Pre-Colonial Paragraph

Alice Nemoto
Humanities 1c

The Igbo and the Hutu, the original inhabitants of Rwanda, were both similar and different in their political aspects because of their traditional court systems. Both the Igbo and the Hutu had a type of court system that was similar to each other, in example, they both had a type of jury system. The Igbo used a group of people that represented each of the clans, and that group of people were leaded by one main person. The author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, writes, “Each of the nine egugwu represented a village of the clan. Their leader was called Evil Forest” (Achebe 89). This quotation shows that the Igbo did have a sort of a jury that was lead by a main person who was called Evil Forest. Similar to the Igbo people, the Hutu people also had a jury system. The Hutu people had a group of elders that acted like a jury. In Paul Rusesabagina’s book, he writes, “If somebody had a problem with a neighbor he… brought it to the attention of a group of men who we called elders” (Rusesabagina 8). This quotation shows that similar to the Igbo, that the Hutu had a jury system. The Hutu and the Igbo had this jury system in common, but they had a few differences and in particular with the actual verdict. The Igbo people had a part in their court system that was basically the same as verdict. Also in the book, Things Fall Apart, Achebe writes, “Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you” (Achebe 93). This quotation is only a small example of how this jury of their court system, actually came to a verdict. Like the Igbo, the Hutu also had a type of verdict in their court system, but it was slightly different. The Hutu also came to a verdict, but instead of one person making the decision of what the punishment was, it was a collaborative effort from the elders. Rusesabagina writes, “After the two enemies had finished speaking, the elders would give their opinions, one by one, on what should be done to remedy the problem” (Rusesabagina 9). This quotation shows that the Hutu, unlike the Igbo, made a group decision of what the punishment should be. The Igbo and the Hutu have a court system in common, with the fact that they have a jury system and also a verdict. However, they are different in some aspects because of the way they come to the verdict, which is that the Hutu make a group effort while the Igbo have Evil Forest make the decision. Overall the fact that they had a court system shows that these two pre-colonial societies had political aspects that were similar to each other.

















Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

Rusesabagina, Paul. An Ordinary Man. New York: Penguin Group Inc., 2006.