Susan Thomson

EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science), Dalhousie University. May 2009. Dissertation title: Resisting Reconciliation: State Power and Everyday Life in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Master of Arts (Political Science), Dalhousie University. September 2001. Bachelor of Laws Honours, University College London, UK. June 1998. Bachelor of Arts Honours (Political Science), Saint Mary’s University. June 1992.

COURSES
SS-0165-1 (Fall 2010): Introduction to African Politics

SS-240 (Spring 2011): Politics of Power and Resistance in Africa

PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed Book  Legal Research and Writing Manual. Butare: National University of Rwanda Press, 2003, 197pp.

Peer-Reviewed Articles  “Whispering Truth to Power: The Everyday Resistance of Peasant Rwandans to Post-Genocide Reconciliation” African Affairs. Forthcoming July 2011. “Rhetorical Legacies of Leadership: Projections of ‘Benevolent Leadership’ in Pre- and Post-Genocide Rwanda ” (with Marie-Eve Desrosiers). Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(3), July 2011. “Law, Power and Justice: What Legalism Fails to Address in the Functioning of Rwanda’s Gacaca Court” (with Rosemary Nagy). International Journal of Transitional Justice, 5(1), March 2011, pp. 11-30.

“Local Power Relations and Household Gender Dynamics: Assessing Rwanda’s claim to Universal HIV/AIDS Treatment in Context”. Special Issue on HIV/AIDS, Human Security and Governance in Africa: Canadian Journal of African Studies, 44(3), February 2011, pp. 552-578. “La politique d’unité et de réconciliation nationale au Rwanda : figures imposées et résistance au quotidien” Genèses, 81(4), decembre 2010, pp. 49-63. “Getting Close to Rwandans since the Genocide: Studying Everyday Life in Highly Politicized Research Settings” African Studies Review, 53(3), December 2010, pp. 19-34. “Ethnic Twa and Rwandan National Unity and Reconciliation Policy.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 21(3), July 2009, pp. 313-320.

Peer-Reviewed Chapters in Books

“Re-education for Reconciliation: Participant Observations on Ingando”. In Scott Straus and Lars Waldorf, eds. Reconstructing Rwanda: State Building and Human Rights after Mass Violence. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011, pp. 480-491. “‘That is not what we authorised you to do…’: Access and government interference in highly politicised research environments”. In Chandra Lekha Sriram, John C. King, Julie A. Mertus, Olga Martín-Ortega and Johanna Herman, eds. Surviving Field Research: Working in violent and difficult situations. London: Routledge, 2009, pp. 108-124.

Non-Refereed Contributions

Journal Guest Editor: “Remembering Rwanda,” a special double issue of International Insights: A Dalhousie Journal of International Affairs, June 2005. 312 pp. “Introductory Remarks: Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region 10 Years On”, in Susan M. Thomson and J. Zoë Wilson (eds.), Remembering Rwanda: A Special Double Issue of International Insights: A Dalhousie Journal of International Affairs, June 2005, pp. 1-19.

Invited Contributions and Technical Reports

“Rwanda”. In Andreas Mehler, Henning Melber and Klaas van Walrave, eds. Africa Yearbook 7: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara 2011, forthcoming August 2011. “Rwanda”. In Andreas Mehler, Henning Melber and Klaas van Walrave, eds. Africa Yearbook 6: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara 2008. Leiden: Brill, 2010. “Rwanda”. In Andreas Mehler, Henning Melber and Klaas van Walrave, eds. Africa Yearbook 5: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara 2008. Leiden: Brill, 2009, pp. 333-344. “Developing Ethical Guidelines for Researchers working in Post-Conflict Environments”. Research Report prepared for the Program on States and Security, City University of New York. December 2008. http://www.statesandsecurity.org/_pdfs/Thomson.FINAL.9.16.pdf. “Re-Engaging the Post-Genocide Government of Rwanda: Canada’s Role”. Canadian Consortium on Human Security Policy Brief. March 2007. www.humansecurity.info/ sites/cchs/files/pdfs/Fellow%20Papers/Policy_brief/Thomson_Policy_Brief.pdf. “Civil Society Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect: 10 Years after the Rwandan Genocide”. April 2004. Workshop Report (co-author with Erin Baines and J. Zoë Wilson). http://centreforforeignpolicystudies.dal.ca/insights/RwandaAndTheGreatLakes.pdf “Individual Lived Experience with Democratisation in Post-Genocide Rwanda”, Human Security Bulletin, 3(4), November/December 2004, www.humansecuritybulletin.info/November_2004/Home/en/index.php.

Opinions and Other Publications

“Gerechtigkeit und Aussöhnung in Ruanda nach dem Genozid von 1994” (translated by Denis Walter and Ben Behschnitt), Internationales Magazin für Sicherheit, October 2010, pp. 11-13. “Kagame’s Victory, Rwanda’s Challenge”, 9 August 2010, http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1998-kagame-s-victory-rwanda-s-challenge “Political Repression in Rwanda. Widespread harassment of journalists, opposition politicians” Global Research, 21 July 2010. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&amp;aid=20194 “Collateral Damage. Average Rwandans suffer as opposition, journalists intimidated”, The Mail and Guardian On-line, 20 July 2010. http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-07-20-collateral-damage “Rwanda’s Sham Elections”, The Mark, 15 July 2010. http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1857-rwanda-s-sham-elections “A False Reconciliation”, The Mark, 21 January 2010. http://themarknews.com/articles/861-a-false-reconciliation. “Inside Rwanda’s gender revolution” (with Erin Baines and Stephen Brown), The Guardian Online, October 13, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/13/rwanda-gender. “Working Together, Working Towards: An Approach to Outcomes Based Learning”, Teaching and Learning at Saint Mary’s, 14(2), March 2004, pp. 5-6. Memoire Style Guide, Butare: National University of Rwanda Press, 1999. 69 pp.

Book Reviews

Mediations of Violence in Africa: Fashioning New Futures from Contested Pasts, Lidwien Kapteijns and Annemiek Richters, eds., International Journal of African Historical Studies, forthcoming, April 2011. The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006. By Filip Reyntjens, History: Review of New Books, forthcoming, April 2011. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences. By Luc Huyse and Mark Salter, eds. African Studies Review, 53(2), September 2010, pp. 204-205. After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond. By Phil Clark and Zachary D. Kaufman, eds. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 43(1), September 2010, pp. 192-194. After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond. By Phil Clark and Zachary D. Kaufman, eds. African Studies Review, 53(1), April 2010, pp. 204-206. A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It. By Stephen Kinzer. African Studies Review, 52(1), April 2009, pp. 194-196. A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It. By Stephen Kinzer. Canadian Journal of International Affairs, 64(1), Winter 2008/09, pp. 304-306. Liberal Democracy and its Critics in Africa: Political Dysfunction and the Struggle for Progress. Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo, ed. African Studies Review, 49(3), December 2006, pp. 165-166. Negotiating Local Knowledge: Identity and Power in Development. Johan Pottier, Alan Bicker and Paul Sillitoe, eds. European Journal of Development Research 18(1), 2006, pp. 173-174.

Under Review
Resisting Reconciliation: Everyday Life and State Power in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Book manuscript submitted to the “Africa and the Diaspora: History, Politics, Culture” series at the University of Wisconsin Press. “The Darker Side of Transitional Justice: The Power Dynamics behind Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts” Africa. Revise and resubmit, February 2011. “Defining “Rwandan-ness”? The Politics of Ethnic Identity in the Post-Genocide Gacaca Courts”, Identities, revise and resubmit, March 2011. “Teaching Individual Resistance to Mechanisms of Oppression: Case Studies from Kenya and Rwanda”. In Brandon Lundy, ed., Teaching Africa in the 21st Century Classroom. Revise and resubmit, resubmitted December 2010. “Peasant Perspectives on National Unity and Reconciliation: Building Peace or Promoting Division?”. Book chapter for co-edited volume Rwanda Fast Forward, submitted December 2010.

In Progress
Field Research in the Great Lakes Region: The Story Behind the Findings. Co-edited with An Ansoms and Jude Murison. Book manuscript. “The Role of Accountability in Evaluating Research in Divided Societies with Examples from Rwanda and South Africa”. Invited chapter for an INCORE/IDRC volume on Evaluating Research In and On Violently Divided Societies.