Rwandans

By Timothy Longman

Banyarwanda, Banyamulenge, Bafumbira

The Rwandan culture has its roots in the precolonial kingdom of Rwanda and encompasses both the population of the modern state of Rwanda and speakers of the Kinyarwanda language in the neighboring Congo and Uganda. The Burundi culture is closely related to the Rwandan culture and shares many elements with it. Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa that has a mountainous terrain and a temperate climate.

The population of Rwanda was 7.7 million in the 1991 census. Despite social upheaval since that census, including the death of approximately 800,000 people from war and genocide and the temporary exile of over two million people, a mid-2007 World Bank estimate puts the population at 9.7 million (World Bank 2008). This increase may be attributed in part to the return of thousands of long-term refugees from earlier violence and in part because of a high birth rate. The 1991 census reported the division of the population into the three major ethnic groups as 90 percent Hutu, 9 percent Tutsi, and 1 percent Twa, although the percentage of Tutsi is thought to have been underestimated because of bias in the reporting. Because records on ethnic identity are no longer kept, current statistics are difficult to obtain, but they are estimated to be comparable with those from before the war. The population of Kinyarwanda speakers in the neighboring Congo is between one half million and one million, while the Bafumbira population in southern Uganda is about 200,000.

The Kinyarwanda language is spoken almost universally in Rwanda, serving as a unifying factor for the population. Kinyarwanda is a Central Bantu language that is part of the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language family and is closely related to Kirundi (spoken in Burundi), Mashi (spoken in the Congolese region of South Kivu), and Kiha (spoken in northern Tanzania). Variations in pronunciation distinguish the Kinyarwanda spoken in the northern part of Rwanda from that spoken elsewhere. Also, Twa speak Kinyarwanda using only two tones, in contrast to the Tutsi and Hutu, who speak with three. Outside Rwanda, Kinyarwanda serves as a major cultural identifier for Banyarwanda communities.

Rwandan culture emerged in the isolated mountainous terrain bordering Lake Kivu and Lake Muhazi in west-central Africa. The kingdom of Rwanda was founded in the sixteenth century in what is eastern Rwanda at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and then moved west to modern central Rwanda. Benefiting from military and administrative innovations, the Rwandan monarchy began to extend control over neighboring kingdoms and chieftaincies through conquest and incorporation. The resulting political system was complex, based more on political and economic ties than on a shared cultural identity.

In the central areas of the kingdom, power was centralized and a division of status between the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa emerged. A system of cattle vassalage bound local communities together and tied them to the monarchy. Chiefs for land, cattle, and military force in a system of overlapping chieftaincies served as local representatives of the court. Areas outside the central kingdom, however, retained their distinct political and social organization to varying degrees, with some chieftaincies retaining practical autonomy and merely paying tribute to the Rwandan king. During this period some people who resented the increasing political control emigrated from the kingdom, resettling in Congo, where they formed a distinct Rwandan community later known as the Banyamulenge.

Colonial rule was the primary force that led to the emergence of the Rwandan national cultural identity. German colonial authorities, who claimed Rwanda in 1895, and the Belgians, who replaced them in 1916, regarded the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa as three distinct national or racial groups. Nevertheless, colonial policies led to a greater identification with the Rwandan national state for all groups even as they created greater ethnic identification and polarization. The colonial overlords helped the Rwandan monarchy centralize its control and extend its social system throughout the territory that is today Rwanda, eliminating the local social and political variations that had existed in the precolonial period. Political centralization helped encourage greater cultural continuity. By establishing modern state institutions in Rwanda, the colonial administrators also imported the ideas of nationality associated with the modern nation-state. Subsequent social and political conflicts have revolved around how Rwandan nationality should be defined (which ethnic groups should be included as "true" Rwandans) rather than the validity of Rwandan as a national cultural identity.

Traditional Rwandan settlements were highly dispersed. Each family lived in a homestead surrounded by its banana plantation and fields. The basic social unit was the "hill," the collection of families that lived together on a single hill. The three ethnic groups lived interspersed throughout the country, though individual hills sometimes had a concentration of one ethnic group. Houses were built along the slopes of the hills, where fields for crops were concentrated. The tops of hills generally were reserved for grazing, and the marshy valleys were left uncultivated. Traditional households consisted of a walled compound with several round homes with mud walls and thatched roofs. Each wife had her own home within the compound, and the compound contained buildings for cooking and grain storage and space to shelter livestock.

The arrival of Europeans at the turn of the twentieth century led to several changes in settlement patterns. The introduction of tile making generated a shift to rectangular houses, which were easier to roof with clay tiles. Villages also emerged around churches, administrative offices, and markets, though most of those villages were quite small. The vast majority of the people continued to live in dispersed homesteads. In the 1991 census the rate of urbanization was only 5 percent, among the lowest in the world. The violence that swept the country in the early 1990s, however, instigated rapid shifts in settlement. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Kigali is estimated to have up to eight hundred thousand people, almost three times its prewar size, while many rural areas have seen their populations shrink. Patterns of ethnic settlement have also shifted, as Tutsi have increasingly concentrated in urban areas and in the pasturelands in eastern Rwanda whereas rural areas in most of the country have become increasingly Hutu.

Most Rwandans produce the majority of the food they consume. Rwanda remains nearly 90 percent rural, with farmers producing beans, sorghum, bananas, sweet potatoes, manioc, and potatoes primarily for private consumption. Cattle are raised for milk, and goats and chickens are raised for meat. Excess food products are sold or bartered at local markets where traders purchase goods to transport to the cities.

Rural Rwandans participate in the monetary economy for only a limited number of items that they cannot grow or produce at home, such as clothing, soap, and medicine. The primary sources of income for rural residents are sales of their excess agricultural production and work as day laborers in the fields of wealthier farmers, in construction, or in other occasional occupations. Urban dwellers, in contrast, are dependent on commercial activities. The government is the largest employer, providing a wide range of salaried positions. Since the 1990s economic liberalization programs have forced the government to sell off parastatal industries and expand the private sector, but much of the capital remains in the hands of government officials and their families. Wealthy urban dwellers often keep cattle in the countryside as well as land that they rent out to augment their income and provide financial security.

Basketry and mat making were important traditional industrial arts that continue to be practiced to a limited extent, primarily for sale as souvenirs. The production of pottery traditionally was reserved for the Twa, whose pots were important for cooking and making sorghum beer. Rwanda has no carving tradition, though in recent years some workshops have been developed for the tourist market.

Rwanda has very few modern industries. A few items, such as soap and beer, are produced for local consumption, but the country exports very few industrial products.

The major exports are coffee and tea. Coffee is grown on small farms throughout the country, and tea is grown on plantations in areas of high elevation. A small amount of pyrethrum, a natural insecticide, is grown in the northern region. Flowers have been grown for export in recent years. Rwanda produces only trace amounts of minerals but has become a major transit point for diamonds, gold, and coltan, a mineral used in microchips and cellular phones, from the neighboring Congo.

According to tradition, precolonial Rwandan society had a strict division of labor along ethnic lines, with Tutsi raising livestock, Hutu farming, and Twa hunting, gathering, and making pottery. Evidence indicates that the division of labor was much more complex, as most Tutsi engaged in at least some agriculture and many Hutu raised livestock. Cattle ownership was nevertheless an important element defining social status, and the social and political elite commonly used the exchange of cattle as a means of linking themselves to people of lower status. The elite continue to demonstrate their status through the accumulation of cattle and generally eschew participation in manual labor, usually hiring others to farm their fields and watch their livestock.

Agricultural work generally is divided by sex, with men clearing land and preparing the fields and women planting, weeding, and harvesting, though women also commonly participate in preparing the fields and men participate in the daily maintenance of the fields as needed. Household work such as cooking, cleaning, and raising children is the domain of women, while men are more likely to engage in salaried labor and are responsible for heavy household work such as construction. There is limited division of labor by age, with most watching of livestock done by youths, but children are involved from an early age in adult activities such as watching younger children and working in the fields.

All land in precolonial times was theoretically owned by the king and allocated by him and the chiefs to individual families for their use. In practice, however, families that worked a particular plot of land gained rights to that land that were difficult to remove and could sell or pass those rights to others at will. New arrivals to a community could seek rights to unclaimed or unused land from the local chief, but otherwise the chiefs had little practical control over land allocation. In the early twenty-first century, most farmers continue to own the land that they farm and where they build their homes. However, in the closing decades of the twentieth century increasing poverty and overpopulation encouraged poor families to sell their fields, creating land accumulation and a growing class of landless poor.

Competition between clans for political power was once the primary source of political conflict, but since the demise of the monarchy, clans have lost most of their social significance. Clan identities are passed down through the patrilineal line. Clans cut across ethnic lines, with each clan including Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa, but there is variation in the clans present from one region to the next. Rwandan communities in Congo and Uganda share some of the clan names found in Rwanda but also have clans not found in Rwanda. Parts of Rwanda incorporated into the kingdom late have different clans than do areas of central Rwanda.

Marriage is the most important social institution, and there is intense pressure on all individuals to marry and produce children. Marriages traditionally were arranged by parents, but today most people find their own mates, in consultation with their families. Cattle continue to be required as a dowry. Polygyny was historically common but has become increasingly rare. Instead, divorce and remarriage have become common. Marriage occurs outside of clans. Marriage between Hutu and Tutsi is relatively common.

Families typically live in single-family compounds consisting of several buildings surrounded by a hedge or fence. Each wife (if there is more than one) typically has her own house in the compound, as do elderly parents. The husband's extended family typically lives in close proximity on the same hill or on a nearby hill. The wife's family also may live nearby or may be from farther away, but both the husband's and the wife's kin have important socially defined relations with the family. Nevertheless, women are considered members of the husband's family after marriage.

Rwandans consider children a sign of wealth, and bearing children is an important social duty. As a result, Rwanda has the highest rate of fecundity in the world, and families are generally very large.

After the death of a family head, family possessions, including land, are divided among the surviving sons. In practice, sons often receive an allocation of land at the time of marriage. Daughters are considered members of the husband's family and do not generally have rights of inheritance. Unmarried daughters and widows are the responsibility of the oldest son. With the massive numbers of widows created by the 1994 war and genocide, these inheritance practices proved untenable. The government subsequently revised inheritance laws to increase the right of women to inherit.

Mothers have the primary responsibility for child rearing, assisted by other females in the household. Women carry children on their backs as they go about their daily tasks. The mother's oldest brother also is responsible for supervising the moral development and socialization of children. Before the end of the monarchy, young Tutsi men were sent to the court for formation as Intore warriors, a process that included not only military training but education in arts and history and socialization into court culture.

Ethnicity has been the most important aspect of social identity since at least the beginning of the colonial period. The meaning of Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa in precolonial Rwanda remains a matter of debate. Whereas some scholars see the terms as primarily occupational categories, most agree that they also represented a status difference. The royal court encouraged the differentiation between Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa as a means of helping organize its rule, but it was under colonial rule that the identities gained exaggerated importance. Regional divisions also have been historically important. Northern regions, which were incorporated late into the kingdom, retain a distinct identity. The Juvénal Habyarimana regime, which was in office from 1973 to 1994, was the first government dominated by northerners. Clan, once an important element of social organization, has lost most of its social significance.

Rwandan society has traditionally been highly hierarchical. The complex social and political system included many symbols and rituals that reinforced social positions. Deference to those of higher status continues to be an important cultural value. In practice, however, the culture also has strong traditions of rumor and satire used to challenge those of higher social status who abuse their power and of factionalism and rebellion by which status positions sometimes have been reversed.

Rwanda has few traditions of popular political participation, but the power of political officials has never been absolute. Under the monarchy the queen mother, who came from a clan different from that of the king, served as an important check on his power, as did court advisers and ritual specialists. In independent Rwanda the parliament, though limited in power, provides some balance to the power of the president, whereas periodic elections have been used to give the impression of popular participation, although these elections have rarely been free and fair.

The political system has an elaborate structure that helps maintain power at the center. The complex system of chiefs of land, cattle, and military force was eliminated during the colonial period in favor of a more simplified system of centralized rule. The Habyarimana regime implemented a system of political divisions that linked every local community closely to the central state. The country's eleven prefectures were divided into communes, communes into sectors, and sectors into cells, each with appointed political officials who could monitor the population and carry out the will of the regime. In 2001 the system was again reorganized, with prefectures changed to provinces and communes consolidated into a smaller number of districts. Ostensibly this reform was intended to decentralize power, but in practice power remains highly centralized and the basic principle of organizing down to the most local level has been retained.

Political parties have been an important element in politics since the first elections just before independence. The country's first president, Gregoire Kayibanda, was the leader of a party that became a de facto single party. His successor, President Habyarimana, created a new single national political party in the 1970s in which all Rwandans were by law members. Under internal and external pressure, Habyarimana allowed other political parties to emerge in the early 1990s. In 2002, despite considerable restrictions on political activity, a number of political parties are represented in the government.

Ethnicity has been the primary source of conflict since colonial times. Under colonial rule the Tutsi monopolized political, economic, and social power, leading in 1959 to a popular revolution that brought the Hutu to power. For the next several decades the Hutu dominated the political system, and political elites used resentment of the Tutsi as a means of rallying popular support. This policy ultimately culminated in genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 organized by Hutu leaders afraid of losing power under growing democratic pressures. The genocide was so destructive that the Rwandan Patriotic Front, an army of Tutsi refugees, was able to drive the regime from office and take power. Both Hutu and Tutsi regimes have relied heavily on coercion to maintain their power, and well-developed systems of surveillance have helped expose potential resistance.

In part because the culture is not confined to Rwandan national territory, ethnic conflict has been a major factor in regional conflicts between Rwanda and its neighbors. After the 1959 revolution brought the Hutu to power in Rwanda, the Tutsi continued to dominate the political system in Burundi. When massacres of Hutu occurred in Burundi in 1972, they inspired massacres of Tutsi in Rwanda in 1973. The assassination of Burundi's first Hutu president in 1993 was an important precursor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. When the Hutu who carried out the genocide in Rwanda fled to Congo in 1994, they began to attack Congolese Tutsi, and this inspired a reaction by the new Tutsi regime in Rwanda and became the impetus for a major regional war in Congo.

In precolonial Rwanda many conflicts were solved at the community level by councils of elders known as gacaca. In the aftermath of the genocide the government has drawn on this tradition to create gacaca courts, popularly elected judicial bodies composed of community members chosen for their integrity who sit in judgment over those accused of participation in the genocide. The king traditionally played the key role in adjudicating larger disputes, and the president still plays an important role in negotiating social conflicts.

The traditional Rwandan cosmology included belief in a high god, Imana, who was linked to the living through lower deities, ancestors, and the monarch. The royal court engaged in various religious practices to guarantee peace and prosperity, while veneration of ancestors was an essential element of religious life in the general community. Two secret societies worshiped ancestral heroes known as Kubandwa. The Lyangombe sect was important in central and southern Rwanda and in parts of Congo and Burundi, while the Nyabingi sect was dominant in northern Rwanda and southern Uganda.

Christianity is widely practiced in the early twenty-first century, though many Rwandan Christians continue to practice some elements of the traditional religions, particularly veneration of ancestors and traditional medicine. Over 60 percent of the population is Catholic, and another 30 percent is Protestant, with Seventh-Day Adventist, Anglican, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian churches being the largest Protestant groups.

The royal court included religious specialists, but with the demise of the monarchy, court religious traditions and practitioners disappeared. The Kubandwa sects include priests, and although these sects have become less common, there are Kubandwa priests in many communities. More common are traditional healers who draw on spiritual forces to cure illness. The most important religious practitioners are bishops, pastors, priests, and other Christian clergy. Christian leaders have considerable social, political, and economic influence.

Many traditional ceremonies were eliminated along with the monarchy. The post-independence Hutu dominated regimes created new rituals to celebrate the 1959 revolution that brought them to power. After a Tutsi dominated regime came to power in 1994, it eliminated the ceremonies of the previous governments and created new ceremonies commemorating the 1994 genocide. Rwanda also celebrates the major Christian holidays. Traditional ceremonies are practiced only in families, where traditional funeral rites remain common.

Dance and music are the most important elements of Rwandan artistic culture. Intore dance, a form of martial dancing and drumming that involves both group performance and individual demonstrations of skill and prowess, was included in the education of young warriors in the Rwandan court. A national dance troupe has preserved that tradition. The general population participated in dances for marriages, fertility festivals, and other occasions. Ballads and lullabies were common forms of music, often performed by troubadours who traveled through the countryside. The most common instruments included a one-stringed harp and a form of zither. Literature includes court histories passed down from generation to generation by court specialists and popular folktales and aphorisms passed within families and communities. There are few traditional visual arts. Baskets and mats woven from reeds and grasses traditionally were decorated with geometric designs. Twa potters specialized in producing decorated ceramics, especially pots for beer.

Rwandans practice both Western and indigenous medicine. Hospitals and health centers are present throughout the country, many of them run by Christian churches, but many people continue to consult indigenous healers. Indigenous medicine emphasizes the flow of bodily fluids and the maintenance of social and personal equilibrium. Illness is attributed to a rupture in the flow of life or the equilibrium of a family or community that often is caused by intentional malevolence on the part of living individuals or neglected dead family members. Since no distinction exists in the Kinyarwanda language between poisoning and enchantment, healers use a combination of herbal and spiritual remedies.

Rwandans believe that the spirit continues to exist after death and see their families as including not only the living but those who have come before and those who will come in the future. Showing respect to dead family members is considered extremely important. Failing to appease the spirits of dead ancestors through appropriate rituals and offerings can lead the ancestors to neglect their families and allow evil spirits to inflict harm. The burial of the body on family land is an important symbol of the continuity between the living and the dead. The mass death during the 1994 genocide and war has created serious spiritual problems for families that are unable to provide a proper burial for their deceased members.

Lemarchand, René, 1970. Rwanda and Burundi. New York: Praeger.

Linden, Ian, and Jane Linden, 1977. Church and Revolution in Rwanda. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Muzungu, Bernardin, 1974, 1975, and 1981. Le Dieu de nos peres, 3 vols. Bujumbura: Presse Lavigerie.

Newbury, M. Catharine, 1988. The Cohesion of Oppression: Citizenship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860-1960. New York, Columbia University Press.

Rennie, J. K., 1972. "The Precolonial Kingdom of Rwanda: A Reinterpretation," Transafrican Journal of History 2(2): 11-54.

Reyntjens, Filip, 1985. Pouvoir et Droit au Rwanda: Droit Publique et Evolution Politique, 1916-1973. Butare: Institut National de Recherche Scientifique.

Taylor, Christopher, 1992. Milk, Honey and Money: Changing Concepts in Rwandan Healing. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Van't Spijker, Gerard, 1990. Les Usages Funeraires et la Mission de l'Eglise. Kampen: Uitgevesmaatschappij J.H. Kok.

World Bank, 2008. "Rwanda at a Glance" http://devdata.worldbank.org/AAG/rwa_aag.pdf (accessed on 05/27/2009)

This culture summary is based on the article, "Rwandans" by Timothy Longman, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Supplement, Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember, and Ian Skoggard, eds. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. 2002. The data on demography was updated on 5/27/2009 with information from the World Bank (http://devdata.worldbank.org/AAG/rwa_aag.pdf).