International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 5, No. 5; May 2015 1 The Commodification of Genocide: Part II. A NeoGramscian Model for Rwanda William R. Woodward Professor Department of Psychology University of New Hampshire Durham, N.H. 03824 USA Jean-Marie VianneyHigiro Professor Department of Communication Western New England University 1215 Wilbraham Rd. Springfield, MA 01119 Abstract In our previous paper, we did a qualitative content analysis of news reports disseminated by international media about events occurring in Rwanda. We grouped these reports into three themes: human rights, security, and foreign relations. Here we add our analysis of four more themes: Hutu menace in the Great Lakes, memorializing the victims, economic situation, and democracy. We argued that news coverage has been de-capitated by the ruling elite and that the western capitalist states have supported this co-optation. To gain access, Western journalists have had to cooperate with the state rather than with critical Rwandan journalists or even NGOs. This follow-up paper thus continues to expose alternatives to the dominant view in each thematic area. We introduce Celeste Condit’s NeoGramscian depiction of the subordinate or “unrepresented groups,” who in the name of “laws” of justice and through limited (because of the obvious danger) “civic support” dare to contest the dominant ideology. This ideology of Rwandan genocide has become a commodity marketed to the media, so much so that the non-dominant ideology of a civil war is suppressed. Then we adopt Dana Cloud’s NeoGramscian model that emphasizes the oppressive structural relations in the commodification, both economically and ideologically. Keywords: genocide, ideology, commodification of genocide In 1998 Africa Today examined aspects of Rwanda since 1994 under the title "Crisis in Central Africa." Editor Angelique Haugerud (1998) expressed one point of agreement, namely, that history matters much to the process of political activism on the part of scholars: "The 1994 genocide in Rwanda has stimulated profound scholarly reflection on the nature and uses of historical narratives." Catherine Newbury (1998) then identified three factors in recent Rwandan history: the marginalization of moderates, the dynamic of fear, and the political patterns in which "ethnic groups came to be seen as the political actors." Thus indirectly, Newbury leveled a finger at the Western press. Michele Wagner, Human Rights monitor during 1994-1995, also tried to get behind the press reports by participant observation on the ground. She focused her historical research on the Nyakizucomune in the south of Rwanda on the Burundi border (1998). Here, atrocious killing occurred within sight of the hills of Burundi prior to the 1994 genocide. She demonstrated that ethnic violence was only a short step beyond the routinized violence that its bourgmestre had implemented when he became local representative of the Movement Democratique Republicaine (MDR) in 1991 and mayor in 1993. She also noted that the two Hutu ministers in the national government had resigned after criticizing human rights abuses of the new Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government, only to succumb to assassination themselves. These examples at the local and the national level point to the same conclusion: gangs burning homes, death threats and insecurity, fear, militia, and disappearances were familiar in Rwanda before, during, and after the events of 1994.