Archives for Changes and Colonialism
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…
From The War Years To The Abolition Of Ubuhake(1940-1954)
In 1943, a severe famine devastated many areas of Rwanda. Food shortages were less severe in Kinyaga, but Bunyambiriri and other areas to the north and east of the region…
Uburetwa
For Hutu, with or without cattle, the calculation of advantages and disadvantages of ubuhake clientship had to take account of ubureetwa, a relationship in which reciprocity was entirely absent. Whereas…
Ubuhake
Under these conditions of growing personal insecurity, it is not surprising that ubuhake clientship became more widespread in Kinyaga. In Impara and Abiiru regions, people who had not been clients…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…