From invisibility to recognition. Archive and cultural memory of the Rwandan genocide

Abstract

Between April and July 1994 “the fastest genocide in history” (Melvern, 2004) took place in Rwanda. One of the media by which the genocide acquired visibility was film. Thus, we could say that the various titles produced so far form an audiovisual archive on the basis that not only the films succeeded in establishing forms, schemes and visual motifs of representation, but also that they allowed the putting into circulation of an interpretation of the genocide. From this starting point, this paper aims to study the film archive of the Rwandan genocide from the concept of cultural memory: a type of memory that is mediated through texts, images, rituals, etc. (Assmann, 2011). In this sense, cinema has become one of the most important contemporary means for the construction and transmission of cultural memory. On the other hand, the dynamics of cultural memory, as an active form of memory, can be understood through a dialogue between the canon and archive. In our paper we will investigate the archive of the Rwandan genocide in the light of that dialogue, which is not always an harmonious one, but sometimes also a dissonant one.