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M  M M 1 BUSHI AND THE HISTORIANS Historiographical Themes in Eastern Kivu  The form in which history is presented matters. Written historiographies in eastern Kivu were originally colonial historiographies: they drew on the cultural paradigms and intellectual assumptions of the colonial mindset, and they privileged themes important to colonial thinking—“race,” migration, royal genealogies, and social hierarchy. Internal cultural change and local agency were often neglected. This chapter considers four influential examples of such literature in Bushi, a densely populated region (including seven kingdoms) southwest of Lake Kivu. In addition to tracing out the themes of colonial historiography, the essay illustrates two other aspects of historical writing in this region: its dependence on Rwandan historiography, and the tendency of such works to become increasingly condensed and more simpli fied over time, not more expansive, diverse, and open to new themes. More recently, research carried out since decolonization has transformed these images. Rather than reaffirming homogeneous (“tribal”) histories, local research has demonstrated the broad diversity of historical perceptions that exist within cultural groups. Furthermore, the presentation of history in this region within Rwandan models has not been validated: kingship has been shown to have developed autonomously within Bushi,and the ritual foundations of states west of Lake Kivu have been shown to have been essential to the intellectual foundations of kingship in Rwanda—rather than the reverse . In short, the deep influences appear to have moved in the opposite direction from those assumed in colonial histories. Yet even with greater respect for autonomous local histories and more detailed empirical evidence in recent research, it is nonetheless important to note the characteristics of earlier historiographical presentations to account for their effects and to recognize the momentous changes to accrue in the generation since decolonization. H   K are still in their very infancy. Recent work has been carried out in Bufulero, Bushi, Buhavu, and Bunande, but, lacking the results of these studies, historians working from published materials have very few sources at their disposal.Existing sources include works by Colle,Moeller, Willame, and Cuypers, with the latter two based primarily on the former, at least in their historical dimensions. Because the sources are so few and are essentially similar, little critical attention has been given them; by constant citation and repetition they have become hallowed as truth and used as a basis for teaching and university theses. By this process such essentially colonial interpretations have become entrenched in the historical ontology of the region. This chapter proposes to review some of the written sources in light of current research in the region, by first presenting certain themes that appear to have guided earlier historical inquiry and then discussing the works of four influential authors in light of these themes. The first attempts to record historical traditions in the Kivu area were influenced by earlier studies of Rwanda that emphasized the centralized and hierarchical nature of the Rwandan state. Many of the early missionaries and priests in Kivu, men to whom contemporary researchers owe much for their accumulated sources, had close contacts with the seminaries and published work in Rwanda. In most works, Rwanda was seen as the end development for other states in the region, and prominence was given to those historical factors that were assumed to have had a common impact throughout the area. Because early writings on Kivu focused on the similarities of the Kivu states with Rwanda, rather than on their differences, the Rwandan political and social system as described in these early sources became the model for later studies in Bushi, and especially in the most centralized of the Kivu states at the time of European arrival. Bushi, in turn, and for much the same reason, became a kind of prototype for other states in eastern Kivu. M  M Historiography Perhaps more important in guiding the sociological interests of the day was the nature of the colonial situation itself, based on the premises of race, class, and social stratification. The justification and success of the colonial policy of indirect rule required the identification of African“traditional”rulers with sufficient powers over the population to enforce colonial administrative policy. Where these powers were found to be insufficient, indeed where authorities suitable to the colonial purpose were found not to exist at all, these had to be created to conform to the exigencies of colonial policy—the effective administration of the area. On the model of Europe...

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