Senior Research Seminar: Dr Andrea Grant (University of Cambridge)

Love Talk: On radio intimacy and the limits of forgiveness in Rwanda

This paper considers Love Talk, a popular FM radio programme broadcast from Kigali, Rwanda, that was well-known for its frank discussions of love, relationships, and sexuality. Hosted by two young women, Love Talk was one of several call-in advice shows that have become increasingly popular since the 1994 genocide. Drawing from recent anthropological interest in radio and the voice, I argue that the show convened an intimate public wherein topics that were usually considered taboo in the country’s wider public culture were addressed and debated. I show how this intimacy was built through the recognition of mutual suffering and the offering of advice, particularly in the idiom of kwihangana (to endure, to hang on, or to bear with it). Yet, I also pay attention to the limits of this public, and the ways in which some actsand some persons were ultimately considered to be unforgiveable.