societies that are communal, divided, and in the mode of inequality and problematic issues. It also has the tendency to occur when the government says that it is okay to resolve those problematic issues using violence. An example in which there was a combination of racism, power struggles, and violence that all led to genocide is in the specific case of Rwanda between the Hutu and Tutsi populations. Before colonial rule, the Tutsi were herdsmen and came from the Nile Valley. They brought concepts of power, monarchy, and kingship to Rwanda. The Tutsi took grazing lands from the Hutu, who were farmers, and lived among them. Gourevitch states that this was the original inequality: cattle were a more valuable asset than produce…and the word Tutsi became synonymous with a political and economic elite (p. 48). The Tutsi, who were the powers of Rwanda, also became the protectors of the Hutu because they were armed with weapons and spears. Rwanda was certainly an unequal society, but the ethnic boundary was permeable. Overtime, some Tutsi married Hutu. Also, Hutu farmers could, and did, become wealthy Tutsi and acquired cattle as chiefs were incorporated into the ruling elite. Much authority was given to Hutu chiefs and certain obligations were imposed on Tutsi administrators as well. Colonial rule, however, transformed this pattern. The Belgians moved in and made the Tutsi the privileged group through indirect rule. The Tutsi were the privileged group because in 1932, the Belgian governor stated that the Tutsi were the master race and born to rule. This was so because the Belgians felt that the Tutsis were more “European-looking”—Tutsis were lanky and long-faced, not so dark-skinned, narrow-nosed, thin-lipped, narrow-chinned, while Hutus were stocky and round-faced, dark-skinned, flat-nosed, thick-lipped, and square-jawed (Gourevitch 50). Under the Belgians, Tutsi dominance was extended. Tutsi powers a...
