Investigating Multidirectional Violence in Eastern Congo: Owning ‘Genocide’ and Pre-judicial Atrocity

Researching mass violence and genocide in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is academically, politically, and socially fraught. In this country, multiple claims are laid on genocide as a marker of suffering and destruction. This article discusses research carried out with Banyamulenge soldiers as layered actors in perpetration of mass violence. It discusses their assertions of self-defense and victimhood that touch on other Congolese cases of mass violence. As a group, these soldiers serve as an archetype of the actors in stories of multidirectional mass violence in Congo. The problematic, yet rich, nature of this fieldwork is discussed in two observations: the narrative notion of a group owning genocide as exclusive suffering, and how researchers can approach pre-judicial atrocity, meaning violence that is yet to be established in a legal setting or even in an agreed historical record. I examine the innovation and limitations of seeing subjectivity in Congo-based genocide research, notwithstanding or perhaps because of the highly fraught nature of this term and its uses. These discussions are supported with an analysis of my own positionality as a researcher in this field. The intention is that emerging researchers can apply this discussion of how to approach ownership of genocide and prejudicial atrocity to other contexts, and more broadly encourage subjective approaches in the field of perpetrator research.