‘That is when justice becomes complete.’ Exemplars’ perspectives on forgiveness as a civic virtue in post-genocide Rwanda

ABSTRACT

Should forgiveness be considered a civic virtue that promotes peace and justice following injustice? In the aftermath of conflicts as severe as state-sponsored genocide, how can relationships be restored, communities reconciled, and justice achieved? We interviewed 15 adults in Rwanda—survivors of the 1994 genocide, nominated as exemplars for their youth-serving roles in their communities and their experiences with forgiving the traumas of the genocide—about their approaches to conflict resolution, their ideas about justice and forgiveness, and their community work. Phenomenological analysis supported considering forgiveness as a civic virtue, as exemplars described a restorative approach to conflict in which justice facilitates, and is completed by, forgiveness. Implications for education emerged from exemplars’ accounts, including describing a process of conflict resolution that works toward peace and justice by means of listening, uncovering the truth, acting impartially, encouraging apology and forgiveness, advising for solutions, restoring rights and relationships, and fulfilling justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Forgiveness
• justice
• conflict resolution
• character education
• moral exemplars
• genocide
• Rwanda

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank (alphabetically): Marvin Berkowitz (University of Missouri—St. Louis), Hollie Nyseth Brehm (The Ohio State University), Kristen Check (Compassion International), Bridget Conley (Tufts University), Jean-Damascene Gasanabo (National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide), Todd Howland (United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights), Patience Kibbedi (Compassion International Uganda), Andrew Leake (Compassion International), Timothy Longman (Boston University), Jens Meierhenrich (London School of Economics, Harvard Law School), Lionel McPherson (Tufts University), Charles Murigande (Government of Rwanda, University of Rwanda), John Nkubana (Compassion International Rwanda), Nancy Snow (The University of Oklahoma), Michael Spezio (Scripps College), Noel Twagiramungu (Tufts University, USAID), and Everett Worthington (Virginia Commonwealth University).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. From Robert Frost (1923), ‘The Star-splitter’: ‘If one by one we counted people out/For the least sin, it wouldn’t take us long/To get so we had no one left to live with./For to be social is to be forgiving.’ (p. 28).

2. Estimates vary regarding the number of people killed in the genocide. Other widely accepted figures note 500,000 to 800,000 killed (see, Guichaoua, 2020). This figure (1,050,000) was based on a study evaluating the gacaca courts conducted by the Center for Conflict Management of the National University of Rwanda (2012). See, also McDoom (2020).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ‘Self, Virtue, and Public Life Project’ funded by the Templeton Religion Trust through the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing at the University of Oklahoma [102931-00001:PR0308]; and by a grant from Compassion International.

Notes on contributors

Jonathan M. Tirrell

Jonathan M. Tirrell is an applied developmental scientist and Research Associate Professor in the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. He studies positive youth development (PYD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by engaging in research-practitioner partnerships seeking to describe, explain, and optimize PYD and thriving among children and youth living in poverty. His research is particularly focused on the development of character strengths and virtues. Dr. Tirrell serves as Co-Editor for the Journal of Character Education (Information Age Publishing) and as Associate Editor of character development for Applied Developmental Science (Taylor & Francis).

Erin I. Kelly

Erin I. Kelly is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. Her research areas are in moral and political philosophy and the philosophy of law, with a focus on criminal law and criminal justice. She has written about standards of individual accountability and philosophies of punishment. She also writes about how matters of social justice bear on a normative assessment of criminal justice institutions. She is working to develop alternatives to retributive thinking about criminal justice, including restorative notions of justice. In addition to dozens of academic articles, she is author of The Limits of Blame: Rethinking Punishment and Responsibility (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018), which criticizes the role of blame in popular theories of criminal justice, and co-author of a memoir by artist Winfred Rembert, Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South (Bloomsbury Press, 2021).

John Gasasira Gasana

John Gasasira Gasana is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Rwanda in the College of Arts and Social Sciences. John is also affiliated to the Center for Conflict Management of the University of Rwanda and is currently doing a PhD in Armed Conflict and Peace Studies at the University of Nairobi-Kenya. His PhD research focuses on the contribution of Access to Justice to sustainable peacebuilding in Rwanda.

Elizabeth M. Dowling

Elizabeth M. Dowling is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Research in Youth Development (IARYD) in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. She helps to manage both domestic and international studies of positive youth development (PYD) as well as the institute’s capacity building efforts with practitioners and early-stage researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Before joining IARYD, Dr. Dowling spent over a decade as the Director of Research for the ImagineNations Group, which worked to catalyze multi-sectoral partnerships aimed at supporting young people living in LMICs in business development and employment. Dr. Dowling has also been an educator of young children, serving as a lead elementary school teacher for ten years, and has taught developmental science at the college level at both Tufts University and Boston College. Her research interests include PYD, character virtue development, and better understanding how to effectively and sustainably promote the equitable thriving of the world’s young people.

Julia Dennis

Julia Dennis is a master’s student in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University, and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development. Her research interests include the social and emotional development of children and adolescents and studying factors that promote thriving for youth who have experienced trauma.

Katelyn Malvese

Katelyn Malvese is a rising senior at Tufts University. She is double majoring in Psychology and Child Study & Human Development and is currently working as a research assistant at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development and Boston Children’s Hospital. Her current research interests include exploring mental health and development, as well as fostering resilience and positive youth development in adolescents with chronic health conditions. Beyond that, Katelyn is also interested in supporting families of children with chronic conditions, increasing accessibility in educational settings, and exploring the socio-emotional and moral development of youth.

Elise Rollman

Elise Rollman is currently studying in Eliot Pearson’s Child Study and Human Development (CSHD) master’s program at Tufts University. Before coming to Tufts University she had the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors at UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center (UpReach T.E.C.). She currently works at Tufts University’s Student Accessibility and Academic Resource (StAAR) Center. Her educational background is a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Northeastern University. Her expected graduation from the CSHD program is in the Spring of 2023. Her research interests include medical trauma, resilience, thriving, positive youth development, social justice, human animal interaction, and counseling psychology.

Emmanuel Namurinda

Emmanuel Namurinda is Program Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of Compassion International Rwanda Office, a graduate of Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania master’s program in International Development and currently enrolled in a master’s Program in Christian Studies at Wesley Biblical Seminary.

Richard M. Lerner

Richard M. Lerner is a Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and of Applied Developmental Science. Among his several honors are the 2013 APA Division 7 Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, the 2014 APA Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology, the 2016 ISSBD Award for the Applications of Behavioral Development Theory and Research, the 2017 SRCD Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy and Practice in Child Development award, the 2020 APS James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for lifetime outstanding contributions to applied psychological research, and the 2021 SSHD Distinguished Lifetime Career Award.

Alistair T. R. Sim

Alistair T. R. Sim leads Compassion International’s academic research partnerships as well as oversees Compassion’s principles and standards for Monitoring Evaluation Research & Learning (MERL). He is passionate about excellence in research and its strategic use to serve people living in poverty. For over 13 years, including 10 as director of the Program Effectiveness Research team, Alistair has advocated for the development and use of valid and meaningful measures, data, and rigorous studies of our programs. Prior to joining Compassion, Alistair spent 25 years as a career health sector academic and is a strong advocate for the integration of academia and practice for effective evidence-based child and youth programming.