Fostering Interethnic Contact and Integrative Peace Education in the University Settings of Rwanda

Abstract

In the effort to reemerge from the scourge of the genocide, Rwanda needs to adapt reliable reconstructive and re-integrative processes. Peace education programs are among the interventions that can help the effort toward interethnic reintegration. Peace education can help students rethink history, reframe memories and differences, reconsider narratives and myths that lead to interethnic rivalry, and reimagine ways of tackling sources of interethnic tensions. This article proposes Interethnic Contact and Integrative Peace Education Programs (ICIPEPs) to inspire reflection on and critical engagement with broader sociopolitical, ideological and historic-political issues in peace education classrooms in Rwandan universities. ICIPEPs is a broadly based, context-specific, and flexibly adaptable framework that promotes critical engagement and conscious understanding. The article discusses what peace and civic educators in Rwanda can and may need to do to ensure the contribution of ICIPEPs in peace building and societal reconstruction. The article underlines that though they need strong knowledge, pedagogical, theoretical, and value bases for participation in ICIPEPs, peace educators are expected to avail themselves to different demands and challenges by adapting reflective and engaged educational praxis.