Political Factors In Anthropological and Historical Research on Twentieth-century Rwanda

Abstract

Experts on the topic have traditionally looked for the genesis of the Rwandan genocide in a number of interrelated factors, among which a leading role is played by those related to ethnicity, colonial government policies, and the seizure of power by the Hutu in the period after independence. In recent decades, a highly controversial stereotype has arisen, expressed in a radical form by B. Bruneteau, who wrote that it was the European study of races that created differences in the anthropological construction of the Tutsi, Hutu and Twa, and then made use of these for political purposes. Doubts about this finding provide the basis for this article. The author is aware that political considerations have too often accompanied and continue to accompany publications on ethnic relations, often resulting in the manipulation of statistical data. Ever more crucial, therefore, is the role of interdisciplinary research, which is important for a full understanding of the factors that led to the instability of the Rwandan state in the second half of the twentieth century.