Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Genocide--Rwanda; Hutu (African people)--Race identity; Tutsi (African people)--Race identity; Colonies--Africa; Colonies; Genocide; Politics and government; Race relations--Political aspects; Rwanda--Politics and government--To 1962; Rwanda--History--Civil War, 1994; Rwanda--Race relations--Political aspects; Africa; Rwanda; Civil War (Rwanda : 1994); History; Academic theses; To 1994;
Abstract
In 1994 Rwanda erupted in a genocide, which targeted primarily the Tutsi and any of their sympathizers. At the end of the conflict an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were dead and some Hutu offenders still face prosecution today. Proponents of the genocide justified their violence by asserting that the Tutsi had privileged lot in life, compared with the Hutu. These ideas can be seen as a reaction against ideas of Tutsi racial superiority over the Hutu which originated in European, specifically German and Belgian, colonial thought about race and gender. Even though very little is known about Rwanda prior to European colonization, evidence suggests that the Germans and Belgians taught the Hutu and Tutsi to believe in racial difference between themselves and then reinforced to the natives that the Tutsi were superior to the Hutu. Perceived Tutsi superiority sometimes translated into better jobs, education, political positions, etc. Finally, after years of oppression and subservience many Hutu brutally murdered Tutsi and to incite violence, Hutu newspapers and radio stations used soured tensions between the groups and European ideas of race and gender to promote the cause for killing. Tutsi radio stations and newspapers also circulated information about the inferiority of the Hutu, which was partially a learned response from Belgian missionary school in Rwanda. Additionally, even with European ideas transferred onto the Tutsi and Hutu, both groups twisted and added to these teachings to serve their own ends.
Year of Submission
2010
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of History
First Advisor
Barbara Cutter
Second Advisor
Jennifer Waldron
Third Advisor
Emily A. Machen
Date Original
2010
Object Description
1 PDF file (97 leaves)
Copyright
©2010 Jessica Patrice Braccio
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Braccio, Jessica Patrice, "Race, Colonialism, Gender and the Rwandan Genocide" (2010). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2281.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2281
Comments
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