking. At first, this appeared to be a weakness because the chapters seemed circular and repetitive. It seemed as if Taylor would only proceed with small amounts of new information at a time. As I continued to read, this became a strength. By Taylor doing this, he was clarifying for his readers. Sacrifice as Terror contained a large amount of historical and recent information, and it would have been overwhelming if he hadn't used the structure that he did. This strength made me capable of remembering what he had stated previously and connecting it to the new information that was being presented. When the Twa, Hutu, and Tutsi were introduced, I could not differentiate the three. The names were confusing, but the more he repeated the names and their social status, the clearer it became. Taylor

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Approximate Word count = 1236
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Foreign