Hutu
| This article was entered on the Rwanda portal for improvement. Help edit it and take part in the discussion ! |
The Hutu are an ethnic group in East Africa and make up the majority of the population in Rwanda and Burundi . About 85 percent of Rwandans and Burundians are considered Hutu.
history
In pre-colonial times, Rwanda and Burundi had a coexistence of Tutsi , Hutu and Twa ethnic groups . While the Tutsi were mainly cattle breeders and the Twa lived as hunters and gatherers, the Hutu mainly operated in agriculture and made up the majority of the population.
It was only during the colonial rule of Germany (until 1916) and the League of Nations mandate of Belgium (from 1923) over Rwanda that people belonging to the Hutu, Tutsi or Twa groups were assigned an ethnic meaning. The division into (supposed) ethnic groups and the formation of a ruling ethnic group as an upper class served the colonial rulers to organize the colonial administration in the sense of the indirect rule practiced by Germans and Belgians . In 1934 a criterion for the assignment to the Hutu was often the possession of less than ten cattle. Often, the authorities also determined group membership based on people's appearance.
In the racist model of thought prevailing at the time , the ethnic groups were also differentiated on the basis of their phenotypology , whereby these were transferred here to the already existing social groups. The socially subordinate Hutu were classified as a negrid, "submissive race", the Tutsi as a superior "race with natural rulers". As a legitimation, the Tutsi were classified according to the Hamit theory as a Hamitic-Semitic and thus a Europid race, whose claim to power resulted from this.
"The system of 'ethnicized' social groups created by colonial measures [...] [has developed to this day] for many as a central, 'naturally' given point of identification."
Following this model of thought, Tutsi have been employed and promoted in key positions by the rulers since the beginning of colonization. After the end of colonial rule, however, members of the Hutu majority became the ruling group. This historical development is one of the indirect causes of ethnic conflicts in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.
The Hutu-Tutsi conflict led to genocide in Rwanda in 1994, including the Nyarubuye massacre and several genocides in Burundi .
Known relatives
- Jean-Baptiste Gatete , Rwandan war criminal
- Juvénal Habyarimana , former Rwandan President
literature
- Richard Wiens: Giheke Kitabu. From the inner workings of Africa or development without cooperation? Novum-Verlag, Neckenmarkt u. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-85022-696-7 .
- Helmut Strizek: Donated colonies. Rwanda and Burundi under German rule (= highlights of colonial history 4). With an essay on the development up to the present. Links, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-86153-390-1 , (review of the book by Deutschlandradio Kultur) .
- Uwe Hoering (Red.): For example Hutu and Tutsi. (The genocide could have been prevented, found a UN report) (= Lamuv-Taschenbuch 214 Süd-Nord ). Lamuv-Verlag, Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3-88977-473-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ellen Gutzler / Gudrun Honke / Sylvia Servaes in Uwe Hoering: Hutu and Tutsi - The genocide could have been prevented, found a UN report , Göttingen 1997