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Life on the Manor in Gisaka (Rwanda)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Pierre Bettez Gravel
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Extract

As late as 1960, in the hinterland of Gisaka (Rwanda), community life was strangely reminiscent of what we know of life in the early continental European manor. The Rwandese manor was largely self-sufficient. The relationships of the peasant to lord of the manor were of a privi legis nature. Competition for chiefly (or lordly) favours was keen. The necessity to court the chief had caused courtship to be institutionalized. The successful courtesans, usually of the nobility, attended the chief directly and were often part of the administrative staff of the manor.

The practice of commendation was usual; homage was paid with the identical gesture as in Europe, and the functional equivalent of the don annuel appeared in the form of an institution called kubaka inkike (‘to repair the enclosure’).

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , November 1965 , pp. 323 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1965

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References

Bibliograpgy

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