Building a Nation in Rwanda? De-ethnicisation and its Discontents

Andrea Purdekova

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

Rwanda remains in the eastern camp of ethnic ideas and projects of a ‘nation’ inasmuch as it is dominated by cultural as opposed to civic/political elements. Although the Rwandan attempt remains exclusive internally, it does not affirm the validity of an idealised Kohnian dichotomy between ‘exclusive’ ethnic nationalism and ‘inclusive’ civic nationalism. To avoid the trap of a bi-polar and value-ladden division, while preserving the useful insights of Kohn, the paper calls for a re-conceptualisation of nation-building projects along the continuum of their relative inclusiveness/exclusiveness, both internally (who shapes the ‘idea of nation’) and externally (the boundaries of nation).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)502-523
JournalStudies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
Volume8
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008

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Rwanda
nationalism
state formation
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Building a Nation in Rwanda? De-ethnicisation and its Discontents. / Purdekova, Andrea.

In: Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2008, p. 502-523.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Purdekova, A 2008, 'Building a Nation in Rwanda? De-ethnicisation and its Discontents', Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 502-523. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2008.00031.
Purdekova A. Building a Nation in Rwanda? De-ethnicisation and its Discontents. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 2008;8(3):502-523. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2008.00031.
Purdekova, Andrea. / Building a Nation in Rwanda? De-ethnicisation and its Discontents. In: Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 2008 ; Vol. 8, No. 3. pp. 502-523.
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