The Missionaries, the Court, and the Local community, 1904-1910
Inkehwe ikubitirwa mukwayo. In the struggle for power at the Court, Kabare could argue that although Ruhinankiko had mustered European support at critical junctures, he had not managed to restrain the growth of European power. While the Court was occupied…
Marriage And The Family In Ancient Rwanda
I. Marriage The family, the social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation, and reproduction had in Ruanda a conjugal basis that we shall consider in this section. Married life will not be dealt with here but only the ways…
The Eruption Of Vilence
In the historical data we have noted the success with which the peripheral areas had withstood the attempted incursion of the traditional power structure of central Rwanda up to the time of colonial rule. We have also noted that with…
The Conflict Arose At The End Of 1959
In the the following, we have set out to establish correlations between changes in the principles of social organisation in the traditional Rwanda social system, the impact of new opportunities and pressures and the conflict situation which arose at the…
The Nyabingi Cult
In the Northern peripheral areas we do not find the Ryangombe cult but the Nyabingi cult. Gravel mentions that the Nyabingi cult spread from the North to Gisaka in the East shortly after the advent of the Europeans (1 9…
The Ryangombe Cult And His Myth
Cult of the dead was not restricted to these spirits called bazimu. At a different level we find the Ryangombe cult in Central Rwanda, and the Nyabingi cult in the peripheral areas. In Central Rwanda about thirty spirits were considered…
The Religious Complex And The Cult Of The Dead
The Rwandan traditional systemrequires the complex of religious, magico-religious beliefs and practices. This is for two reasons. In the first place they are related to the pattern of social relationships among living members of the community and support the social…
The Development Of The Ubuhake System
So far we have been analysing the ubuhake system and we have indicated some of the effects of the changes that took place during the colonial period so as to demonstrate from these effects the nature of the ubuhake relationship…
The Clientage System, “Ubuhake”
In the beginning of this chapter we have already introduced the institution of clientage called ubuhake, denoting the relationship between garagu (client.) and shebuja (patron). This relationship was initiated by the person in the inferior position. Before a patron would…
Rights In Cattle
Parallel to the system of land tenure with its competing lineage and government spheres of interest, we find in Rwanda a complex of rights and obligations in cattle which similarly differ in the context of individual and government control. In…