The System Of Delegated Power And Social Cohesion
We have noted that the total body of office-holders within the administration and army structures were largely drawn from lineages related to the king. However within this limited sphere of recruitment, access to individual office was largely through achievement, in…
Ideological framework and social cohesion.
⦁ An ideology has been defined as: “a more or less coherent system of beliefs held in common by the members of a group or collectivity and which, through an interpretive evaluation (weber) of the situation in which the group…
The Delegated Power Within The Political System
In the previous section we have analysed the Rwanda political system as it existed at the court. The system through which the king delegated his powers must be seen as an extension of the royal power, particularly as the kinghad…
The Central Court: Myth Of Origin II
The Queen Mother Although the Mwami’s powers were absolute he shared his prerogatives with the queen mother. She ruled with the king, had her own court and her own personal clients on Ibikingi land. She had her own herds and…
The Central Court: Myth Of Orgin I
(a) The Mwami The first King of Rwanda, Nkuba, lived in heaven with his wife Nyagasani, their two sons Kigwa and Tutsi and their daughter Nyampundu. One day the three siblings fell rom heaven and settled on a hill in…
Marriage and affinal ties
Marriage and affinal ties In all areas the wives retained membership of their own lineage and became adopted members of the husbandts household. In cases of ritual obligation, as for instance after childbirth, a wife had to go to the…
The White Fathers’ Mission in Rwanda II
An Overview II It seems likely that lineages from the Singa, Sindi, Zigaba, Gesera, Banda, Cyaba and Ungura clans, through a combination of land ownership and ritual expertise, managed to impose themselves on settlers from diverse clans to form small…
The White Fathers’ Mission in Rwanda I
An Overview I The White Fathers in Rwanda confronted two acute problems: a feudal stratification of society in which the ruling class was anti-Christian, and regional variation within the State such that uniform mission policy was inappropriate'; Their initial recruitment…
The White Fathers’ Mission in Rwanda III
An Overview III Possession of cows was the first step on the social ladder that led into the land and cattle-owning class. A garagu’s humiliating duties, the nightwatcht bringing beer, accompanying his lord on journeys and clearing his nightsoil were…
Who Was Who In Ancient Rwanda ?
In the introduction I have spoken of Tutsi and Hutu who, with the Twa, are the inhabitants of Rwanda and have indicated that we are principally concerned with the former two. We are concerned with their place in traditional Rwanda.…