ABSTRACT
This chapter explores one aspect of genocide’s aftermath that hasn’t received much attention: the fate of genocide sites—the geographic locations where groups of people were massacred. It is an adaptation of a policy report commissioned by the US Agency for International Development entitled “Preserving Genocide Sites in Rwanda: A Preliminary Assessment”. In some ways simple coordinates on a map, and in other ways social and political constructs, genocide sites are both a reminder of what took place during the genocide, and also a symbolic focus of contemporary political agendas at the local, national, and even the international level. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 has been analyzed from a variety of perspectives, and through the eyes of a wide range of actors. International courts want to use the remains from genocide sites as physical evidence. International visitors to post-genocide Rwanda want to witness the horror of what happened there by viewing the authentic remains of the violence.
