12-13-2006, 08:13 PM
Sounds familiar ?
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/536/in3.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The roots of Rwanda's grief are found in its encounters with the outside world. In 1863 an Englishman, John Hanning Speke, "discovered" Rwanda while looking for the source of the Nile. Speke noted a political distinction among elite Rwandans between groups calling themselves the Tutsi and the Hutu. Historians have seen this distinction as an imagined difference, used by the entourage of the ruler to excuse its monopoly on resources. Speke seized on this difference. He knew the Bible well, and wove the book of Genesis and its story of Noah's son Ham into his observations on Rwanda. In the Bible story, Noah curses Ham who has seen him naked. "A slave of slaves shall the sons of Ham be to his brothers," said Noah. Speke, in thrall to this curious tale, decided that most of those living around Lake Victoria were the "sons of Ham, who, as they were then, so they appeared to be now." Speke identified them according to an arbitrary inventory of physical characteristics: face shape, nose width, brow length. He labelled them the Hutu. Speke also found "the issue of Shem," Ham's elder brother, dwelling among the Hutu. These were the Tutsi, who had "fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses." These "lost Christians," who originated outside Rwanda, Speke thought, were the natural rulers of Rwanda.
Thus Speke reified the biblical story, making the people of Rwanda the laboratory for his curious fantasising. Speke codified an arbitrary division with racial science, and the myth of the separateness of Rwanda's two peoples solidified. Available evidence suggests that before Speke's imaginings, the barrier between the Tutsi and the Hutu was porous, and followed political, not ideological need.
...
Other Europeans followed Speke. In 1894, Germany colonised Rwanda; after the first world war, Belgium took it as spoils. During that period, Speke's theories continued to mould political reality. A broad dialectic between Rwandans and the myth of their origin emerged. Given a new way of seeing themselves, Rwandans reacted to the myth according to need. Some used it to advance themselves, others subverted it for their purposes. The Belgians exacerbated things. In 1933 they issued ethnic identity cards, which made the invented ethnic chasm unbridgeable.
In the 1950s, ideas of national self-rule reached Rwanda. In 1957, Hutu opportunists inverted Speke's Hamitic myth to argue that they were Rwanda's original inhabitants; the Tutsi were foreign parasites. Within two years political violence broke out between the groups (for the first time ever), in a Rwandan village. The Belgians helped the Hutus pillage Tutsi houses then installed a Hutu government which spoke of Rwanda as two peoples in one nation.
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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/536/in3.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The roots of Rwanda's grief are found in its encounters with the outside world. In 1863 an Englishman, John Hanning Speke, "discovered" Rwanda while looking for the source of the Nile. Speke noted a political distinction among elite Rwandans between groups calling themselves the Tutsi and the Hutu. Historians have seen this distinction as an imagined difference, used by the entourage of the ruler to excuse its monopoly on resources. Speke seized on this difference. He knew the Bible well, and wove the book of Genesis and its story of Noah's son Ham into his observations on Rwanda. In the Bible story, Noah curses Ham who has seen him naked. "A slave of slaves shall the sons of Ham be to his brothers," said Noah. Speke, in thrall to this curious tale, decided that most of those living around Lake Victoria were the "sons of Ham, who, as they were then, so they appeared to be now." Speke identified them according to an arbitrary inventory of physical characteristics: face shape, nose width, brow length. He labelled them the Hutu. Speke also found "the issue of Shem," Ham's elder brother, dwelling among the Hutu. These were the Tutsi, who had "fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses." These "lost Christians," who originated outside Rwanda, Speke thought, were the natural rulers of Rwanda.
Thus Speke reified the biblical story, making the people of Rwanda the laboratory for his curious fantasising. Speke codified an arbitrary division with racial science, and the myth of the separateness of Rwanda's two peoples solidified. Available evidence suggests that before Speke's imaginings, the barrier between the Tutsi and the Hutu was porous, and followed political, not ideological need.
...
Other Europeans followed Speke. In 1894, Germany colonised Rwanda; after the first world war, Belgium took it as spoils. During that period, Speke's theories continued to mould political reality. A broad dialectic between Rwandans and the myth of their origin emerged. Given a new way of seeing themselves, Rwandans reacted to the myth according to need. Some used it to advance themselves, others subverted it for their purposes. The Belgians exacerbated things. In 1933 they issued ethnic identity cards, which made the invented ethnic chasm unbridgeable.
In the 1950s, ideas of national self-rule reached Rwanda. In 1957, Hutu opportunists inverted Speke's Hamitic myth to argue that they were Rwanda's original inhabitants; the Tutsi were foreign parasites. Within two years political violence broke out between the groups (for the first time ever), in a Rwandan village. The Belgians helped the Hutus pillage Tutsi houses then installed a Hutu government which spoke of Rwanda as two peoples in one nation.
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