Early this month, the Harvard Political Review (HPR), a quarterly magazine published from US-based Harvard University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, published an article under the title: “Renaissance for Rwanda’s Dogs.” The publication is under the auspices of the Harvard Institute of Politics and describes itself as a nonpartisan magazine and website on politics and public policy. The article, however—which by the time we went to print seemed to have been taken down from the HPR website—was nothing but nonpartisan. The article talks about how Rwandans are culturally shifting to a society that loves dogs from one that was averse to dogs, a culture they attribute to a small group of white expatriates. It goes on to severally make an inference to the Genocide against the Tutsi to justify the said aversion for dogs until the American and European community of expatriates (read whites) came in to champion the said cultural shift. A simple research on the part of the publication would have easily established that for generations and on, the dog has been part of Rwandan households. Bringing in the saddest and indeed one of the most important episodes of the Rwandan society—the Genocide against the Tutsi—to sell the white savior narrative was cheap, to say the least. No rebuttal to this incendiary article could have been better articulated than one by a Rwandan student at Harvard University which was published last week by the Harvard Crimson, another publication of the US-based university. Indeed, the article has ruffled feathers at the Ivy League University, with the managing editor, Chimaoge C. Ibenwukuthe the only non-white member of the editorial board resigning, citing racism. In a strongly-worded letter, Ibenwukuthe a son to immigrant Nigerian parents in the US said the article trafficked heavily in anti-black and anti-African tropes and false narratives and was plainly racist. To make matters worse, it was only a trigger for his resignation but there were incidents of similar nature at the publication that precipitated this. The executive board has since come up to reaffirm the commitment that they would henceforth strive to espouse values of inclusion, diversity, and representation. Whether they will walk the talk is a different issue but for a university that is known to produce global leaders in different spheres, it should be held in high standards and publications like the poorly sourced article on Rwanda should not have a place. Above all, actions by both students - the editor who resigned and the Rwandan who gave an elaborate rebuttal - must be commended. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
