In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

xvii A’ P Historians of African societies have often been caught up in depicting the most clearly dramatic confrontations in recent times, those between the Africans and the Europeans who came to rule them. They have given less attention to penetrating the complexities of relations among the Africans, and to understanding how the divisions among them influenced their attitudes toward the foreign challenge. Struck by the changes introduced by Europeans, they have also failed to remark on the continuities that link events of the relatively recent past with earlier developments . Even within the range of European African relations, they have usually focused on such crises as the initial conquest or later armed revolts, from which the Europeans emerged victorious because of their superior military technology. Relatively few historians have cared to examine how Africans dealt with Europeans throughout the quieter periods of colonial rule. The assumption seems often to have been that a society that produced no armed revolts, or at the least no organized movements of opposition, was a society whose people had lost the will or ability to resist foreign rule. The reign of Yuhi V Musinga offers rich material on the intricate rivalries that had long pitted the Rwandan Court against the powerful notables who ruled in its name. It also provides excellent examples of the centuries-old struggle between the Court and its agents, who were trying to extend their control outward and downward, and the ordinary people, who opposed such expansion of central power. Musinga’s reign was the period when Rwanda first came under colonial rule. The arrival of the Europeans affected the interplay of intrigues at Court and the expansion of its power over the people. At the same time, the way in which Rwandans dealt with these foreigners was conditioned by the development of their internal conflicts. A Rwandan proverb says “defeat is the only bad news.” For Rwandans , Europeans were not the only adversaries, and armed confrontation was not the only way to fight. They were concerned too with the conflicts among themselves and with the struggle of wits in which they engaged the foreigners. As the Rwandans faced the foreigners, as the notables faced the Court, and as the people faced their rulers, all were determined to avoid any bad news. xviii Author’s Preface ...

Share