The Rwandan genocide is the second most audio-visually recreated genocide after the Holocaust, with approximately 200 films and documentaries produced in 39 countries between 1994 and 2021.
Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide studies the construction, the development, and the recreation of the transnational historical media memory of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.
This is the first comprehensive work that traces the international media image and the creation of historical memories of the Rwandan genocide, starting with the day to day television news reporting in 1994, and continuing with analyzes of how the genocide has been used and recreated in film and documentaries on a global level as well on a national level, where Rwanda, as a nation, creates its own images of the genocide in film and television production in order to support a new national identity.
By:
Tommy Gustafsson (Professor of Film Studies Linnaeus University)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399517348
ISBN 10: 1399517341
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 31 December 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide Part One: The Apocalypse, April to July 1994 2. Swedish Television News in 1994 Part Two: The Creation of a Transnational Historical Media Memory of the Rwandan Genocide, 1994–2005 3. The Creation of a Transnational Historical Media Memory of the Rwandan Genocide in the International Production of Television Documentaries, 1994–2003 4. The Creation of a Global Public Consciousness, 2004–2005 5. Telling the Truth: Documentary Films and Public Consciousness Part Three: To Maintain a Historical Media Memory on a Global Level, 2004–2021 6. The Difficulties to Maintain a Historical Media Memory in Feature Films 7. Emblematic Images and the Maintenance of a Historical Media Memory in Documentaries 8. Women, AIDS, and Rape 9. Reconciliation and Gacaca Documentaries 10. Historical Revisionism and Historical Negationism Part Four: The Use of Historical Media Memories in Rwanda, 2001–2021 11. The Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwandan Film and Television Notes Bibliography Filmography of the Rwandan Genocide Index
Tommy Gustafsson is Professor of Film Studies at Linnaeus University, Sweden. His books include The Politics of Nordsploitation (with Pietari Kääpä, 2021), Masculinity in the Golden Age of Swedish Cinema (2014), and the anthologies Nordic Genre Films (EUP, 2015) and Transnational Ecocinema (2013), both co-edited with Pietari Kääpä.
Reviews for Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide: Documentaries, Films, and Television News
Gustafsson’s account of how the media have represented the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis of Rwanda is a tour de force. Rigorous, convincing, and compassionate, Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide is quite extraordinary. It truly deserves a very wide audience. -- Mette Hjort, University of Lincoln Gustafsson’s account of how the media have represented the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis of Rwanda is a tour de force. Rigorous, convincing, and compassionate, Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide is quite extraordinary. It truly deserves a very wide audience. -- Mette Hjort, University of Lincoln
