Paper short abstract:

Focusing on Rwandan history in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this paper explores the dynamics in which the two nationalisms (anti-Belgian nationalist movement by the Tutsi leaders and anti-Tutsi ethnic claims by the Hutu elites) clashed, from which post-colonial Rwandan national identity emerged.

Paper long abstract:

The Rwandan Tutsi-Hutu relationships at the end of the colonial period have not been examined from the perspective of constructivism, thereby failing to shed light on the relationship between nationalism and ethnicity. This paper thus aims to examine the reasons why ethnic nationalism overwhelmed other nationalism during decolonisation.

There were two main contested nationalisms with different trajectories at the end of colonial period: the anti-Belgian Rwandan nationalism which was claimed by the Tutsi traditional leaders including the King Rudahigwa regarded all ethnic groups as a Rwandan nation. The other was the anti-Tutsi ethnic nationalism propagated by the Hutu leaders who perceived 'Rwandans' as only Hutu and Twa. Anti-Belgian Rwandan nationalism first appeared in the late 1950s, claiming that there had not been any problems among the Tutsi, Hutu and Twa in pre-colonial Rwanda and that all Rwandans should gain independence from European colonialism. What Hutu elites originally wanted was reforms of socio-political inequalities rather than revolution. Indeed, the political parties established in late 1959 (both Tutsi and Hutu parties) cooperated to discuss reform plans and establish a constitutional monarchy for independent Rwanda for a while. However, the rejection by the Tutsi leaders of Hutu demands calcified the attitudes of Hutu leaders, from which Hutu nationalism emerged. This nationalism claimed that the Tutsi were not authentic Rwandans and that the Hutu should gain dual independence from both Belgian and Tutsi colonial rules. With the electoral victories of Hutu party with local Belgian support, this anti-Tutsi Hutu ethnic nationalism prevailed in Rwanda.