The Intersectional Experience of Ndi Umunyarwanda: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Identity & Removing Ubwoko in Rwanda

Hutu, Tutsi and Twa: These different amoko (“kinds” in Kinyarwanda) have shaped Rwandans’ identities for centuries. Modern components include post-genocide identities and the individuals’ degree of Rwandaness. Through 11 in-field interviews conducted in 2017, Rwandans’ experience of the Ndi Umunyrwanda program was analyzed through the intersections of these identities. The “I am Rwandan” program was a government-sponsored, nationalistic campaign that promoted similarities in response to the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. It removed amoko from the public sphere for the sake of unity which, through this paper, was proven detrimental to vulnerable intersects of Rwandans