Joey Whelihan AP Human Geography P.

7 Hotel Rwanda Analysis The movie Hotel Rwanda is not only a great film due to its many Academy Awards and accolades, but because it is a great example many of the subfields in human geography. The film captures many cultural, political, and economic aspects of human interactions and how those interactions affect the natural environment. The film highlights the topics of location, culture, ethnic conflict, and national as well as international political relations. While it is largely overlooked in the movie, one of the most important pieces of information to know to understand the ethnic conflict is location. Rwanda is a small African country located in Eastern Africa, and some of its neighboring countries are Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania. Rwanda is a landlocked state, meaning that it doesnt have direct access to a body of water. Therefore, it must deal diplomatically with other nations to trade. Now, with the knowledge of its relative location, one would know that the political situation in the states bordering Rwanda is very unstable, so one could easily deduce that Rwanda was having political problems at the time as well. Furthermore, one should also know the effects of colonialism on the African states such as Rwanda. One could trace the cause of the ethnic conflict in Rwanda back to the Berlin Conference in 1854 where the European powers divided up the African continent among themselves. However, when the mostly geometric and natural borders were drawn up, dividing the continent, the cultural borders were largely ignored. So when Belgium was made the colonizer of Rwanda, there were already a myriad of centrifugal forces tearing the country apart. Belgium made this problem worse by further highlighting the cultural disparities between the Hutus and the Tutsis by giving them all identification cards with

Joey Whelihan AP Human Geography P.7 their ethnicity on them. Through the passage of time, many of the folk cultural elements of Rwandan culture had been phased out for the European popular culture, but many of the folk cultural remnants remain such as some dress and of course the language. However, the effects of globalization due to European influence in the region have resulted in the increased move away from the folk culture. The hotel in which the majority of the movie takes place in is the perfect example of this globalization. Also, the most popular religion in Rwanda was Christianity based upon the crosses worn among the necks of many Rwandan men and women. Now that a basis for the culture has been established, more details can be drawn as to why there is ethnic conflict. The prompting of the ethnic cleansing of the Tutsis by the Hutus had been in longstanding conflict since even before the colonization of Africa by the Europeans. Once the Rwandan state was established, this ethnic strife was intensified by the fact that the Tutsis were now a minority and the Hutus were in the majority. This made Rwanda a multinational state. However, when the Belgians were in Rwanda, they put the easier-tocontrol Tutsis in charge of the government, but when the Hutus revolted when Belgium left, they then had control of the government. The prompt of the genocide was the assassination of the Hutu president by Tutsi rebels. This prompted the Hutu majority, backed by the army to start the mass-genocide of the Tutsis. When the conflict started, many foreigners were stuck in the country, and for this reason, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force was charged with keeping them safe. The United Nations showed itself as a supranational organization in this manner as many different soldiers from different countries were tasked with a job to do together.

Joey Whelihan AP Human Geography P.7 In the end of the movie, the main character, Paul, was able to save himself, his family, and his hotel through many acts of courage and strength. The movie shows and demonstrates real life examples of human geography concepts. The connections made through this assignment between concept and reality will help a person have a deeper understanding of human geography, and why it is important in this day and age.