Ethnic Groups in Rwanda - Stratified Social Hierarchy

Stratified Social Hierarchy

This social system was based on five fundamental assumptions, as reinforced through group interactions and influenced by cultural myths:

1. That there were fundamental natural differences between the groups
2. That the origin of the Tutsi was celestial
3. That the civilization that the Tutsi brought to Rwanda was superior
4. That the kingship of the Tutsi Mwami was divinely ordained and
5. That divine sanctions would occur if the monarchy was usurped by any other group.

Despite the stratification promulgated by these ideas, Rwanda was still very much a unified society. Notwithstanding association with different groups in the sociopolitical hierarchy, the inhabitants all considered themselves part of the same nation, the Banyarwanda, which means “people of Rwanda.” They spoke the same language, practiced the same cultural traditions, and worshiped the same God. However, the arrival of European colonizers would later exploit group divisions as a means of securing control. The modern conception of Tutsi and Hutu as distinct ethnic groups in no way reflects the pre-colonial relationship between them. Tutsi and Hutu were simply groups occupying different places in the Rwandan social hierarchy, the division between which was exacerbated by slight differences in appearance propagated by occupation and pedigree.