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Abstract
This article looks at young Rwandans of ‘mixed’ Hutu–Tutsi heritage, exploring how their mixed identity shaped their experiences during the 1994 genocide and how it influences their everyday experiences of categorization and belonging in contemporary Rwanda. It reveals the complex position of these young ‘Hutsi’ and the significant constraints they face in exercising identity choices in a context with a history of ethnic violence and where state policies have outlawed ethnicity. This article argues that the experiences, narratives and performances of these young Rwandans simultaneously challenge and reinforce the binary ‘ethnic logic’ that persists in contemporary Rwanda. Yet it suggests that providing space for Rwanda's ‘Hutsi’ and their diverse experiences could help to de-essentialize the categories ‘Hutu’ and ‘Tutsi’ and reduce the risks of future violence.
Notes
1. See Tone Bringa's (Citation1995) ethnography on Bosnia and Ivana Macek's (Citation2009) study of the transformation of social relationships in Sarajevo as a result of the war.
2. Quotes here indicate that application of the term ‘ethnic’ to the groups Hutu, Tutu and Twa is disputed.
3. Quotes are used to acknowledge that the term ‘mixed’ is problematic.
4. All respondents were aged 15–35 corresponding to the current definition of youth in Rwanda.
5. Although some analysts make distinctions between ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, in practice – including in Rwanda – the boundaries are blurred. In this article, the term ‘ethnicity’ is taken to incorporate ‘race’ and how it intertwines with ‘ethnicity’ (see Song Citation2003, p. 10–11).
6. The Twa make up an estimated 1% of the population. During my fieldwork – using snowball sampling – it was notable that I did not meet any young people who identified themselves as ‘Twa’. This article focuses on the dominant Hutu–Tutsi fault line.
7. The Hamitic hypothesis was a pseudo-scientific-religious social evolutionist theory dating to early European explorers, which posited separate geographical and biogenetic origins of Rwanda's social groups (Taylor Citation1999, Mamdani Citation2001b, Eltringham Citation2006).
8. There are debates, however, about when the patrilineal system became dominant across Rwanda (see Taylor Citation1999, de Lame Citation2005, p. 146–147, 392).
9. All names given here are fictitious to protect the identity of my research participants.
10. Inkotanyi (valiant warrior) was a name adopted by the Rwandan Patriotic Front to refer to the soldiers of their Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).
11. There are long-standing stereotypes about differences in height, nose shape and gait between Hutus and Tutsis. These do have some statistical significance – not least because they were a factor used to sort Rwandans during the colonial period – but they can also be unreliable in practice.
12. Translated from the French morphologie (the shape and form of something).
13. Interahamwe (those who stand together) were the militia that conducted killing during the genocide.
14. ADFL is the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaïre, a coalition of Congolese rebel and minority groups, which toppled Mobutu from power with the help of the RPA.
15. Bosco refers here to the RPA, the army of the RPF. Rwandans often conflate the two.
16. In July 1994, the RPF installed the Government of National Unity, which it effectively dominated until it won the 2003 parliamentary and presidential elections.
17. Republic of Rwanda, Law 47/2001 of 18/12/2001 instituting punishment for offences of discrimination and sectarianism.
18. There is no longer any data on ethnic identity in the census. Pre-1994 estimates describe the population as 85% Hutu, 15% Tutsi and 1% Twa, but the census did not include a ‘mixed’ category.
19. These figures accord with other estimates, for example, David Newbury (Citation1998) suggests that >25% of Rwandans have both Hutu and Tutsi grandparents and that, in some regions, this figure is likely to exceed 50%.
20. Larsen's novel is about two women who pass for ‘white’ in 1920s' America. One woman, whose husband does not know her black heritage, is eventually discovered and commits suicide.
21. Gacaca is a community justice process used to try thousands of people accused of genocide.