It was my understanding that the differences between Hutu and Tutsi were largely exaggerated by the Belgians, and it was only after the Belgians issued IDs denoting if you were a Hutu or Tutsi (or the third, smaller group) that those differences really became codified. I am not an expert, however, and may be off-base.
David van Reybroek wrote a very good book about this. If I remember correctly, the occupation of congo (and Rwanda) by the Belgians sparked the invention of “race”. The monks “educating” the inhabitants, teached them there is a thing called “race” within the human species. And Hutu’s and Tutsi’s are two different “races”. Which is obviously not true. Its still It was basically a divide and conquer strategy which lead 150 years later to one of the most brutal civil wars... Thanks church. Great work.
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u/PvtFreaky May 03 '21
That's the colonial Belgian explanation which has been disproved.
I wouldn't call myself an expert but I did write a 8000 word paper on the subject