Are genetic differences at the root of the Tutsi-Hutu Rwandan conflict?

Despite the large number of publications in the media and academic circles about this catastrophe, the origins of this deep ethnic tension between the Hutu and Tutsi are still not quite clear and remain largely controversial.

Journalists have generally blamed European colonial policies for initiating and perpetuating the conflict. According to the narrative shaped by the media, the conflict revolved around what was characterized as the European’s divide and conquer tactics, playing one group of Rwandans against the other.

Although it is true that colonial politics and competition for power played a direct role in initiating the, there appears to be a much older legacy of repulsion between the two groups. To fully understand the conflict we must explore the history and origins of the two groups.

Many researchers have traced the origins of the conflict to pre-colonial Rwanda. While the Hutu are known to be a Bantu population from central and southern Africa, understanding the precise background of the Tutsi poses a challenge to scholars. One popular theory, derived from Rwandan folklore and a diversity of research efforts, traces the origin of the Tutsi to the Horn of Africa, and more specifically to what is today Ethiopia. According to this theory, migrating populations from the Horn of Africa somehow occupied Rwanda and formed a monarchy around the sixteenth century. A hierarchical social system is thought to have evolved. The Ganwa, the elite ruling class, were at the top; below them were the Tutsi cattle herders; and they were followed by the majority of the population, Hutu farmers. Under this theory, both the Ganwa and Tutsi eventually adopted the local language and were assimilated into the mainstream culture and religion of the Rwanda region. Over time, the Ganwa were essentially absorbed by the Tutsi; thus the Tutsi became the most powerful group in the monarchy.

When the Belgians arrived in Rwanda in the early twentieth century, they allowed the Tutsi to continue their leadership under colonial supervision. The Tutsi were, accordingly, granted better opportunities than the Hutu, which would have exacerbated tension between the two groups. Moreover, the colonial system allowed the Tutsi easier access to education and placed them in superior administrative positions.

Later in their rule, the Belgians came to redefine the boundaries between the two groups by economic status, more so than by ethnicity. In the early 1930s, for example, the Belgians in Burundi classified an owner with ten or more cows as Tutsi and a poor citizen as Hutu regardless of ethnic identity. Another colonial policy, of similar effect, involved the introduction of an ID card that allowed a citizen to change ethnic identity, either to Hutu or Tutsi, though a certain fee was required.

The degree as to which the Hutu and Tutsi are two different ethnic or genetic population groups remains the subject of debate among scholars today. There is no clear-cut distinction in the physical features between the two. Even for Rwandans, during the genocide, some Tutsi survived because they were mistaken for Hutu, while some Hutu mistaken for Tutsi were killed.

Several popular media accounts, including the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, suggested that the concept of distinction in physical features between the two groups was formulated by colonial ideologists, and thus has no basis in reality. Critics deemed this analysis as naive and simplistic.

A number of scholars have nonetheless indicated that the Tutsi do in fact display distinguishable physical traits. In his widely acclaimed work, Rwanda and Burundi, Rene Lemarchand stated that the Tutsi’s “physical features suggest obvious ethnic affinities with the Galla tribes of southern Ethiopia.” Anthropologists have also hypothesized that the Tutsi originated out of the Falasha, the Ethiopian Jewish population.

Anthropologist Jean Hiernaux, based on studies of blood factors and archeology, has challenged the Ethiopian origin theory, arguing that the Tutsi’s distinguishable physical traits can be found in ancient fossils far south in Eastern Africa. He suggested that such physical features are probably the result of phenotypes found elsewhere in the eastern part of sub-Saharan Africa. Razib Khan argued in his highly regarded Discover blog that a relative genetic difference suggests that the group is likely to have descended from a Nilotic population from the Nile region of Africa.

Genetic studies suggest that the Hutu and Tutsi of today are hardly distinguishable (see Leon Rosenberg and Diane Rosenberg, Human Genes and Genomes, p 7). Yet the question as to whether a difference still exists or not remains controversial. As Jon Entine writes in Abraham’s Children, despite the enthusiasm that comes with investigating our genetic heritage there is always the risk of granting too much explanatory power to genetics. Ethnic identity involves more than genetics—namely religion, culture and social and political associations.

The renewed discussion of the Rwandan case has undermined the Euro-centric belief that African history, particularly of the sub-Sahara, basically started with and was wholly shaped by European colonialism. Economic, socio-cultural, and ethnic struggles throughout Africa are, in most cases, much older and have far deeper roots than the European colonization period.

Of course this is not to underestimate the role that colonial authorities played in contributing to ethnic tensions in Rwanda. For instance, in 1959 Belgian authorities supported the Hutu against the insubordinate Tutsi leadership leading to a violent rebellion where hundreds of Tutsi were massacred.

Recent international interventions in the local structure of Rwanda have had extraordinary impacts on all levels. Thanks in large part to the media, the Internet and telecommunication technology, the now-global concepts of coexistence, individual freedoms and equality are increasingly shaping the new character of Rwandan society.

Ibrahim M. Omer is a Research Assistant at California State University Monterey Bay, Visual & Public Arts Department, Museum Studies Program, and the author of the academic website AncientSudan.org.

10 thoughts on “Are genetic differences at the root of the Tutsi-Hutu Rwandan conflict?”

  1. Historically,culturally,physically,linguistically and even genetically, Bahutu and Batutsi are indistinguishable.So what is your question? You are an academician and you are invoking Hotel Rwanda? All these killings were initiated,supervised and directed by Belgians,because Rwandans had refused to surrender.Belgians were expecting a Mau Mau war in 1959,that is why they sacrificed so many innocent lives in Rwanda’s cyclical genocides in what they perceived as a pre emptive strike out of their paranioa.The reason that you know next to nothing about Rwanda is because that was the secretive and deceptive nature of Belgian colonialism.You won’t learn much about Rwanda from Mahmood Mamdani,Allison DesForges,Gerard Prunier whose knowledge about it is as limited as yours.Jan Vansina,Jacques Maquet and Luc de Heusch,were on Belgian colonial administration’s payroll,and their duty was to “FAIRE L’home Noir oublier ses ancetres (to make the Black man forget his ancestors).That deliberate misinformation is what killed 1,400,000 precious lives of innocent Rwandans in 1994.If you do not know, ask but stop playing with Rwandans because they have suffered long enough.
    Israel Ntaganzwa

    Reply
    • Interesting observation Mr Ntaganzwa, for once I find some one who’s oppinion about this matter is closely related to mine.
      I am just wondering how I can get in touch with you.

      Reply
      • Igihame,
        Umbabarire ntabwo nkurikirana iyi site noneho uzajye kuri “Academia.edu” uzasangaho imail yanjye,nutayibona uzabaze abari kuri “Ibuka” bazayiguha.Dutuye iNew York (USA).
        Urakoze,
        Israel Ntaganzwa

        Reply
    • Israel, what you say is intriguing. I don’t agree with your first statement about the two peoples being physically the same but I do get how “differences” would be used to give reason to unjustifiable chaos. I get it. For years, I’ve been trying to understand the reason for Rwanda. They kept making physical and genetic differences their focal points to the reason of the chaos. Some sites go on to explain, while others denounce. It was always a mystery to me. In my eyes, and this will sound ugly, I see two groups of black people killing one another and the ones who instigated this killing spree, will have knocked out two birds with one stone. The birds, Hutus and Tutsis. The stone, a “perceived” class war. To Americans, all we saw were black folks killing off one another and to the general white population in America, that was good. The bloodshed that happened there wasn’t even considered a “genocide” until 2004. No one stepped in to stop the chaos until a few Belgians got caught up in the killing mix. That says something. This quote, “FAIRE L’home Noir oublier ses ancetres (to make the Black man forget his ancestors)” is all I needed to know. 1.4 million black people were butchered by their own kinsmen–(because you’re black no matter where you are on this planet). The Belgians who came to steal, kill and destroy also wanted us to forget. They pitted the two groups against each other. Discrimination among blacks against blacks. It has its roots. It was the difference between being a house slave or a field slave. Why do they want us to forget? For years, it has been instilled in me to fear Africa. Fear its people and its ways. Now, I must reexamine why? Why do I fear and where did this originate? Who benefits from this fear? Not knowing who we are or where we’ve come from sets the stage for our demise. The less we know, the more control they have. Thank you!

      Reply
  2. this was planned and funded by Euro-america way of doing in all time way. We have had the proof from day one. We are afrikans firist people made in Gods garden of Eve. check the map

    Reply

Leave a Reply

glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.