General Romeo Dallaire’s Emotional Landscape Peacekeeping, Genocide and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Rwanda Michael J. Prince Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy University of Victoria Emotional Geographies Conference, Queen’s University May 2006

“ It was an absolutely magnificent day in May The blue sky was cloudless, and there was a whiff of breeze stirring the trees. It was hard to believe that in the past week an unimaginable evil had turned Rwanda’s gentle green valleys and mist-capped hills into a stinking nightmare of rotting corpses. A nightmare we all had to negotiate every day. A nightmare that, as commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, I could not help but feel deeply responsible for.”

Outline of paper Consider the place of emotions in military organizations Discuss the emotions of place in peacekeeping operations Examine the coping techniques of Dallaire in Rwanda

Theme and Methods Peacekeeping as an emotional terrain for soldiers Dallaire’s book Shake Hands with the Devil (2004) and related works on Rwanda Life history case study: self-representation of experiences in a given time and place

Places of Emotions in Military Organizations Biographical: a military family Material body in the field Geo-politics of the Rwanda Mission Military as command and control bureaucratic structures with disciplinary space, and highly bounded conceptions of emotions Yet, with various military cultures

UN Peacekeeping: the classic model Lightly-armed in weaponry Multi-national in troop composition Impartial and neutral in outlook Consent of former warring factions to be deployed in a given locale

Emotions of Place in Peacekeeping The built environment and geography proximate to a peacekeeping mission Include: –Places of strategic importance: e.g., airport –Local infrastructure: e.g., churches –Sites of dislocation and dispersion: e.g., refugee camps –Human and physical geography: e.g., francophone nation in Congo

“Military Geographies” Geographies of material entities, social relations and civilian spaces constituted and expressed by (i) military activities and capabilities, and (ii) militarism, that is, military objectives, rationales and structures. Rachel Woodward (2005).

Dallaire’s Coping Methods Developing a “protective screen” Immersed in a “workaholic bubble” Confiding in a trusted colleague Believing in the morality of the mission Having faith and demonizing the enemy Bringing some life into his day Accepting the fact of “losing it” and the need for personal evacuation

Dallaire’s emotional landscape and the coping literature His techniques correspond to practices in the literature about forming spaces and managing boundaries For Dallaire, most coping techniques seemed of limited effectiveness in light of the “unimaginable evils” Abiding strength of his moral convictions This UN mission was a major epiphany for Dallaire

Concluding Observations Peacekeeping missions involve several geographies simultaneously The UN soldier is not a warrior so much as a witness Dallaire’s military experience in Rwanda was also a moral experience Emotional legacies remain