Reference no: EM133770625

Assignment:

According to Dr. Sivaramakrishnan, what did the missionaries misunderstand about the role of the Hutu and Tutsi elders?

The missionaries believed that the role of the elders was primarily administrative and concerned with the production and maintenance of records. In reality, elders from these tribes were often illiterate, and unable to help provide the colonizers with adequate records.

The missionaries believed that the age of the elders was so far underreported that they would not be fit for the various menial tasks necessary during the colonial period. In fact, it was customary within these tribes to have elders learn skilled trades such as stonecutting and masonry. These elders were among the most skilled workers of all.

The missionaries believed that the elders were simply old-fashioned in their beliefs, and clinging to outdated ideas that impeded social progress. However, the elders were the primary source of stability within societies that were reeling from the poverty and social disruption caused by capitalism and late colonialism.

The missionaries believed that the old were insufficiently receptive to Christianity because of these tribe members adherence to animistic and paeanistic traditional religions. In reality, these elders were skeptical of all organized religion after they had suffered tremendously under the Muslim Sokoto empire.