Meanings and processes of death in Rwanda have changed dramatically in the 25 years following imvururu, the Kinyarwandan term for "interruptions" that signifies the numerous episodes of violence between the late 1950s and mid-1990s. Reflecting on experiences of elderly Rwandans who witnessed imvururu in adulthood, this article traces how death is perceived and practiced in old age, a phase of the life course that is marked with relative political calm. Although traces of imvururu permeate the present, these ordinary times-ibihe bisanzwe-afford opportunities for the elderly to alter their notions of death as an event by making it a personal process, reviving valued preparation practices from the past and creating new ones with the young. This peopled account invites alternative ways of thinking about time and recognizing death's role in infusing meaning back into life in contexts where accounts of the everyday remain frozen in an apocalyptic imaginary. [aging, death, ordinary, temporality, Rwanda].
Mu myaka makumyabiri n'itanu yakurikiye imvururu, ijambo ry'Ikinyarwanda risobanuye “impagarara” zabaye hagati y'impera zo mu myaka ya 1950 no hagati mu myaka ya 1990, igihe cyaranzwe n'umwiryane, igisobanuro n'imyumvire by'urupfu byarahindutse cyane kandi mu buryo butunguranye. Mu kugaragaza imibereho y'abasaza babonye izo mvururu bakuze, iyi nyandiko ivuga uburyo abantu bumva urupfu mu busaza bwabo buranzwe n'amahoro n'umutuzo muri politiki y'igihugu. N'ubwo ibisigisigi by'imvururu bikiboneka henshi no muri byinshi muri iyi minsi, ibi bihe bisanzwe biha abageze mu zabukuru amahirwe yo guhindura kumva urupfu nk'ikintu kiba kikarangira maze bakarufata nk'urugendo rwihariye rwa buri muntu wese, hibandwa ku gusubira ku byo abasogokuruza bahaga agaciro kandi hanahangwa imyumvire mishya mu bufatanye n'urubyiruko. Kuvuga ku rupfu mu buryo bwuje ubumuntu bisaba kumva igihe mu buryo n'imitekerereze bishya, no kumva uruhare rw'urupfu mu gusubiza icyanga n'agaciro ubuzima, aho imivugire n'imibereho ya buri munsi igaragaza guheranwa n'ibitekerezo byerekeye ibyago n'amakuba. [gusaza, bisanswe, kubaho mu gihe, u Rwanda].
© 2022 by the American Anthropological Association.