IN YOUR NOTEBOOK: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT
SOMEONE IS A MEMBER OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP?
THE ROOTS OF GENOCIDE
RACE, ETHNICITY, AND POWER IN RWANDAN COLONIAL HISTORY
WHO’S HUTU? WHO’S TUTSI? AND WHY DOES
ANYONE CARE?
RACE IN RWANDA
 Three major groups
 Hutu (85% of population in 1994)
 Tutsi (14%)
 Twa (1%)
 Hard to tell how the groups originated, because early
Rwandan history was preserved orally
 Big question: Are Hutu and Tutsi genetically different, or
is their difference socially constructed?
RWANDA BEFORE IMPERIALISM
 First populated by Twa (traditionally forest
people)
 “Hutu” and “Tutsi” originally defined as social
classes
 Hutu were farmers
 Tutsi were cattle herders – a much more
profitable occupation
 Tutsi gradually became a social elite
RWANDAN GOVERNMENT BEFORE IMPERIALISM
 Established a monarchy by the 18th century
 Relatively decentralized government
 Most (but not all!) government officials were
cattle-owners, or Tutsis
 People generally married within their social class
(cattle-owners or farmers)
 Physical distinctions emerged
DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTERISTICS
Hutu
Tutsi
RACE, ETHNICITY, AND IMPERIALISM
EUROPEANS IN RWANDA: A BRIEF TIMELINE
 1899 – Germany colonizes Rwanda-Urundi
 1919 – Germany loses WWI; Belgium takes
over
 1950s – Increasing waves of decolonization
around the world; unrest in Rwanda
 1959-1961 – Hutu revolution against Tutsis and
Belgians
 1962 – Rwanda-Urundi becomes independent
and splits
THE HAMITIC THEORY
 Developed by John Hanning Speke, a British explorer
 Published 1863
 Described Africans as belonging to two races:
 Hamitic – more “civilized” and originating in Ethiopia (and
looking more like Caucasians)
 Negroid – more “barbaric” and originating in Central Africa
HOW DID THE BELGIANS RULE RWANDA?
 Cooperated with the Tutsi monarchy
 1920s: changes in government
 Required all government officials to be Tutsi
 More power to central authorities
 1933-34: issued identity cards listing a person’s race
 Effects:
 Limited opportunities for Hutu  resentment
 Sense of superiority among Tutsi
 Reinforced idea that races were different
INDEPENDENCE AND THE RISE OF THE HUTU
RWANDAN INDEPENDENCE
 1945: Belgium starts preparing for
Rwandan independence
 Hutu start organizing opposition to
Belgian rule and Tutsi supremacy
 1957: Hutu Manifesto – published by Hutu
activists
 Describes Tutsi as “foreign invaders”
 Calls for majority rule in Rwanda
THE HUTU REVOLUTION
 1959: Hutus, with Belgian encouragement, overthrow Tutsi monarchy
 1961: Hutu party wins democratic elections
 1962: Belgium grants independence to Rwanda under Hutu government
 Nearly 20,000 Tutsi killed and 160,000 made refugees
 Meanwhile, Burundi remains under Tutsi government…
THE RWANDAN CIVIL WAR: 1990-1992
National Revolutionary Movement for
Development (MRND)
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)
 Hutu government
 Tutsi rebels
 Formed in 1975 by Hutu
 Formed in 1990 by Tutsi exiles in
government in Rwanda
 Led by Juvenal Habyarimana
(president, 1973-94)
Uganda
 Led by Paul Kagame
WHERE ARE WE IN 1994?
 1992: Civil war ends with the Arusha Accords
 Longstanding legacy of tension between Hutus and Tutsis
 Both Hutus and Tutsis are armed and organized
 Predict: When Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane is shot down in April 1994,
what will happen?