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ABSTRACT
This article considers Kinyarwanda-language entertainment websites in Rwanda and argues that they create an alternative digital youth public. In a context wherein the ‘traditional’ media is heavily regulated, I argue that these websites provide important spaces of debate, aspiration, and self-making. They allow young Rwandans to participate in transnational networks of cultural production and imagine themselves as well-connected and ‘modern’ global citizens. This does not mean, however, that the digital public convened by these websites is a space of ‘rational’ or democratic debate. Rather, these sites are heavily gendered and seem disproportionately concerned with policing the behaviour and dress of young women. In doing so, they reveal on-going anxieties about women’s sexuality and place in the public sphere. Furthermore, as much as entertainment websites are understood to be relatively ‘apolitical’, they are inevitably shaped by the country’s politics. The digital youth public convened by entertainment websites is ‘alternative’ insofar as it allows for vibrant debate on topics of importance to young people, but it should in no way be seen as existing outside the realm of state power.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sharath Srinivasan, Stephanie Diepeveen, and George Karekwaivanane for their helpful comments in revising the paper, as well as to all those who participated at the ‘Digital Publics and Counterpublics’ workshop. Two anonymous reviewers provided thoughtful feedback, along with several colleagues.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Begley, “Resolved to Fight the Ideology of Genocide and All of its Manifestations,” 12.
2 Thomson, “Academic Integrity and Ethical Responsibilities in Post-Genocide Rwanda,” 140.
3 Burnet, Genocide Lives in Us; Goodfellow, “The Institutionalisation of ‘Noise’ and ‘Silence’ in Urban Politics”.
4 Purdeková, “‘Even If I Am Not Here, There Are so Many Eyes’.”
5 Nyamnjoh, Africa’s Media, 205.
6 Larkin, Signal and Noise, 2.
7 Ibid., 2–3.
8 Pells, Pontalti, and Williams, “Promising Developments?”, 304.
9 Englund, Human Rights and African Airwaves.
10 Grant, “Ecumenism.”
11 Boellstroff, “The Digital That Will Be.”
12 Gagliardone and Golooba-Mutebi, “The Evolution of the Internet in Ethiopia and Rwanda,” 8.
13 Chrétien, Rwanda; Thompson, The Media and the Rwanda Genocide.
14 Des Forges, “Call to Genocide.”
15 UNMICT, “Three Media Leaders Convicted for Genocide.”
16 Frère, “After the Hate Media,” 343.
17 Ibid., 344.
18 Freedom House, “Rwanda: Freedom of the Press 2013”; Muganwa, “Rwanda Media Sustainability Index 2012”; Human Rights Watch, “World Report 2014: Rwanda.” See also Sundaram, Bad News.
19 Human Rights Watch, “World Report 2014: Rwanda”; Article 19, “Rwanda: Media Law Does Not Go Far Enough.”
20 For a discussion of the documentary and the fallout from it, see Reyntjens, “Briefing the Struggle over Truth.”
21 Freedom House, “Rwanda: Freedom on the Net 2015.”
22 Gagliardone and Golooba-Mutebi, “The Evolution of the Internet in Ethiopia and Rwanda.”
23 Freedom House, “Rwanda: Freedom on the Net 2015,” 7.
24 These fears are not without grounds. During the trial of popular singer and reconciliation activist Kizito Mihigo in 2014–2015, Mihigo was charged with attempting to overthrow the government and evidence used against him included Skype conversations and WhatsApp messages. See The East African, “Phone Evidence Used in Terror, Treason Case.” 26 April 2014. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Phone-evidence-used-in-terror/-/2558/2294196/-/klwpvi/-/index.html. Accessed September 6, 2016.
25 Freedom House, “Rwanda: Freedom on the Net 2015.”
26 Grant, “The Making of a ‘Super Star’.”
27 Grätz, “New Media Entrepreneurs,” 1.
28 Ibid., 4.
29 For a comparison of how journalists in other African contexts negotiate their precarious positions, see Pype, “Reciprocity and Risk.”
30 Barber, “Popular Arts in Africa”; Wasserman, Tabloid Journalism in South Africa.
31 Simone, “On the Worlding of African Cities.”
32 Weiss, “Thug Realism.”
33 In the past two years, however, both artists have returned to Rwanda to perform concerts. These concerts attracted substantial media coverage, in both the Kinyarwanda and English press.
34 For a recent example of this, see: http://inyarwanda.com/articles/show/OtherNews/urban-boys-yuriye-yuriye-indege-yerekeza-muri-nigeriya-63223.html. Accessed October 19, 2016.
35 Mann and Nzayisenga, “Sellers on the Street.”
36 Turner, “Staging the Rwandan Diaspora.”
37 Although ‘ghetto’ could be used as a negative descriptor of Nyamirambo by more well-off friends, it was also the term used by those who proudly lived in the neighbourhood. ‘Ghetto’ here connects the neighbourhood’s long history as a site of marginalisation and creativity, particularly vis-à-vis popular music, with global Blackness. Many of the country’s most well-known rappers, for example, lived in Nyamirambo and self-consciously saw their work as speaking the ‘truth’ of everyday life, much in the same way as popular African American hip hop artists.
38 Wasserman, Tabloid Journalism in South Africa, 87.
39 Callaci has made a similar argument about ‘popular urbanists’ in Dar es Salem in the 1970s who drew on various forms of ‘street archives’ to produce alternative visions of the city than that articulated by the socialist state. See Callaci, Street Archives and City Life.
40 Grant, “The Making of a ‘Super Star’.”
41 Rutazibwa, “Studying Agaciro.”
42 Behuria, “Countering Threats.”
44 Behuria, “Countering Threats,” 436.
45 Ibid., 445.
46 Burnet, “Women Have Found Respect”; Debusscher and Ansoms, “Gender Equality Policies in Rwanda.” For an overview of both the successes and challenges of women-led NGOs, see Mwambari, “Women-Led Non-Governmental Organisations and Peacebuilding in Rwanda.”
47 Jefremovas, “Loose Women”; Vandersypen, “Femmes Libres.”
48 Karemera, “Six Years of on-and-off Miss Rwanda Beauty Pageant.”
49 Ligaga, “Mapping Emerging Constructions of Good Time Girls,” 253.
50 Jefremovas, “Loose Women”; Vandersypen, “Femmes Libres.”
51 In Kinyarwanda, ibitekerezo translates as thoughts, ideas, or opinions.
52 http://www.igihe.com/imyidagaduro/muzika/abahanzi/butera-knowless/amakuru/article/knowless-yizihije-isabukuru-ya-nyuma-mbere-yo-kwibaruka-imfura-ye-na-clement. Accessed November 15, 2018.
53 Ligaga, “Mapping Emerging Constructions of Good Time Girls.”
54 Gagliardone, “New Media and the Developmental State in Ethiopia.”
55 Gafaranga, “Translinguistic Apposition,” 93.
56 The East African Team, “Unbowed by Mudslinging, Diane Vows to Solider on in Race for Presidency.” The East African, 17 May 2017. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Diane-Shima-Rwigara-Rwanda-presidential-election/2558-3931264-tnkbpg/index.html. Accessed May 3, 2018.
57 Obadare, “The Uses of Ridicule.”