Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide Book

Not just the account of a small African country that most of us know little about, this book provides insightful analysis of the causes and effects of ethnic tensions and ethnic conflict. Even if one cared little about Burundi in particular, this book would still be a useful look at the processes of mythmaking, dehumanization, and the construction of social and cultural fault lines for political motives, which is instructive whether the topic is Burundi or the U.S. pursuit of the "War on Terror."

Arguing against essentialist views of ethnic conflict, Lemarchand takes significant steps beyond what is often a simplistic debate about whether ethnic tensions existed before colonial rule or were largely a product of the policies instituted by colonial powers, and reflects on how these interpretations (or creations) of history are used as a rhetorical strategy for political gain.

This book traces the social divisions in Burundian society going back to the nineteenth century, when multiple cleavages existed (including regional and patrilineal groupings and the tensions within the monarchy that equaled or surpassed the importance of Hutu-Tutsi distinctions) to the post-colonial period when social distinctions were simplified and reified into a Hutu-Tutsi polarization. Lemarchand attributes illustrates the political exigencies that led to that polarization, including competition within the Tutsi for control, the interplay of ethnic tensions between Burundi and Rwanda, especially over refugee populations, and the effect of massacres in creating emotionally-laden identities of the Hutu as le people martyr and the Tutsi as a minority at risk of being violently suppressed.

The fact that all the book but the preface was written before the 1993 genocide does not impair its value is a testament to its analysis.