Annotated Bibliography
Barker, Greg. Ghosts of Rwanda. Alexandria, Va.: PBS Video, 2005.
This movie highlights the details of the Rwandan Genocide. This source comes from PBS, which
stands for Public Broadcasting Service. This source is reliable because it comes from a welltrusted company that is held in high regards for making educational videos. The audience for
this video is probably students and people who want to be educated about the Rwandan
Genocide. This video certainly was not made for a younger audience, as there is a “viewer
discretion” warning at the beginning of the film and there are some gory images throughout the
video. One would think that this video would be somewhat unbiased, but it is. There are images
of Bill Clinton as the narrator says “America turned its back,” which shows that Clinton, the
president at the time, was not doing anything to help the Rwandans, which is probably not
entirely true. Greg Barker wrote, directed and produced this film, which means that he had most
of the authority as far as deciding what went into the film. When researching Barker, I could not
find any explicit details regarding his personal life, but I did find some things that relate to his
career. Barker is known to be the director of many films such as this one, which gives him some
credibility as a filmmaker. He mainly makes films that have a political background to them which
shows that he is interested in world politics and that he has a voice. This video mainly focuses
on why the United States was not more involved in the Rwandan conflict.
Kuperman, Alan J. The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda. Washington, D.C:
Brookings Institution Press, 2001. Print.
This book has a slew of information regarding the Rwandan Genocide. It actually covers a wide
variety of subjects, which can somewhat distract the reader and question the focus of the book.
This book, however, mainly focuses on the involvement of the United States as far as the
Rwandan Genocide was involved. It highlights how the author thinks that the Genocide began,
and it later talks about when the author thinks that the United States found out about the
Rwandan Genocide. Furthermore, the author writes about the military intervention and what
the United States could have done. The main thing that Kuperman does is that he writes about
the points in time in which the United States could have intervened in the conflict. Kuperman is
exceedingly knowledgeable about this subject because not only is he a professor at the
University of Texads, but he also taught at John Hopkins University. Furthermore, he is the
leader of a Pentagon- funded project to work on intervention with Africa and fix some of the
race relations that are going on over there. This shows that he is involved in African affairs, and
that while he does put stock in what happens in Africa, he may be somewhat biased as far as
what happened in Rwanda. I believe he is a credible source because he gives a different
perspective of what the Rwandan issue consisted of. Since he is in cohorts with the Pentagon, he
can give the outlook of the United States government, which is beneficial, because there are not
many sources out there that gives the opinion of the United States. Instead, many of the other
sources highlight what they think the United States feels, so this is refreshing.
Mamdani, Mahmood. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda.
Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2001. Print.
This book is probably the most unbiased source that is being used. It highlights the origins of the
Hutu and Tutsi people and it goes into detail as to why there is an issue in the first place. This
source is pretty useful because it highlights that no one really knows the exact cause as to why
these two groups have issues in the first place. However, Mamdani tries to answer why this has
happened in a variety of methods. He describes why the Hutu felt tension, why the Tutsi felt
tension, and he even addressed the government and why they felt the way that they did.
Generally, Tutsi people saw themselves as people of a higher class, and the Hutu people saw
themselves as people who are at the same class level. The author even points out that there is
slight distinction between the two groups as far as their looks go. The author claims that the
Tutsi people are more stout and dark than the Hutu people, but I am sure that this is not true of
all Hutu and Tutsi people. Generalizations like these may make the reader somewhat weary of
the credibility of the author. Mamdani proves to be a credible source because he has studied
African Studies and he even teaches it at Columbia University, which is one of the best
universities, which means that he has to be somewhat credible in the subject. Mamdani is from
Uganda and grew up there, meaning that he has some history with affairs in African countries,
but this may make him more biased as far as his opinions go. Finally, he seems to be extremely
involved in political affairs, as he was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement. This
shows that he feels extremely strongly about his political beliefs which in turn could affect him
as a credible source.
Rosenburg, Jennifer. "Rwanda Genocide: A Short History of the Rwandan Genocide." n. page. Web. 15
Apr. 2013. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/rwandangenocide/a/Rwanda-Genocide.htm>.