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When Silence Breaks: Healing Through Dialogue in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Sarah Manriquez, CLA Public Information Office
April 3, 2026
cla-pio@alaska.edu

In 1994, the genocide in Rwanda unfolded over the course of just 100 days. During that time, an estimated 800,000 people were killed, largely targeting the Tutsi minority, in a wave of violence fueled by political propaganda, colonial legacies, and deepening division. Much of the killing was carried out not only by military forces, but by ordinary people against their neighbors.

A clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of �山����, Christine Kindler studies how communities heal after mass violence. Her work is grounded in both research and practice, shaped by training in clinical psychology at Howard University and conflict transformation at Eastern Mennonite University, as well as clinical experience in community-based mental health settings. Across these roles, her focus has remained consistent: developing culturally responsive, restorative approaches to healing that extend beyond symptom reduction to address the deeper social and relational impacts of trauma.

At its core, her research asks something both simple and difficult: what it takes for people to talk to one another again. In the years that followed the Rwandan genocide, the country undertook large-scale national efforts toward justice and reconciliation, including international tribunals to process those most responsible for the violence and a system of community-based courts known as Gacaca, where local residents gathered to hear testimony, determine accountability, and reintegrate perpetrators back into society. But at the local level, sometimes interpersonal reconciliation was not facilitated.

Kindler describes this as a gap between public and personal memory. Many understood the national narrative of the genocide, but some described a lack of language, safety, or opportunity to share their own personal experiences.

“These silences can make it more difficult to address the root causes of division and prevent future conflict,” she explains.

Her work asks what happens when those silences are interrupted, not by force, but by design.

The project at the center of Kindler’s research, Peace Conversation Circles, was developed in partnership with a Rwandan grassroots organization called the Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance (CARSA). The approach was intentionally local, relational, and slow.

Participants gathered in small groups,  shared meals, and engaged in dialogue about the genocide. They met over three separate days, and conversations were structured around three questions: What happened before the genocide? What happened during it? What has happened since?

Kindler and her collaborators used what is called an agonistic dialogue framework, where the goal is not agreement, but understanding. Rather than debating or trying to reach consensus, participants practiced listening across difference, recognizing that multiple truths can exist at once.

The circles brought together people who had directly experienced the genocide and young adults who had grown up in its aftermath.

One of the most important design choices in the project was also one of the most intentional: creating gender-specific dialogue spaces. While mixed-gender conversations were valuable, separate circles for men and women allowed for a different level of depth.

In the women’s group, many participants spoke openly about sexual violence, grief, and survival. In the men’s group, some participants spoke about guilt, accountability, and life after incarceration.

“These conversations would likely not have happened in a co-ed space,” Kindler says.

The success of the project was partially due to this gender- and trauma-informed approach, which was foundational for safety, trust, and vulnerability to be built.

From a research perspective, the findings were nuanced.

Some outcomes did not shift in measurable ways. Participants did not show significant changes in factual knowledge about the genocide or in their perceptions of out-group members. But other changes were clear.

Participants became more willing to engage in intergenerational conversations. Among community facilitators, there was also a measurable increase in perspective-taking, the ability to understand another person’s point of view.

For Kindler, the process of the research project was just as important as the intervention itself. Rather than entering as an outside expert, she worked within a participatory action research model, where community members are co-creators of the work.

That meant listening, adapting, and sometimes letting go of initial plans.

In one instance, a facilitation method developed in the United States was quietly set aside once the conversations began. The original design called for a “fishbowl” format, with participants moving in and out of a central circle to speak. But when Kindler and her collaborators arrived to visit the project, the room was arranged differently. Elders sat in a semicircle at the front, while younger participants were seated across from them, raising their hands to speak.

It was not what the research team had planned. But it reflected something more important: local norms of respect between generations. Rather than interrupting or reshaping the space, facilitators allowed the structure to stand. The result was a conversation that felt more natural, more culturally grounded, and ultimately more effective.

“CARSA staff know what works,” Kindler says. “We can support, but we always defer to our partner.”

That approach extends beyond methodology. It reflects a broader ethic of care, one that prioritizes relationships over outcomes and community needs over academic timelines.

Kindler’s path into this work began years earlier, during her time living and studying in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory in the Middle East shaped by decades of ongoing conflict. There, she encountered firsthand how cycles of violence are carried across generations, not only through political systems or public narratives, but within families, relationships, and everyday life.

As her understanding deepened, so did her interest in how these cycles are created, sustained, and, importantly, how they might be interrupted. That experience led her to pursue further work in peacebuilding, including mediation, interfaith dialogue, and restorative justice efforts in both international and U.S. contexts.

Over time, her focus sharpened on a central question: how societies begin to address a history of violence, and what it takes to begin healing at the community level. Since then, her work has spanned mediation, restorative justice, and community-based healing in multiple contexts. What connects it all is a focus on how cycles of violence are sustained, and how they might be interrupted.

Today, she continues to work with CARSA in Rwanda, including a new project to support communities in rebuilding different forms of capital, from mental health to financial stability.

But the questions at the heart of her research are not confined to one place.

As she notes, the United States is experiencing its own forms of polarization and division.

“There are important lessons to be learned from Rwanda,” she says. “Peace and reconciliation are not only top-down political processes. They require ongoing, locally-led initiatives that focus on truth-telling and include individuals across groups and generations.”

 

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The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at UAF fosters critical thinking, interdisciplinary research and community dialogue around gender, power and social change. Join WGSS for its next monthly meeting—an featuring four student research presentations, along with recognition of graduating minors, faculty and staff.

The UAF Department of Psychology explores human behavior and mental processes through research, teaching and community engagement. Students gain hands-on experience in areas like clinical, social and cultural psychology, preparing them to address real-world challenges and support individual and community well-being.