Uganda and Rwanda: Peace and Conflict Studies in the Lake Victoria Basin

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Examine the root causes and social ramifications of conflict in Uganda and Rwanda.

This groundbreaking study abroad program, offered during the summer, engages students with the active peace-building and NGO community in the Lake Victoria Basin.  Students experience two homestays, one in each country, as well as multiple educational excursions to carefully selected sites including the Rwanda Genocide Memorial.

Acquire skills to critically analyze situations of conflict in eastern and central Africa.
The program combines coursework in the classroom with experiential field visits to historical and cultural sites as well as to communities, NGOs, and government departments working in peace-building, reconstruction, and recovery. Students have lectures, classroom discussions, readings, and de-briefings on history, contemporary politics, and the role of the state.

Immersion in two countries
Students visit urban and rural areas in both Uganda and Rwanda. Students engage with university faculty, NGO leaders, and local residents, including victims, to better understand the impact of conflict and the challenges of reconciliation in the region.

Topics of inquiry in Uganda
Uganda continues to negotiate the effects of the northern region’s civil strife, which resulted in civil dislocation, destruction of life and property, and a draining of resources. Since the onset of the Juba peace talks in 2007, northern Uganda has had a respite from this strife. In this context, students consider questions such as:

• What are the local and international threats to the current peace?
• What challenges are Ugandans currently encountering and what opportunities exist as they seek to rebuild their lives during this interim period?
• In what ways does this conflict help our understanding of conflict in other places around the world?

Topics of inquiry in Rwanda
In Rwanda, students examine the 1994 genocide, a tragedy that resulted in the killing of nearly one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a time span of 100 days. Students debate questions such as:

• What social, political, local, and international processes precipitated the genocide?
• In what ways does the Rwanda case inform a framework that recognizes the warning signs of genocide?
• How has Rwanda come to terms with this unprecedented genocide?
• How has the genocide reconstituted Rwandan identity and Rwandan society?