The Rwandan Genocide

37.4: The Rwandan Genocide

37.4.1: Composition of the Rwandan Population

The Rwandan population is comprised of three main ethnic groups: the Hutus, Tutsis, and Twa.

Learning Objective

Describe the ethnic subgroups that make up the Rwandan population

Key Points

  • The largest ethnic groups in Rwanda are the Hutus, the Tutsis, and the Twa.
  • When Europeans first explored the region around the Great Lakes of Chad that has since become Rwanda, they described the people in the region as having descended from three racially distinct tribes and coexisting in a complex social order.
  • A contrasting picture of human cultural diversity was recorded in the early Rwandan oral histories, ritual texts, and biographies, in which the terms Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa were rarely used and the boundary between Tutsi and Hutu was somewhat open to social mobility.
  • Elites in pre-colonial Rwanda propagated an origin myth of the three groups to justify the hierarchical relationship of sociopolitical inequality between them in sacred, religious terms.
  • Despite sociopolitical stratification, Rwanda was a unified society. Inhabitants all considered themselves part of the same nation, spoke the same language, practiced the same cultural traditions, and worshiped the same God.
  • European colonizers would later exploit group divisions as a means of securing control.

Key Terms

serfs
The status of many peasants within feudal systems, an individual who occupies a plot of land and is required to work for the owner of that land in return for protection and the right to exploit certain fields on the property to maintain their own subsistence.
pygmies
A member of an ethnic group whose average height is unusually short. Anthropologists define this as any group where adult men are on average less than 4 feet 11 inches tall.

The largest ethnic groups in Rwanda are the Hutus, the Tutsis, and the Twa. Starting with the Tutsi feudal monarchy rule of the 10th century, the Hutus were a subjugated social group. It was not until Belgian colonization that the tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis became focused on race, with the Belgians propagating the myth that Tutsis were the superior ethnicity. The resulting tensions would eventually foster the slaughtering of Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide. Since then, government policy has changed to recognize one main ethnicity: “Rwandan.”

Rwanda

Rwanda: location of Rwanda (dark blue) in the African Union (light blue).The map shows the location of Rwanda. Located in central and east Africa, Rwanda is one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Pre-Colonial Rwanda

When Europeans first explored the region around the Great Lakes of Chad that has since become Rwanda, they described the people found in the region as descending from three racially distinct tribes and coexisting in a complex social order: the Tutsis, Hutus, and Twa. The Tutsis, an elite minority of about 24% of the population, were tall, slim pastoralists. The Hutu majority, about 75% of the population, were stocky, strong farmers. The Twa were a marginalized minority of 1% of the population: a tribe of pygmies, dwelling in the forests as hunters and gatherers. Although these groups were distinct and stratified in relation to one another, the boundary between Tutsi and Hutu was somewhat open to social mobility. The Tutsi elite were defined by their exclusive ownership of land and cattle. Hutus, though disenfranchised socially and politically, could shed Hutuness, or kwihutura, by accumulating wealth and thereby rising through the social hierarchy to the status of Tutsi.

A contrasting picture of human cultural diversity was recorded in the early Rwandan oral histories, ritual texts, and biographies, in which the terms Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa were rarely used and had meanings different from those conceived by the Europeans. In these oral histories, the term Tutsi was equivalent to the phrase “wealthy noble”; Hutu meant “farmer”; and Twa was used to refer to people skilled in hunting, use of fire, pottery-making, guarding, and other disciplines. In contrast to the European conception, rural farmers are often described as wealthy and well-connected. Kings sometimes looked down on them but still married individuals from this group and frequently conferred them with titles, land, herds, armies, servitors, and ritual functions.

Origin Myths

Elites in pre-colonial Rwanda propagated an origin myth of the three groups to justify the hierarchical relationship of sociopolitical inequality in sacred, religious terms. According to this myth, Kigwa, a deity who fell from heaven, had three sons: Gatwa, Gahutu, and Gatutsi. He chose an heir by giving each son the responsibility of watching over a pot of milk during the night. Gatwa drank the milk, Gahutu fell asleep and carelessly spilled his pot, and Gatutsi kept watch, keeping his milk safe. Therefore, Kigwa appointed Gatutsi to be his successor and Gahutu to be his brother’s servant, while Gatwa was to be resigned to the status of an outsider. Gatutsi would possess cattle and power, and Gahutu would only be allowed to acquire cattle through service to Gatutsi, whereas Gatwa was condemned to the fringe of society. This myth was the basis of the hierarchical relationship that placed the Tutsi at the apex of the social pyramid. The prevalence of this myth became the basis for the social and political stratification of Rwanda.

From the 15th century when the Tutsi arrived in what is now Rwanda as migrant pastoralists to the onset of colonization, Rwanda was a feudal monarchy. A Tutsi monarch ruled, distributing land and political authority through hereditary chiefs whose power was manifest in their land and cattle ownership. Most of these chiefs were Tutsis. The land was farmed under an imposed system of patronage in which Tutsi chiefs demanded manual labor in return for the rights of Hutus to occupy their land. This system left Hutus with the status of serfs. Additionally, when Rwanda conquered the peoples on its borders, their ethnic identities were cast aside and they were simply labeled “Hutu.” Therefore, “Hutu” became an identity that was not necessarily ethnic, but rather associated with subjugation.

Stratified Social Hierarchy

This social system was based on five fundamental assumptions, as reinforced through group interactions and influenced by cultural myths:

  1. Fundamental natural differences existed between the groups.
  2. The origin of the Tutsis was celestial.
  3. The civilization that Tutsis brought to Rwanda was superior.
  4. The kingship of the Tutsi Mwami was divinely ordained.
  5. Divine sanctions would occur if the monarchy was usurped by any other group.

Despite the stratification promulgated by these ideas, Rwanda was still very much a unified society. Notwithstanding association with different groups in the sociopolitical hierarchy, the inhabitants all considered themselves part of the same nation, the Banyarwanda, which means “people of Rwanda.” They spoke the same language, practiced the same cultural traditions, and worshiped the same God. However, the arrival of European colonizers would later exploit group divisions as a means of securing control. The modern conception of Tutsi and Hutu as distinct ethnic groups in no way reflects the pre-colonial relationship between them. Tutsi and Hutu were simply groups occupying different places in the Rwandan social hierarchy, the division between which was exacerbated by slight differences in appearance propagated by occupation and pedigree.

 

Attributions