Is Outgroup Prejudice Passed Down Generationally in Rwanda After the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi?

Family members who witnessed the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi arguably shape their children's narratives of the events and subsequent formation of outgroup prejudice. An understanding of whether vestiges of the genocide are transmitted to future generations informs ongoing peacebuilding efforts. We, therefore, examined the relationship between child and guardian attitudes toward one's outgroup among households of survivors or genocidaires and investigated whether this relationship was potentially affected by social interactions with members of outgroups (survivors or genocidaires) outside the family. We interviewed 588 members of survivor (153 guardian-child dyads) and genocidaire (141 guardian-child dyads) households in the Muhanga district of Rwanda to investigate whether children, 12-18 years old, conveyed their parents' outgroup prejudice after parents participated in a local peace intervention compared to when children participated in similar programming for youth. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicated that survivors' and genocidaires' outgroup prejudice did not influence their children's formation of these beliefs. Nor did children affect their guardians in this regard. However, other factors influenced children's beliefs in both households. In survivor households, children who endorsed more positive attitudes toward genocidaires reported stronger family relationships and more frequent interaction with genocidaires after adjusting for child age and gender, and guardian's gender. In genocidaire households, children's positive beliefs about survivors were influenced by more interactions with survivors and living with a guardian who participated in peace interventions. Rather than being passively shaped by their guardians' experiences, our results suggested that a new generation of viewpoints was being formed by relationships within and outside the family.