Longman in The Guardian on Rwanda’s Arsenal Sponsorship
Timothy Longman, Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for an article on the recent sponsorship deal between Rwanda and the British football club Arsenal.
The article, entitled “Rwanda’s £30m Arsenal Sponsorship Divides Opinion,” was published on May 29, 2018 in The Guardian. Rwanda spent £30m to have its name on the sleeve of Arsenal’s football shirt.
From the text of the article:
“This decision demonstrates Rwanda’s continuing reorientation from a francophone to an anglophone country,” said Timothy Longman, a professor at Boston University and author of Memory and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda.
“The group that dominates Rwandan politics, society, and economics today grew up mostly in refugee camps in Uganda, They brought back to Rwanda with them a connection to many things associated with Britain, including Premier League football.”
He speculated that while the decision “may be popular with the English-speaking elite in Kigali” many Rwandans could think of a better use for the money.
Longman’s current research focuses on state -society relations in Africa, looking particularly at human rights, transitional justice, democratization, civil society, the politics of race and ethnicity, religion and politics, and women and politics.