Making ubumwe: Power, state and camps in Rwanda's unity-building project
本书探讨卢旺达后种族灭绝时期国家主导的团结建设计划如何与地方社区互动，分析政府如何控制言论以锚定官方叙事，并反思研究者在面对官方叙事和沉默时的挑战。
This books addresses a core question in Rwanda's post-genocide trajectory: how do nationwide and state-directed social projects align with, negotiate or override the needs of local communities in which they insert themselves? Although the author focuses upon Rwanda's unity-building project, she places her analysis within a wider social and political reflection. This makes the book a major contribution to the literature on contemporary Rwanda. The first part introduces the main subject: how to build unity (ubumwe) in a divided society. Purdekova offers an insight into the researcher's methodological and epistemological challenges. She analyses how the Rwandan government manages the boundaries of expression and exerts control over voice in order to anchor the appropriate official versions of meaning. This also impacts the realm of the researcher. How to avoid being captured by the official narrative? And how to gain access to people's ‘whispered truths’ in the face of a (self) imposed silence? Although the author asks the right – very complex – questions, she could have gone further in offering insight into how she dealt with these challenges. The first part further introduces Purdekova's methodology, her sources and fieldwork sites. Although the richness of her data – gathered in 2008-2009 - is beyond doubt, it would have been interesting if she had identified the regional origin of her research participants. The reader wonders whether this book is a ‘fine account of daily politics as lived by Kigali residents’ - as highlighted by Johan Pottier on the back cover; or whether the book can also legitimately speak for Rwanda's rural populations – as it claims.