91³Ô¹ÏÍø

The Faculty of Arts warmly welcomes you to the book launch of Juliette Bour’s *Comme des hommes? Femmes politiques génocidaires au Rwanda*. During the event, she will be in conversation with Rama Jean Walter. Afterwards, you are all warmly invited to the celebratory reception at Agora.

About the book

In Rwanda, the history of the perpetrators of the genocide has ‘a female face’. Although the extermination of nearly one million Tutsis is a crime committed predominantly by men, the number of women who took part in the massacres is estimated at 96,000. The local nature of this genocide enabled women to participate in it on a massive scale. Whilst the majority of them were convicted of denouncing Tutsis, looting their possessions or encouraging the killers, some were among the instigators most deeply involved in the genocide. This book describes the life stories of fifteen women who took part in the genocide and their total dedication to the extermination, from its organisation right through to its execution. They were all political leaders. Witnesses still describe them today as women ‘who were different from the others’, monstrous and unstoppable. The notion persists that, as women, they should have conducted politics differently. By focusing on these dramatic life stories, the aim is not to write a sensational account. These female leaders – urban, in paid employment, highly educated, politically active and, prior to the start of the genocide, supported by powerful local or national networks – represent a new generation of women who, thanks to the so-called ‘women’s advancement policy’ introduced in the 1980s, have gained access to positions within the government or political parties. This intersection of gender and power invites us to look beyond the stereotypical images of rebellious, extraordinary or dominant women, in order to understand the mechanisms that drove them to commit such extreme acts of violence.

About the speakers

Dr. Juliette Bour is a historian specialising in the genocide against the Tutsis, a postdoctoral researcher at the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah and affiliated with the University of Antwerp (CSG). Her book *Comme des hommes? Femmes politiques génocidaires au Rwanda* is a revised version of her doctoral thesis, which she defended at the EHESS in 2024, and examines the activist careers of fifteen Rwandan female politicians who participated in the genocide from their positions of authority. Her research now focuses on youth organisations in Rwanda, viewed through the lens of the genocide.

Rama Jean Walter is a PhD student in history at Ghent University. He is part of the ERC project *Violence Work: Creating and Contesting Colonial Authority on the Ground in Africa through Everyday Violence*, led by Gillian Mathys. His research focuses on the history of Rwanda’s decolonisation and the associated socio-political crisis. More specifically, it examines the nature and role of Belgian colonial violence in shaping the dynamics of the crisis.

Practical information

Tuesday 24 November 2026

17:00 – 18:00: Book launch – 91³Ô¹ÏÍø City Campus, room s.D.014, Grote Kauwenberg 18, 2000 Antwerp

From 6.00 pm: reception at Agora – 91³Ô¹ÏÍø City Campus, Grote Kauwenberg 2, 2000 Antwerp

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Language of the event: English

Attendance is free; please register using the form below.