Irredentist Rwanda: Ethnic and territorial frontiers in Central Africa

Africa Today

Volumn 44, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 211-222

  Newbury, David ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0031513732     PISSN: 00019887     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (35)

1. David Newbury, "Convergent Catastrophes in Central Africa," Nuafrica email-posting, 3 November 1996.
2. See Alison Des Forges, "The Ideology of Genocide," ISSUE: A Journal of Africanist Opinion 23, no. 2 (1995), pp. 44-47; and René Lemarchand, "Rwanda: The Rationality of Genocide," ISSUE: A Journal of Opinion 23, no. 2 (1995), pp. 8-11.
3. See Alison Des Forges, "The Ideology of Genocide," ISSUE: A Journal of Africanist Opinion 23, no. 2 (1995), pp. 44-47; and René Lemarchand, "Rwanda: The Rationality of Genocide," ISSUE: A Journal of Opinion 23, no. 2 (1995), pp. 8-11.
4. For an empirical example of the elaboration of such scenarios among some Hutu refugees from Burundi, see Liisa Malkki, Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology Among Hum Refugees in Tanzania (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). Similar epistemological representations are apparent among some Rwandan Hutu refugees. For an alternative commentary on the historicity of ethnicity in the region, see David Newbury, "The Invention of Rwanda: The Alchemy of Ethnicity," paper presented to the 1995 annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Orlando, Florida.
5. For an empirical example of the elaboration of such scenarios among some Hutu refugees from Burundi, see Liisa Malkki, Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology Among Hum Refugees in Tanzania (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). Similar epistemological representations are apparent among some Rwandan Hutu refugees. For an alternative commentary on the historicity of ethnicity in the region, see David Newbury, "The Invention of Rwanda: The Alchemy of Ethnicity," paper presented to the 1995 annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Orlando, Florida.
6. M. Catharine Newbury, "Ethnicity in Rwanda: The Case of Kinyaga," Africa 48, no. 1 (1978), pp. 17-39; David Newbury, "The Clans of Rwanda: An Historical Hypothesis," Africa 50, no. 4 (1980), pp. 389-403.
7. M. Catharine Newbury, "Ethnicity in Rwanda: The Case of Kinyaga," Africa 48, no. 1 (1978), pp. 17-39; David Newbury, "The Clans of Rwanda: An Historical Hypothesis," Africa 50, no. 4 (1980), pp. 389-403.
8. R. Sigwalt, "Early Rwanda History: The Contribution of Comparative Ethnography," History in Africa 2 (1975), pp. 137-146.
9. Rwanda may not have been wracked by "tribal warfare," but neither was it held together by a "Premise of Inequality," as proposed by Maquet in his work, The Premise of Inequality in Rwanda: A Study of Political Relations in a Central African Kingdom (London: Oxford University Press, 1970); see M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression: Clientship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860-1960 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), particularly the Introduction, pp. 1-19. Both scenarios - of constant warfare and complete hegemony/harmony - presume a tight interaction among different political communities, but for much of the precolonial period this was not the case for most areas now included in the Rwandan state.
10. Rwanda may not have been wracked by "tribal warfare," but neither was it held together by a "Premise of Inequality," as proposed by Maquet in his work, The Premise of Inequality in Rwanda: A Study of Political Relations in a Central African Kingdom (London: Oxford University Press, 1970); see M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression: Clientship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860-1960 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), particularly the Introduction, pp. 1-19. Both scenarios - of constant warfare and complete hegemony/harmony - presume a tight interaction among different political communities, but for much of the precolonial period this was not the case for most areas now included in the Rwandan state.
11. I explore these concepts more fully in David Newbury, "From Frontier to Boundary: Some Historical Roots of Peasant Strategies of Survival in Zaire," in Nzongola Ntalaja, ed., The Crisis in Zaire: Myths and Realities (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1986), pp. 87-99.
12. For an excellent digest of events and a variety of articles, see Dialogue, no. 192, (August-September 1996) (special issue on "La 'Guerre' de Masisi").
13. Address given by H. E. Pasteur Bizimungu, president of the Republic of Rwanda, to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Rwanda at Meridien Hotel, Kigali, 3 October 1996.
14. Ibid.
15. Field notes from interviews conducted by Catharine Newbury and Joseph Rwabukumba in Kinyaga, southwest Rwanda, 1970-1972. J. J. Maquet has a photographic essay on these peoples: "Les Pasteurs de l'Itombwe," Sciences et Nature 8 (1955), pp. 3-12. The processes noted here were widespread in the region. See, for example, David Newbury, Kings and Clans: Ijwi Island and the Lake Kivu Rift, 1780-1840 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), chaps. 5-7.
16. Field notes from interviews conducted by Catharine Newbury and Joseph Rwabukumba in Kinyaga, southwest Rwanda, 1970-1972. J. J. Maquet has a photographic essay on these peoples: "Les Pasteurs de l'Itombwe," Sciences et Nature 8 (1955), pp. 3-12. The processes noted here were widespread in the region. See, for example, David Newbury, Kings and Clans: Ijwi Island and the Lake Kivu Rift, 1780-1840 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), chaps. 5-7.
17. For a more detailed explanation of this process - of people of Rwandan culture fleeing the expansion of the Nyiginya state - see Newbury, Kings and Clans, chap. 4, especially pp. 92-95, 280-282, nn. 40-42.
18. For a more comprehensive presentation and analysis of Rwabugiri's campaigns, with full citations, see David Newbury, "Les campagnes de Rwabugiri," Cahiers d'Études Africaines 14, no. 1 (1974), pp. 181-192.
19. For a detailed case study of Rwandan attacks on and occupation of Ijwi Island in Lake Kivu, see David Newbury, "Rwabugiri and Ijwi," in Études d'Histoire Africaine 7 (1975), pp. 155-175.
20. On Kagame's chronological calculations, see Alexis Kagame, La notion de génération appliquée à la généalogie dynastique et à l'histoire du Rwanda (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 1959). For a reassessment, see David Newbury, "Trick Cyclists: Recontextualizing Rwandan Dynastic Chronology," History in Africa 21 (1995), pp. 191-217. Other considerations of the dynastic chronology include Jan Vansina, L'évolution du royaume Rwanda des origines à 1900 (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer, 1962); and J. N. Nkurikiyimfura, "La revision d'une chronologie: le cas du royaume du Rwanda," in C. H. Perrot, G. Connin, and F. Nahimana, eds., Sources orales de l'histoire de l'Afrique (Paris: Presses du CNRS, 1989).
21. On Kagame's chronological calculations, see Alexis Kagame, La notion de génération appliquée à la généalogie dynastique et à l'histoire du Rwanda (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 1959). For a reassessment, see David Newbury, "Trick Cyclists: Recontextualizing Rwandan Dynastic Chronology," History in Africa 21 (1995), pp. 191-217. Other considerations of the dynastic chronology include Jan Vansina, L'évolution du royaume Rwanda des origines à 1900 (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer, 1962); and J. N. Nkurikiyimfura, "La revision d'une chronologie: le cas du royaume du Rwanda," in C. H. Perrot, G. Connin, and F. Nahimana, eds., Sources orales de l'histoire de l'Afrique (Paris: Presses du CNRS, 1989).
22. On Kagame's chronological calculations, see Alexis Kagame, La notion de génération appliquée à la généalogie dynastique et à l'histoire du Rwanda (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 1959). For a reassessment, see David Newbury, "Trick Cyclists: Recontextualizing Rwandan Dynastic Chronology," History in Africa 21 (1995), pp. 191-217. Other considerations of the dynastic chronology include Jan Vansina, L'évolution du royaume Rwanda des origines à 1900 (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer, 1962); and J. N. Nkurikiyimfura, "La revision d'une chronologie: le cas du royaume du Rwanda," in C. H. Perrot, G. Connin, and F. Nahimana, eds., Sources orales de l'histoire de l'Afrique (Paris: Presses du CNRS, 1989).
23. On Kagame's chronological calculations, see Alexis Kagame, La notion de génération appliquée à la généalogie dynastique et à l'histoire du Rwanda (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 1959). For a reassessment, see David Newbury, "Trick Cyclists: Recontextualizing Rwandan Dynastic Chronology," History in Africa 21 (1995), pp. 191-217. Other considerations of the dynastic chronology include Jan Vansina, L'évolution du royaume Rwanda des origines à 1900 (Bruxelles: Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer, 1962); and J. N. Nkurikiyimfura, "La revision d'une chronologie: le cas du royaume du Rwanda," in C. H. Perrot, G. Connin, and F. Nahimana, eds., Sources orales de l'histoire de l'Afrique (Paris: Presses du CNRS, 1989).
24. A. Kagame, Le code des institutions politiques (Bruxelles: Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1954) 59-60, no. 34.
25. For an analysis of similar claims of Rwandan expansion to Ijwi Island, see Newbury, Kings and Clans, chap. 7 and especially pp. 133-139, 295-296, nn. 38-40.
26. For two examples of the attempts to expand Rwandan power into the areas of the north and northwest, see Alison Des Forges, "The Drum Is Greater Than the Shout: The 1912 Rebellion in Northern Rwanda," in D. Crummey, ed., Banditry, Rebellion, and Social Protest in Africa (London: Heinemann, 1986), pp. 311-333; and J. P. Chrétien, "La révolte de Ndungutse (1912): Forces traditionelles et pression coloniale au Rwanda Allemand," Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer 59, no. 4 (1972), pp. 641-680. For a study of the expansion of the dynastic state under colonial rule, see Alison Des Forges, "Defeat Is the Only Bad News: Rwanda Under Musinga" (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1972).
27. For two examples of the attempts to expand Rwandan power into the areas of the north and northwest, see Alison Des Forges, "The Drum Is Greater Than the Shout: The 1912 Rebellion in Northern Rwanda," in D. Crummey, ed., Banditry, Rebellion, and Social Protest in Africa (London: Heinemann, 1986), pp. 311-333; and J. P. Chrétien, "La révolte de Ndungutse (1912): Forces traditionelles et pression coloniale au Rwanda Allemand," Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer 59, no. 4 (1972), pp. 641-680. For a study of the expansion of the dynastic state under colonial rule, see Alison Des Forges, "Defeat Is the Only Bad News: Rwanda Under Musinga" (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1972).
28. For two examples of the attempts to expand Rwandan power into the areas of the north and northwest, see Alison Des Forges, "The Drum Is Greater Than the Shout: The 1912 Rebellion in Northern Rwanda," in D. Crummey, ed., Banditry, Rebellion, and Social Protest in Africa (London: Heinemann, 1986), pp. 311-333; and J. P. Chrétien, "La révolte de Ndungutse (1912): Forces traditionelles et pression coloniale au Rwanda Allemand," Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer 59, no. 4 (1972), pp. 641-680. For a study of the expansion of the dynastic state under colonial rule, see Alison Des Forges, "Defeat Is the Only Bad News: Rwanda Under Musinga" (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1972).
29. M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression, passim, but especially chaps. 5-7; Jean Rumiya, Le Rwanda sous le régime du mandat Belge (1916-1931) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1992); Danielle de Lame, Une colline entre mille, ou le calme avant la tempête: Transformations et blocages du Rwanda rural (Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, 1996). For a study of the role of the church in that process, see Ian Linden, Church and Revolution in Rwanda (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977).
30. M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression, passim, but especially chaps. 5-7; Jean Rumiya, Le Rwanda sous le régime du mandat Belge (1916-1931) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1992); Danielle de Lame, Une colline entre mille, ou le calme avant la tempête: Transformations et blocages du Rwanda rural (Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, 1996). For a study of the role of the church in that process, see Ian Linden, Church and Revolution in Rwanda (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977).
31. M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression, passim, but especially chaps. 5-7; Jean Rumiya, Le Rwanda sous le régime du mandat Belge (1916-1931) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1992); Danielle de Lame, Une colline entre mille, ou le calme avant la tempête: Transformations et blocages du Rwanda rural (Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, 1996). For a study of the role of the church in that process, see Ian Linden, Church and Revolution in Rwanda (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977).
32. M. Catharine Newbury, The Cohesion of Oppression, passim, but especially chaps. 5-7; Jean Rumiya, Le Rwanda sous le régime du mandat Belge (1916-1931) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1992); Danielle de Lame, Une colline entre mille, ou le calme avant la tempête: Transformations et blocages du Rwanda rural (Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, 1996). For a study of the role of the church in that process, see Ian Linden, Church and Revolution in Rwanda (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977).
33. Newbury, "From Frontier to Boundary"; David Newbury, "Bunyabungu: The Western Frontier in Rwanda," in I. Kopytoff, ed., The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), pp. 361-392.
34. Newbury, "From Frontier to Boundary"; David Newbury, "Bunyabungu: The Western Frontier in Rwanda," in I. Kopytoff, ed., The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), pp. 361-392.
35. As explored at length in Newbury, Kings and Clans.