Dual Genesis Traditions on Ijwi Island
Genesis traditions have longbeen important to historians of Africa, but recently interest in these forms of oral data has intensified with the development of analytic tools ultimately derived from structural anthropology. Where historians have applied these techniques, they have usually…
Lake Kivu Regional Trade In The Nineteenth Century
The debate on the relation of trade and markets in West Africa has only belatedly been taken up in East African historiography. For the most part this debate has focused on the origin of markets; the two most extreme positions…
Recent Historical Research in The Area of Lake Kivu
Rwanda and Zaïre The Rwandan Revolution of 1959–62 marked an important watershed not only for the history of the country but also for its historiography. Within Rwandan historical studies these political changes encouraged the development of a more broadly based…
Bushi and the Historians
Historiographical Themes in Eastern Kivu The form in which history is presented matters. Written historiographies in eastern Kivu were originally colonial historiographies: they drew on the cultural paradigms and intellectual assumptions of the colonial mindset, and they privileged themes important…
The land beyond the mists
Historiography Historiography is an essential starting point for understanding “how it is we understand understandings not our own,” as Geertz phrases it. The first section of this collection consists of two essays; one examines the intellectual foundations of…
The Court’s Growing Alliance with the Germans
The visit of the Duke of Mecklenburg symbolized rising German interest in Rwanda and marked a turning point in relations between the Court and the Germans. Since the establishment of the protectorate, the German presence had been limited in extent…
The Missionaries as Mediators to Court Confrontation
As Musinga consolidated his hold on power, the threatened notables sought to protect themselves by improving their own relations with the missionaries. The Fathers suddenly found notables were willing to provide men and materials for their construction projects, and were…
The Court, the Germans, and the Missionaries
Faced with further trouble with the Fathers in the next months, Musinga again made use of Kandt and von Grawert. When the Fathers wanted to cut timber in the forest of Budaha, north of Nyantango, Musinga replied that this was…
Musinga and the White Fathers
This attempt at better relations foundered on the excessive demands and tactless behavior of the Fathers. Musinga feared the power they came to exercise through the massive wood-transporting operation, andhe resented their abuse of his notables who did not comply…
Musinga and His Mother
Although the shadow of Rwabugiri must have loomed over Musinga's early years, his development was far more closely guided by Kanjogera. She had had only one other child, a son who had died in infancy. If the relationship between them…