Brickyards to Graveyards

Villia Jefremovas

Description

Brickyards to Graveyards examines how the overidealized picture of Rwanda as the darling of the world community in the 1980s was shattered amidst the genocide that occurred a decade later. The brick and tile industries of Rwanda provide a microcosm to examine the transformation of gender, class, and power relations through the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial periods, and provide insights into the explosive impact of these changes on Rwandan culture and society. The book illustrates how these gender, class, and power relations played out in times of economic, political, and demographic crisis, and argues that these factors have not changed significantly since the Rwandan Patriotic Front took power in 1994.

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations and Tables

1. Introduction—Rwanda and the Field Sites

2. Making Bricks and Roof Tiles in Rwanda: Technology and Process

3. Making Bricks and Roof Tiles in Rwanda: Labor Organization

4. Land Tenure, Common Property, and Labor and Power: Precolonial, Colonial, and Postcolonial Transformations

5. "Your Patron Begets You": Household Reproduction, Gender and Domestic Relations, and Access to Family Labor

6. Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, and Timid Virgins: Class, Gender, and the Control of Resources

7. Brickyards Turn to Graveyards

Appendix A. Various Chronologies for the Rwandan Kings

Appendix B. European Contact and the German Colonial Period

Appendix C. The Belgian Colonial Period1

Appendix D. Prestations, Corvées, Taxes, and Obligations (1898–1940)

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• África
• History of Africa
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488027
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Brickyards to Graveyards

SUNY series in the Anthropology of Work

June C. Nash, editor

Brickyards to Graveyards

From Production to Genocide in Rwanda

Villia Jefremovas

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Michael Haggett Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Jefremovas, Villia. Brickyards to graveyards : from production to genocide in Rwanda / Villia Jefremovas. p. cm. — (SUNY series in anthropology of work) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5487-8 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5488-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Labor—Rwanda. 2. Working class—Rwanda. 3. Rwanda—Economic conditions. 4. Rwanda—Social conditions. 5. Genocide—Rwanda. I. Title. II. Series.

HD8795 .J44 2002 338.4'766673'0967571—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002070716

For Joachim and Larysa

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Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations and Tables

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Contents

Introduction—Rwanda and the Field Sites

Making Bricks and Roof Tiles in Rwanda: Technology and Process

Making Bricks and Roof Tiles in Rwanda: Labor Organization

Land Tenure, Common Property, and Labor and Power: Precolonial, Colonial, and Postcolonial Transformations

“Your Patron Begets You”: Household Reproduction, Gender and Domestic Relations, and Access to Family Labor

Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, and Timid Virgins: Class, Gender, and the Control of Resources

Brickyards Turn to Graveyards

Appendix A. Various Chronologies for the Rwandan Kings

Appendix B. European Contact and the German Colonial Period

Appendix C. The Belgian Colonial Period

Appendix D. Prestations,Corvées,Taxes, and Obligations (1898–1940)

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Notes

Bibliography

Index

C ONTENTS

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Acknowledgments

My greatest debt is to the Rwandan peasants and entrepreneurs who so patiently answered my questions, and to Béatrice Ntabomvura, my research assistant, whose diligence, interest in this research, capacity to criticize and to question, and ability to follow up new insights contributed in immeasur- able ways to the quality of the material we collected. My profound thanks go to my husband, Joachim Voss, who provided the photographs that have been included in this book, read endless drafts, argued over interpretations, and supported me, literally and figuratively, while I wrote this book. Thanks also go to my daughter, Larysa Voss, who lived with this research project, in its various incarnations, and whose pride in my work has always inspired me. I am very grateful to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program that funded my research in 1984 and to the International Development Research Centre “Young Canadian Researcher Award” that funded my research from 1984 to 1985. Christie Brown, Innocent Butare, Marie-Bernard Kiyuku Butare, James Fairhead, Bernadette Guyon-Benoit, Angelique Haugerud, Betsy Lamb, Winnie Lem, Fiona Mackenzie, Johan Pottier, Joanne Prindiville, Bob Shen- ton, and Gavin Smith provided endless discussion and insights. Glen Bor- nais, Marlon Drayton, and Joanne Prindiville helped me in my hour of need. Melchior and Marie Kanyamebwa, with their capacity to look beyond the rhetoric of the government-sponsored history of the day and their ardent interest in the precolonial state, opened my eyes to the ideological pitfalls that await any scholar of Rwanda and made me aware of the complexity of Rwandan history and politics. Monique Mukamusoni and Devota Mukashyaka kept my life in order, and were second mothers to my daughter. I have missed their lively good spirits every day since I left Rwanda. During the genocide I turned to Catherine and David Newbury to pool information and knowledge, and to share the anguish of those days. Their generosity in sharing their work, their insights, and their passion for Rwanda have sus- tained me. Nevertheless, the opinions expressed in this book and any mis- takes and inaccuracies are my sole responsibility.

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