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…
Rights In Land
Cultivation and cattle-rearing formed the basis of the Rwanda subsistence economy. Rights in land related to both cultivation and grazing. While pasture rights excluded cultivation, cultivation rights did not exclude grazing on farmland after the harvest. Maquet and S Nayigiziki…
The Socio-Economic Complex
In the previous chapter we have analysed the political system in Rwanda. The king clearly occupied a centralposition in the political structure. For the maintenance of his court and his army, for the execution of his orders and for support…
The Complex Pattern Of The Political System In Ancient Rwanda
The complex pattern of the political system resulted partly from the large number of office-holders and their stratification in hierarchical ranking and partly from duplication of certain offices and the overlapping and interlocking of the two structures. In dealing with…
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…
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.…
The Blood Pacts In Rwanda
A relationship, expressed in kinship terminology, resulted from the blood pact which was very widespread in all groups in Rwanda. Two pensons could enter into a blood pact so long as they did not belong to the same umuryango or…