ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that genocide and genocidal violence in post-independence Burundi and Rwanda ought to be seen in the context of their specific trajectory to and through modernity. It extends S. N. Eisenstadt's intriguing but undeveloped claim that postcolonial Burundi and Rwanda comprise a 'trauma of modernity', the sort of which indelibly marked the twentieth century and 'that brought into question its great promises'. The periodic destruction and genocide which occurred in the entangled post-independence histories of Burundi and Rwanda were 'not outbursts of old "traditional" forces, but the result of the ongoing dialogue between modern reconstruction and seemingly "traditional" forces'. They demonstrate to a tragic extent that experiences and interpretations of modernity can give rise to violent social conflict and trauma. The chapter then focuses on two events, namely the 1972 genocide in Burundi, and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, whilst situating them within a broader historical context.
