Recommenting because Substack is weird: This is very informative piece which is not what I expected. I have a few questions as somebody who has only read superficial/written-with-a-political-bias information on this:
While it seems Rwandans do not have much money, would it be true to say it is physically safer in Rwanda today? Would it be also true to say that Rwanda is more financially and militarily independent from NATO/BRICS than most higher earning African countries?
When did Hutu/Tutsi as ethnicities solidify in the minds of the Rwandans themselves? Also, as a Westerner, I think of ethnicity as a concept that I relate to personally, and caste as a non-Western concept that I understand Anthropologically. In other societies where caste is serious, is it really super distinct from ethnicity within a society?. (in this case, it seems the Twa are not really part of Banyarwanda society). Not an argument, because I do not really know either way.
3) Hutu and Tutsi ethnicities solidiifed by the 1950s. By then the Hutu elite were literate and could propagandize their anti Tutsi rhetoric
4) In India there's Brahmins (teachers/priests), Kshatriyas: (warriors/rulers), Vaishyas(traders) as castes but ethnic wise there's Punjabis, Marathis, Gujaratis, and Bengalis and more
This caste seems like it has ethnic origins. Just looking at their bone structure, the Hutus and Tutsis remind me of the Hausa-Fulani of North-West Africa. With the more pastoral Fulani forming a ruling minority over the Hausa farmers.
Cattle rearers vs Farmers. The tale of civilization
this is totally interesting/excellent. big admirer of economic history like this. Makes a great argument for simply leaving people alone.
Recommenting because Substack is weird: This is very informative piece which is not what I expected. I have a few questions as somebody who has only read superficial/written-with-a-political-bias information on this:
While it seems Rwandans do not have much money, would it be true to say it is physically safer in Rwanda today? Would it be also true to say that Rwanda is more financially and militarily independent from NATO/BRICS than most higher earning African countries?
When did Hutu/Tutsi as ethnicities solidify in the minds of the Rwandans themselves? Also, as a Westerner, I think of ethnicity as a concept that I relate to personally, and caste as a non-Western concept that I understand Anthropologically. In other societies where caste is serious, is it really super distinct from ethnicity within a society?. (in this case, it seems the Twa are not really part of Banyarwanda society). Not an argument, because I do not really know either way.
1) The capital, Kigali is very safe, but only an 1/8 of the population lives there.
2) Rwanda gets most of its weapons from America/EU, its military industrial complex (MIC) is mega tiny.
https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/military-weapons/reporter/rwa?utm_source=chatgpt.com
South Africa, Egypt, and Sudan pre-civil war had the biggest MIC, but even these countries mainly import their arms from the West or Russia.
In terms of military aid, Rwanda received $4M in 2022 from America, which is 8th highest amount in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here's another countries:
Somalia: $140M
South Sudan: $16M
Chad: $11M
Niger: $11M
Kenya: $9M
Congo: $4.6M
Uganda: $4.5M
https://foreignassistance.gov
3) Hutu and Tutsi ethnicities solidiifed by the 1950s. By then the Hutu elite were literate and could propagandize their anti Tutsi rhetoric
4) In India there's Brahmins (teachers/priests), Kshatriyas: (warriors/rulers), Vaishyas(traders) as castes but ethnic wise there's Punjabis, Marathis, Gujaratis, and Bengalis and more
This caste seems like it has ethnic origins. Just looking at their bone structure, the Hutus and Tutsis remind me of the Hausa-Fulani of North-West Africa. With the more pastoral Fulani forming a ruling minority over the Hausa farmers.
Cattle rearers vs Farmers. The tale of civilization