April 7, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall (VPD), Room 203
Join us in person or on Zoom

A public lecture by Francesco Micaletti-Hinojal (USC)
Undergraduate student majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Law
2025 Charles E. Scheidt Undergraduate Research Fellow

Organized by the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research

Cosponsored by the USC Center for Law and Philosophy

(Join us in person or online on Zoom)

In the span of roughly 100 days in 1994, an estimated one million people were systematically murdered in Rwanda. While the genocide unfolded with extraordinary speed and brutality, it did so in full view of the international community. Foreign governments, peacekeepers, and global institutions were present in Rwanda in various capacities. Yet their inactions and silences became as consequential as the violence itself.

In this talk, undergraduate student Francesco Micaletti-Hinojal explores how Rwandans perceived foreign actors during and after the 1994 genocide. The research draws on testimonies from the Visual History Archive in which survivors and witnesses discuss key international actors such as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), the French government, and the United States. His analysis of these testimonies reveal not only deep frustration with international inaction but also a complex and sometimes contradictory range of perspectives.

These archival findings are complemented by original fieldwork Micaletti-Hinojal conducted in Rwanda in December 2025. During this period, he conducted interviews in Kigali, Rwanda with genocide survivors, Rwandan academics, NGO workers, and diplomats. He also made site visits to national memorials and documentation centers, including the Kigali Genocide Memorial, in order to better understand how international actors are discussed within contemporary memory practices. In examining how these memories persist and shift, the study underscores the importance of historical perception in shaping early warning, response, and prevention efforts in contexts of mass violence.

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Lunch will be served.

Francesco Micaletti-Hinojal is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, where he studies Politics, Philosophy, and Law. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Lambda Delta and has earned a place on the Dean’s List every semester of his undergraduate career. He has held internships at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See and at the Permanent Mission of Panama during its tenure on the UN Security Council. In these roles, he contributed to research and drafting on peacekeeping, conflict prevention, and humanitarian response. A multilingual speaker of English, French, Spanish, and Italian, Francesco intends to pursue graduate study and a career in foreign policy, international organizations, or academia, with a focus on atrocity prevention and international accountability. Read more about him here.