Becoming Rwandan? The Impact of Two Decades of Unity Policies on the Batwa

In the almost twenty-five years after the violence that destroyed much of the country’s physical, institutional and social infrastructure, the government of Rwanda has made national unity and reconciliation a priority. Much has been written about its reconciliation policies and their effects. In this literature, Batwa are frequently presented as ‘forgotten’ or ‘invisible’, and are portrayed as the victims of a government that does not care for them and of neighbours who despise them. Drawing on qualitative research with Twa, their non-Twa neighbours, government actors, and NGO workers conducted between 2015 and 2017, this paper seeks to build on earlier studies and suggests that the policies of national unity and reconciliation are having a major impact on how Twa construct their identity within post-genocidal Rwanda.