Oldenburg, Silke

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model democracy cannot have a subservient Parliament. Certainly, what is happen-ing in Botswana is not what Dicey (Introduction to the Study of the Law of theConstitution, 1885) had in mind when discussing the principle of the supremacy ofParliament. Clearly, Parliament is not supreme in Botswana: there is indeed adeﬁcit of democracy.University of Botswana EMMANUEL BOTLHALEbotlhale@mopipi.ub.bwdoi: 10.1093/afraf/adu047Advance Access Publication 28 August 2014Genocidal Gender and Sexual Violence: The legacy of the ICTR, Rwanda’sordinary courts and gacaca courts, by Usta Kaitesi. Cambridge, Antwerp,and Portland, OR: Intersentia, 2014. xiii + 271 pp. € 55.00 (paperback). ISBN978 1 78068 210 5.‘Those with the power to decide or even help tend to silence victims by not creat-ing mechanisms through which they may receive justice or by silencing them evenwhen they want to have access to such mechanisms because we have socially labelledtheir experiences as unspeakable or unbearable,’ concludes Usta Kaitesi, Principalof the College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Rwanda (p. 239).The language of this extract is representative of Kaitesi’s monograph, based onher PhD thesis in law at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. She tackles ahighly relevant topic but her style makes the text hard reading, even if her provoca-tive hypothesis is spot on and the book is engaging. ‘Speaking about gender andsexual violence is not an easy task,’ Kaitesi rightly reminds us (p. 238). She suggeststhat rape as a constitutive element of Rwanda’s genocide was not addressed ad-equately in the legal, practical, or theoretical realms, thereby reducing the ‘complexreality’ of the genocide.Much has been written about the legal legacy of gender and genocide in Rwanda.Kaitesi’s contribution to the discussion of justice, gender, and memory thereforewalks on well-trodden paths, reinterpreting prominent case studies such as theAkayesu trial (in which rape and sexual violence were for the ﬁrst time consideredinstruments of genocide), and reviewing seminal feminist legal classics, includingAfrican feminism. What makes this a remarkable contribution to an extensive litera-ture is the author’s holistic approach and her view from within, drawing on herexperience as Rwandan attorney and trainer for the Inyangamugayo (‘those who detestdishonesty’), the lay judges of Rwanda’s famous gacaca courts. With this trainingbehind her, Kaitesi’s own role shapes her awareness of the misrepresentation ofvictims’ experiences in the legal realm and in society’s recognition of this. Her ﬁrst-hand experiences, proverbial wisdom, and insights into post-genocide legal and par-liamentary discussions make this study remarkable and inspiring in the sometimesvery controversial academic debates surrounding Rwanda.In eight chapters Kaitesi develops a complex picture of the genocide and demon-strates that sexual violence was not only a ‘by-product of war’ or a ‘sign of patriarchal620 AFRICANAFFAIRSnorms’ but also a ‘planned and targeted policy’, which therefore qualiﬁed as‘genocidal gender and sexual violence’. This is not new but worth reinforcing. Sheaddresses the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity, challenges feminism’s role inneglecting female perpetrators and male victims, and sheds light on the dialectics oflegal decisions and social perceptions. This nexus of discourse, violence, and justiceis welcome and perceptive. Kaitesi claims that the deﬁnition of rape and sexualviolence remains ambiguous because ‘it lacks sufﬁcient legal language’ (p. 239).This lack, as Kaitesi argues, is due to fear and reluctance to both talk and hear aboutsexual violence. Yet, without learning about the victims’ experiences, she regrets,no justice can be achieved and the genocidal dimension of sexual violence isomitted. In order to unpack and make sense of legal language, Kaitesi interprets themechanisms of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Rwanda’s twodomestic courts. While her discourse analysis remains rather implicit, she sticks to areinterpretation of well-known case studies. Although she often alludes to herﬁrst-hand experiences as a ‘researcher from within’, she rarely reﬂects on her par-ticular positionality. Certainly, Kaitesi is a legal scholar and not a social scientist;however, a lot is taken for granted and remains rather abstract for the reader. Forinstance, while she highlights her work as trainer for the Inyangamugayo, we do notlearn the English translation of this term, nor do we gain insights into the details ofher work.The most eye-opening aspect of her study is the interpretation of parliamentarydiscourse on what exactly genocidal gender and sexual violence entails, demonstrat-ing that legal issues shape and are equally shaped by social, political and historicaldynamics. Is the ineffective prosecution of rape and sexual violence a result of a con-scious political will? Kaitesi suggests that the conﬂuence of socio-political norms,historical developments, and misogynistic views challenges the Rwandan and inter-national judiciary and becomes visible in the legislative narrative. Signiﬁcantly, it isby far the shortest chapter of this book.It is laudable that Kaitesi brings various engaging issues together in this volume.Unfortunately, often she provides relevant arguments without grounding them sufﬁ-ciently in quantitative (statistics) or qualitative (interviews) data, so readers have tobelieve that, for example, ‘victims and witnesses had offered to testify about rapeand sexual violence although the prosecution had not taken the initiative to investi-gate and prosecute those crimes’ (p. 242). This speculative tone weakens her argu-ment drastically as she meanders between questions of individual stigma, legalimperatives, and social justice.The book ends with a concise summary rather than a conclusion, while the indi-vidual chapters often fail to reinforce the main argument in a structured way. Thisimpression of messiness is also mirrored by many repetitions and typos. The bibli-ography is far from complete and a glossary would have been useful. A concisearticle on her central ﬁndings would be a welcome addition.University of Basel SILKE OLDENBURGsilke.oldenburg@unibas.chdoi: 10.1093/afraf/adu054Advance Access Publication 21 August 2014BOOK REVIEWS 621

Genocidal Gender and Sexual Violence: The legacy of the ICTR, Rwanda's ordinary courts and gacaca courts

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