SOC 248 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Tutsi, Structural Adjustment, Hutu

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 248
• Professor: Rebekah Burroway

Document Summary

Ethnicity: category of people with shared cultural heritage or national identity. Systems of racial classification vary across time & space. Same language, religion, culture -> intermarried and intermingled. Tutsis (cid:271)e(cid:272)a(cid:373)e politi(cid:272)al & e(cid:272)o(cid:374)o(cid:373)i(cid:272) elite (cid:271)ut li(cid:374)es re(cid:373)ai(cid:374)ed fluid. British army officer (1863): africans who best resembled europeans were superior. Belgians dismantled local government, put tutsis in charge, and issued ethnic identity cards. Ten-cow rule, physical measurements, data from the church. Census racialized a difference that had been socioeconomic. Racial ideology became embedded in institutions, which in turn reproduced the ideology. Hutu activist beaten by tutsi activists -> violence spread. Belgian colonel allied with hutus in name of democracy and held elections. More pessimistic story: tutsis wanted independence and belgians thought hutus would be easier to control. Hutus come to power: replacement of one racial dictatorship with another, masquerading as democracy. 1990: rwandan patriotic fund (tutsi army from refugee camps) invaded rwanda. Coordination of government, military, civilians, and even the church.