Rwanda Before the Genocide analyzes the intersection of ethnic discourse, Rwandan politics, and Catholic social teaching during the critical final decade of Belgian colonial rule, exploring the many-threaded roots of the ethnic and political mythos that culminated with the 1994 genocide.

Table of Contents ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; I. Contested Categories: A Brief History of "Hutu" and "Tutsi" ; II. Building a Catholic Kingdom in Central Africa, 1900-1950 ; III. Success Breeds Restlessness, 1950-1955 ; IV. The Irruption of Hutu-Tutsi Tensions, 1956-1959 ; V. The Catholic Church & Political Revolution in Rwanda, 1959-1962 ; VI. The Catholic Church & Postcolonial Ethnic Violence ; VII. Epilogue: Lessons from Rwanda ; Appendix I: Timeline ; Appendix II: Glossary ; Bibliography ; Notes ; Index

"Carney does an excellent job situating the late colonial period within Rwanda's broader history and explaining the complexities of the ethnic discourse in Rwanda." --Becca Henriksen, Reading Religion "Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era, is a rare historical work that provides important context for understanding more recent events...[Carney] demonstrates a deep knowledge of the Catholic Church that many scholars writing on Rwanda lack, yet he manages to write in a manner accessible to a general audience...Rwanda Before the Genocide is an important contribution to Rwandan historical studies and particularly to Rwandan Church history. The book is thoroughly researched and well written."--African Studies Review "This is an outstanding piece of church history writing and another example of the importance of theological literacy in its writing. It should act as a siren call for anthropologists and sociologists to participate more fully in this discipline."--Ian Linden, Social Sciences and Missions "A signal contribution...Carney had generous access to the White Fathers' archives in Rome and Rwanda and has used them masterfully...Along with an important rereading of this history, Carney also provides thoughtful commentary on church-state relations in the postcolonial era in Africa, with lessons for places well beyond."--Theological Studies "An in-depth historical narrative...This book makes a significant contribution to understanding Rwandan history, Catholic missionary work in Africa, and the formation of ethnic identity during and after colonization."--African Studies Quarterly "Carney's scholarship is balanced, very thorough, and updated. Essential for Rwanda and genocide scholars."--CHOICE "This book is indispensable for understanding the relationship between church, state, and ethnic discourse in twentieth-century Rwanda." --International Bulletin of Missionary Research "Reading Carney's Rwanda Before the Genocide has been both delightful and extremely rewarding. Rarely does one come across such a thorough historical survey, pursued through an engaging theological lens. The historical survey is just excellent, helping to illumine the complex terrain of a crucial time in Rwanda's late colonial history. This is a very much needed study in the face of so many shallow accounts of the history of the Catholic Church in Rwanda."-Emmanuel M. Katongole, author of Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda "This book is a detailed examination of the historical background to the Rwanda genocide. It is an admirable combination of scrupulous scholarship, balanced judgment, and an unflinching search for truth. Although the tragedy of Rwanda sadly fits into the catalogue of twentieth-century killings, its special character can now be understood when placed in the searching light of policies and actions that preceded it. Among other things, this study shows the failure of the Church to deploy its considerable influence and assets to forestall the coming crisis, largely because of the inability to appreciate the reality of the Church's place in society. It is a depressingly familiar story; this book should make its repetition inexcusable."-Lamin Sanneh, Historian of religion, Yale University "I greatly appreciate Carney's research on the recent history of the Catholic Church in Rwanda. It is not easy to write about controversial historical periods. Carney has succeeded in overcoming the dangers of the task by basing his analysis on recent, unused, and primary sources. The result is a well-documented book with new insights on a crisis whose impacts are still real."-Paul Rutayisire, Director, Center for Conflict Management, National University of Rwanda

Selling point: The first English-language monograph on Rwandan Catholic history in over thirty years. Selling point: The first post-genocide history to focus explicitly on the 1950s, a decade that established the political and ethnic narratives that dominated Rwanda's post-colonial period. Selling point: Reveals how the supposedly primordial Hutu-Tutsi narrative was in fact muted during the early 1950s, overshadowed by black-white tensions in the church and other political narratives framed in non-ethnic terms. Selling point: Offers the first analysis of how the Catholic major seminary and other church institutions served as sites of contestation in Rwanda's late colonial ethnic disputes. Selling point: This research grows out of newly released archival material from the Missionaries of Africa archives in Rome. The author is the first researcher to consult archival material for the critical revolutionary years that culminated with Rwandan independence in 1962.

J.J. Carney is Assistant Professor of Theology at Creighton University. His research and teaching interests engage the theological and historical dimensions of the Catholic experience in modern Africa. He has published articles in African Ecclesial Review, Modern Theology, Journal of Religion in Africa, and Studies in World Christianity.

Selling point: The first English-language monograph on Rwandan Catholic history in over thirty years. Selling point: The first post-genocide history to focus explicitly on the 1950s, a decade that established the political and ethnic narratives that dominated Rwanda's post-colonial period. Selling point: Reveals how the supposedly primordial Hutu-Tutsi narrative was in fact muted during the early 1950s, overshadowed by black-white tensions in the church and other political narratives framed in non-ethnic terms. Selling point: Offers the first analysis of how the Catholic major seminary and other church institutions served as sites of contestation in Rwanda's late colonial ethnic disputes. Selling point: This research grows out of newly released archival material from the Missionaries of Africa archives in Rome. The author is the first researcher to consult archival material for the critical revolutionary years that culminated with Rwandan independence in 1962.