Fractured Pasts in Lake Kivu’s Borderlands : Conflicts, Connections and Mobility in Central Africa

This innovative study explores how long-term historical processes in the Lake Kivu region have shaped present-day relations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Gillian Mathys reexamines historical understandings of mobility, conflict, identity formation and historical narration across state and ecological borders.

The Lake Kivu region, which borders Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has often been defined by scholars in terms of conflict, violence, and separation. In contrast, this innovative study explores histories of continuities and connections across the borderland. Gillian Mathys utilises an integrated historical perspective to trace long-term processes in the region, starting from the second half of the nineteenth century and reaching to the present day. Fractured Pasts in Lake Kivu''s Borderlands powerfully reshapes historical understandings of mobility, conflict, identity formation and historical narration in and across state and ecological borders. In doing so, Mathys deconstructs reductive historical myths that have continued to underpin justifications for violence in the region. Drawing on cross-border oral history research and a wealth of archival material, Fractured Pasts embraces a new and powerful perspective of the region''s history.