The Early Years Of Belgian Rule (1916-1940)
We haveseen that Rwidegembya sent his son Rwagataraka to Kinyaga to administer the Impara region in 1911, not long after the establishment of German civil administration in Rwanda. Initially, the young chief left the region south of the Mwaga River…
The Transformation Of Client Institutions
The colonial policies of Germany and Belgium altered the powers of chiefs and accelerated the growth of social stratification in Rwanda. At the same time the progressive incorporation of this state into the world economy-an integral part of the colonial…
Revival Of Kin-Group Status
Although lineages gradually lost their corporate and political functions, they continued to serve as an important medium for social identification and, to judge from later events, kinship linkages retained their organizational alternatives became available through socio-economic change, younger members of…
Lineages And Government Exactions
Theintroduction of land prestations to Kinyaga during the reign of Rwabugiri altered the hereditary rights which Kinyagan lineages had previously held over their land, as occupation became conditional upon compliance with a hill chief's demands. Subsequently, authority which formerly had…
Lineages And Hill Chiefs
The hillchiefs introduced to Kinyaga from the time of Rwabugiri resembled lineage heads in several respects. They collected prestations, settled disputes, and served as intermediaries to outside authority. But unlike the lineage heads they displaced, each hill chief (umutware w'umusoozi)…
Lineages And Ubuhake Clientship
We have seen that during Rwabugiri's reign chiefs from central Rwanda introduced ubuhake clientship to Kinyaga. Unlike early umuheto clientship, which usually involved the gift of a cow at regular intervals from a client lineage to its patron, ubuhake involved…
Lineages In Nineteenth-Century KINYAGA
During the nineteenth century the lineage (umuryango) formed the most important political unit in Kinyaga. Local affairs were normally handled by lineages acting as corporate groups, represented by their lineage head, and there was no hierarchical political authority encompassing the…
The Changing- Status Of Corporate KIN GROUPS
Whenreflecting on the political changes they (or their parents) had observed during the last 100 years, elderly Kinyagans consulted for this research would often stress the autonomy, status, and material well-being enjoyed by their lineages in the past. But from…
Clientship During The Reign Of RWABUGIRI
In pre-RWABUGIRI Kinyaga economic and political security could usually be obtained by means other than clientship. Alternatives included ownership of land, protected by membership in a kin group exercising jurisdiction over the land, and personal ownership of cattle, obtained by…
Land Clientship
Control overland in pre-Rwabugiri Kinyaga was normally vested in lineages. Although land clientship was practiced in some forms these were of only minor significance in deterrnining access to land. NevertheIess, land clientship will be considered here because the early role…