Harmsworth-Morrissey Studies History of Representation of Rwandan Genocide in Leftist French and U.S. Newspapers
CHRISTINE ARSNOW
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News
Senior Kate Harmsworth-Morrissey is a double major in French and history. Her strong French background influenced her history thesis, which compares media representation of the Rwandan genocide in French and U.S. newspapers over the past 14 years.
Harmsworth-Morrissey first became interested in the Rwandan genocide during her semester abroad in Grenoble, France, last fall. In Grenoble, Harmsworth-Morrissey took a course on the aftermath of French colonization and noticed that "the French paint a glossed-over version of African colonization." When she returned to campus, Harmsworth-Morrissey took a French seminar on the Rwandan Genocide, which further piqued her interest in the subject.
After the seminar, Harmsworth-Morrissey was moved to pursue peace-keeping efforts in Rwanda. She and two other Bates students received a Kathryn Wasserman Davis Grant, part of a fund that Davis established on her 100th birthday called "100 Projects for Peace." Students from 85 colleges competed for grants to "design their own grass roots projects for peace that they themselves will implement anywhere in the world" (www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org). Harmsworth-Morrissey and the two other students traveled to Rwanda in the summer of 2007 to work the Gitagata Center for Street Children, an orphanage filled with children who had been left parentless by the genocide.
The Bates students' grant proposal outlined a photography project for the Rwandan children that would allow them to express their creativity in a medium that was not usually available to them. Upon their arrival, however, the Rwandan government informed the students that they would not be allowed to take photographs at the Center. "The Rwandan government wanted to portray a certain image of the Center," Harmsworth-Morrissey said, "and wanted to have control over that image."
This experience made Harmsworth-Morrissey wonder more about international media portrayal of the Rwandan genocide. Though Rwanda was a Belgian colony, France was a powerful influence in the country and the negative aftershocks of colonial rule still trouble the nation today. It is believed that the French supported Rwanda's president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose Hutu regime established a foundation for the genocide. Extremist members of Habyarimana's government instigated the genocide when the president's plane was shot down in April 1994. Harmsworth-Morrissey knew that "much African violence [that arises in the aftermath of colonialism] is attributed to tribalism" and decided to compare French newspaper coverage of the genocide to U.S. newspaper coverage to investigate the extent to which the French government skewed details and misplaced blame in the Rwandan genocide.
Harmsworth-Morrissey first became interested in the Rwandan genocide during her semester abroad in Grenoble, France, last fall. In Grenoble, Harmsworth-Morrissey took a course on the aftermath of French colonization and noticed that "the French paint a glossed-over version of African colonization." When she returned to campus, Harmsworth-Morrissey took a French seminar on the Rwandan Genocide, which further piqued her interest in the subject.
After the seminar, Harmsworth-Morrissey was moved to pursue peace-keeping efforts in Rwanda. She and two other Bates students received a Kathryn Wasserman Davis Grant, part of a fund that Davis established on her 100th birthday called "100 Projects for Peace." Students from 85 colleges competed for grants to "design their own grass roots projects for peace that they themselves will implement anywhere in the world" (www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org). Harmsworth-Morrissey and the two other students traveled to Rwanda in the summer of 2007 to work the Gitagata Center for Street Children, an orphanage filled with children who had been left parentless by the genocide.
The Bates students' grant proposal outlined a photography project for the Rwandan children that would allow them to express their creativity in a medium that was not usually available to them. Upon their arrival, however, the Rwandan government informed the students that they would not be allowed to take photographs at the Center. "The Rwandan government wanted to portray a certain image of the Center," Harmsworth-Morrissey said, "and wanted to have control over that image."
This experience made Harmsworth-Morrissey wonder more about international media portrayal of the Rwandan genocide. Though Rwanda was a Belgian colony, France was a powerful influence in the country and the negative aftershocks of colonial rule still trouble the nation today. It is believed that the French supported Rwanda's president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose Hutu regime established a foundation for the genocide. Extremist members of Habyarimana's government instigated the genocide when the president's plane was shot down in April 1994. Harmsworth-Morrissey knew that "much African violence [that arises in the aftermath of colonialism] is attributed to tribalism" and decided to compare French newspaper coverage of the genocide to U.S. newspaper coverage to investigate the extent to which the French government skewed details and misplaced blame in the Rwandan genocide.
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