To Save Heaven and Earth
Rescue in the Rwandan Genocide
Published on 15. January 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-1-5017-6711-1 (ISBN)
Description
In To Save Heaven and Earth, Jennie E. Burnet considers people who risked their lives in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsi to try and save those targeted for killing. Many genocide perpetrators were not motivated by political ideology, ethnic hatred, or prejudice. By shifting away from these classic typologies of genocide studies and focusing instead on hundreds of thousands of discrete acts that unfold over time, Burnet highlights the ways that complex decisions and behaviors emerge in the social, political, and economic processes that constitute a genocide.
To Save Heaven and Earth explores external factors, such as geography, local power dynamics, and genocide timelines, as well as the internal states of mind and motivations of those who effected rescues. Framed within the interdisciplinary scholarship of genocide studies and rooted in cultural anthropology methodologies, this book presents stories of heroism and of the good done amid the evil of a genocide that nearly annihilated Rwandan Tutsi and decimated the Hutu and Twa who were opposed to the slaughter.
To Save Heaven and Earth explores external factors, such as geography, local power dynamics, and genocide timelines, as well as the internal states of mind and motivations of those who effected rescues. Framed within the interdisciplinary scholarship of genocide studies and rooted in cultural anthropology methodologies, this book presents stories of heroism and of the good done amid the evil of a genocide that nearly annihilated Rwandan Tutsi and decimated the Hutu and Twa who were opposed to the slaughter.
Reviews / Votes
Much more than any other study of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, this volume examines the profoundly significant phenomenon of courage. Jennie E. Burnet's fine analysis goes beyond structural frameworks and provides an incremental, interdisciplinary, and theoretical approach to the subject.(Choice) This book is one that genocide, social network, and scholars studying Rwanda have been waiting for, and those interested in development, violence, or prosocial behavior will be grateful to read. Students will be drawn to the beautifully written stories and clear arguments. I look forward to Burnet's book paving the way forward for a new era of rescue studies.
(The Journal of Development Studies) This is an outstanding work of scholarship-pulling together incredibly well the ever-shifting constellations of choices, circumstances, relationships, and locations in the context of the Rwandan genocide, and demonstrating how these elements worked together to explain the operational and decisional aspects of rescue work
(African Studies Review) Burnet's fine analysis goes beyond structural frameworks and provides an incremental, interdisciplinary, and theoretical approach to the subject.
(Social & Behavioral Sciences)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ithaca
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 b&w halftone, 4 maps - 4 Maps - 1 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
907 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5017-6711-1 (9781501767111)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2023
Cornell University Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Jennie E. Burnet is Director of the Institute for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgia State University. She is the author of Genocide Lives in Us. Follow her on X @DrJennieBurnet.
Content
Introduction
1. Dynamics of Violence in the Gray Zone
2. Agency and Morality in the Gray Zone
3. Muslim Exceptionalism and Genocide
4. Resistance, Rescue, and Religion
5. The Border as Salvation and Snare
6. At the Margins of the State
7. Altruism, Agency, and Martyrdom in the Gray Zone
Conclusion
1. Dynamics of Violence in the Gray Zone
2. Agency and Morality in the Gray Zone
3. Muslim Exceptionalism and Genocide
4. Resistance, Rescue, and Religion
5. The Border as Salvation and Snare
6. At the Margins of the State
7. Altruism, Agency, and Martyrdom in the Gray Zone
Conclusion