Les trois institutions qui s'appellent en kinyarwanda inzu, ubwoko et umulyango n'ont pas joui, à notre connaissance, d'un traitement définitif et pleinement satisfaisant dans la littérature ethnologique consacrée au Rwanda. D'autre part, les informateurs que nous avons interrogés sur ces institutions de parenté nous ont donné des réponses très divergentes, voire contradictoires. Il est aisé de découvrir la raison de cette confusion. Durant les trois ou quatre siècles d'occupation de ce pays d'agriculteurs bantu—les Hutu—par une minorite dominante de pasteurs — les Tutsi, les groupes de parenté ont subi un lent processus de changement sous divers aspects. L'expansion territoriale progressive sous une dynastie unique et l'intensification du contrôle exercé par l'autorité centrale sur le pays ont eu nécessairement une influence considérable sur l'autonomie, le fondement territorial et les fonctions sociales de ces groupes de parenté tant chez les Tutsi que chez les Hutu. C'est pourquoi il n'est pas étonnant qu'il y a une cinquantaine d'années, alors que cette évolution se poursuivait et au moment où l'influence de la culture et de la puissance d'Occident allait se faire de plus en plus envahissante et permanente, la situation des groupes de parenté n'était pas complètement stabilisée. Dans le présent article nous nous proposons d'indiquer les lignes principales de l'interprétation que nous croyons pouvoir dormer de ces trois institutions et de leurs relations.

KINSHIP GROUPS IN OLD RUANDA

Three types of agnatic kinship groups were recognized in Ruanda at the beginning of the twentieth century: the inzu consisted of persons who could establish relationship with a common ancestor through five or six generations. An inzu might split up if it became too large, or if its members changed their residence, and the new inzu would adopt as its founding ancestor a person selected for his notable qualities and not necessarily the son of the ancestor of the parent inzu. The obwoko was the largest kinship group; its members claimed descent from a common ancestor though they could not establish actual ties of relationship. Unlike the inzu it was a permanent group, remaining constant in numbers, though its members might be geographically dispersed. A third group (umulyongo) embraced living persons who would have been members of one inzu if no fission had taken place, and thus constituted a bond between members of different inzus. While the ubwoko might be described as a patrician, the inzu and the umulyongo might be said to be patri-lineages, the functions of the inzu being the more important. The corporate activities of the inzu included the initiation of members into the sect of Ryangombe, the meetings of a council in which all senior—sometimes all male—members took part and at which questions concerning marriage, mutual aid, avenging of injuries to members were discussed. The chief of the inzu presided at these activities, and also performed judicial functions. The inzu often held land, and allotted portions to its members. The functions of the umulyango were similar; it has been said that the chief of an umulyango acted as a court of appeal from judgements pronounced by the chiefs of inzus; gradually, however, the functions of the umulyango were absorbed by the inzu. The ubwoko, it seems, had no corporate activities.