Abstract
Looking at the outcomes of government and the many ways in which people maneuver within the realms of state power, Sundberg highlights how the penetration of the Rwandan state varies depending on how citizens and state representatives alike accommodate state policy and regulation. Interventions imposed from above—in Itorero camps as in everyday local government—are understood, used, and resisted in numerous ways, which complicates understandings of resistance and compliance. Yet, even the strongest adversaries tend to prefer subtle rule-bending to open protest. That preference points to the authoritarian nature of certain government practices—of their capacity to feed people’s imaginings of the potential of state power and their own exposure to its retributive capacity, which ultimately guide everyday actions and behaviors vis-à-vis the state.
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Notes
- 1.
Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa.
- 2.
There were a few exceptions to this. One graduate I spoke with said he had been encouraged by the Itorero management and local authorities to attend the annual “National Youth Week” ceremony at the Kigali stadium, enroll in a national entrepreneurship competition organized by a bank, and produce an educational film about fighting drug abuse among youth. Beyond the youth trained, national service activities I encountered included assisting in local genocide commemorations and national elections, building a health facility, and starting a family planning cooperative.
- 3.
The central authorities included persons in charge of performance contracts at the Ministry of Local Government and the Rwanda Governance Board.
- 4.
The Itorero launch coincided with International Women’s Day. Although many expected the day to be announced as a public holiday, it was not.
- 5.
‘Dignity is our strength’ (Ijabo riduhe jambo) is the first slogan taught in Itorero and is taken from Rwanda’s national anthem.
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Sundberg, M. (2016). “Manufacturing” Model Citizens: Governing in Everyday Encounters. In: Training for Model Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58422-9_6
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