Proceedings of the 2023 9th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2023)

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Rwandan Genocide and Mass Communication: The Spiral of Silence and the Role of Group Polarisation in Pre-genocidal Ethnic Relations and Its Implications

Authors
Yuhao Tan1, *
1International Development, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, UK
*Corresponding author. Email: aalessandro@foxmail.com
Corresponding Author
Yuhao Tan
Available Online 9 September 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-092-3_55How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Rwanda genocide; ethnic relations; mass communication; the spiral of silence; group polarization
Abstract

Ethnic relations have always been a topic of concern for all countries, and how to do a good job of developing ethnic synergies is crucial for countries with multiple ethnic groups. Rwanda, a country with Hutus as the majority ethnic group and Tutsis and Twa as minorities, was shocked by the 1994 genocide of Hutus and Tutsis by the Hutu radicals under the involvement of the mass communication, the polarisation of groups and the breakdown of ethnic relations. Through the analysis of historical archives, this paper aims to trace the history of Hutu Tutsi ethnic relations in Rwanda, explore the evolution of ethnic relations before the genocide, and analyse the role of the mass communication in this process, to explore how the ‘spiral of silence’ and the phenomenon of group polarisation led to the genocide in Rwanda. Ultimately, the paper concludes that because of long-standing social norms of inter-ethnic discrimination and oppression, complemented by a strongly hate-oriented mass media, the Hutu and Tutsi communities were irreversibly polarised by the ‘spiral of silence’ phenomenon, which led to the Rwandan genocide.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2023 9th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2023)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
9 September 2023
ISBN
978-2-38476-092-3
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-092-3_55How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Yuhao Tan
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/09/09
TI  - Rwandan Genocide and Mass Communication: The Spiral of Silence and the Role of Group Polarisation in Pre-genocidal Ethnic Relations and Its Implications
BT  - Proceedings of the 2023 9th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 421
EP  - 435
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-092-3_55
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-092-3_55
ID  - Tan2023
ER  -