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Research Paper Sec 1 Christopher Seifert
 There are three different groups of people in Rwanda and Burundi, The Hutu Tutsi and the Twa. These different groups all had different types of economiesalong with different types cultural backgrounds. All the groups have manysimilarities however their rich history of a cast system and strong racial orprejudice beliefs have caused conflict in the area. The groups all lived in closeproximity to one another and in some cased amongst each other. This review willcover the economies and modes of production of the Hutu and the Tutsi, the socialand political structure of the two groups before and after colonization and undertheir own control, and some of the key parts of their ideology and religion thatshaped the culture they are. The to start we need to describe the the different groups. There are the Twawho were the first group to inhabit this region, they only make up one percent of the population. They are hunter gatherers and had no way of making a living theyonly survived. The Hutu and the Tutsi make up the rest of the population in thearea. All the groups together as a whole are known as “Banyarwanda”. We willfocus on the Hutu and the Tutsi for the remainder of the paper because the Twahave nothing to do with the focus of the conflict. The Hutu who came to the area along time after the Twa, and brought with them new ideas and a new way of life tothe area. They brought with them horticulture, as a way of subsistence, whichhelped them reach the number of people that will eventually call themselvesHutu. The Hutu people were able to feed every one in their tribe or group which
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Research Paper Sec 1 Christopher Seifert
caused people to live longer and reproduce. Probably why the Twa have such asmall population. The Tutsi people brought with them the same type of horticulture as the Hutu but were pastoralists and were able to overcome hungerand other issues because of this. “Most reciently, pastoral peoples migrated intoor conquered (depending on the particular version of the events) Hutu/Twaregions and eventually established themselves as the culturally, economically,and usually politically dominant segment of a mixed society.”(Eller 199) The new Tutsi culture paved the way for the new way of life for the region. The Tutsi sawtheir way of life to be dominant and they then started the prevailing economy. Inmost cases it was not force that caused this, it was the capital that the Tutsi hadwhich made this transition possible. Most of the Tutsi had cattle or some sort of live stock that produced either a larger crop or milk for their family, because theycame into the area already stronger and smarter farmers, it was natural for therest of the people of the area to follow and participate in what they could afford orwhat they could to provide for themselves and their family. The Hutu people were generally stereotyped racially as “short and thick-setwith a big head, a jovial expression, a wide nose and enormous lips”(Eller 200) The Tutsi were stereotyped racially as “very tall, 1.8 meters, at least, often 1.9meters or more. He is very thin His features are very fine: a high brow, thin noseand fine lips framing beautiful shining teeth.”(Eller 200) It is not the looks thatstarted the dominance that the Tutsi's had, they had thought of themselves as a
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Research Paper Sec 1 Christopher Seifert
superior group for their entire existence. It was the different distinctions betweenthe groups that set themselves apart from each other. The Hutu were farmers andplanted crops to survive where as the Tutsi were pastoralists and did not have towork as hard to get as much as the Hutu. This lack of effort cause the Tutsi to be,economically, more rich because they did not have to give up as much or work ashard to get the same amount. This sense of “better than the rest” spilled over intothe social structure of the Hutu and thus created a Caste system in the area, with Tutsi people being at the top Hutu next and the, lone, Twa holding down thebottom of society. With this new caste system in place it brought up new socialstandards in the Hutu and the Tutsi. From the view of the Tutsi, you don't marryHutu person, and they say that it rarely happens but it occurs from time to time.From the view of the Hutu, they say it is not looked down upon but marrying a Tutsi is not the normal thing to do, and they say it happens frequently. As theabundance of Hutu and Tutsi people grew the Name Tutsi or Hutu was notnecessarily specific to any one race as it was in the beginning. “A Tutsi, a Hutu, ora Twa is a person who regarded himself, and was regarded by all those who knewhim, as a Tutsi, Hutu or Twa.”(Eller 202) This sense of class structure forced peopleinto a life in which they could not move to the next level of the caste system. Oneway that people could move up to the level of Tutsi was to own cattle or some sortof live stock, because the Tutsi were pastoralists, owning any sort of producinganimal would bump you up the ladder. Controversially just because you had cattleor looked like a Tutsi did not mean that you are one. The culture through out the
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