Etnik Kimlik Yaklaşımları ve Şiddet: İnşacı yaklaşım üzerinden Ruanda ve Burundi Vakalarının Tarihsel Bir Karşılaştırması

Yıl 2022, Cilt: 2 Sayı: 1, 1 - 24, 29.01.2022

Cihan Ay , Süleyman Ekici

Öz

Bu çalışmanın amacı; primordiyal, araçsalcı ve inşacı etnik kimlik yaklaşımlarının etnik kimliklerin doğası, tanımı, işlevi ve kimlik-şiddet ilişkisi hakkındaki temel iddialarını Ruanda ve Burundi vakaları üzerinden eleştirel bir şekilde incelemektedir. Ruanda ve Burundi, etnik kimlikler ve bu kimliklerin demografik dağılımı, dil, din, kültürel yapı ve tarihsel deneyimler açısından benzer özellikler taşımalarına rağmen farklı tarihlerde etnik kimlikler ile ilişkilendirilen şiddet vakalarına bakıldığında Ruanda’da Burundi ile karşılaştırıldığında daha yoğun bir çatışma yaşandığı gözlemlenmektedir. Ayrıca Ruanda’da bu şiddet vakalarına sıradan insanların daha yoğun bir katılım gösterdiği görülmektedir. Çalışma, Ruanda’daki bu farklılığı tarihsel süreç içerisinde etnik kimliklerin inşa edilme biçimleri ve devletin merkezileşme ve otoriterleşme yönünde yaşadığı dönüşüm ile açıklamaktadır. Sömürge öncesi, sömürge dönemi ve sömürge sonrası şeklinde üçlü bir tarihsel dönemselleştirmeye gidildiğinde her üç dönemde de Ruanda’da Burundi’ye kıyasla daha katı, ayrımcı ve dışlayıcı bir etnik kimlik inşasının olduğu, bu inşa sürecinin siyasi yapının merkezileşmesinden daha çok etkilendiği ve sonuçta şiddet vakalarının daha yoğun bir şekilde geliştiği gözlemlenmektedir. İki ülkenin sömürge öncesi ve sömürge döneminde etnik gruplar arasındaki ilişkilerin ve siyasi yapıları arasındaki farklılıkların sömürge sonrası dönemdeki şiddet vakalarının yoğunluğunda önemli etkisi olmuştur. Genel olarak bakıldığında yapılacak karşılaştırmada inşacı yaklaşımın kimliklerin tarihsel olarak nasıl inşa edildikleri ve kitleler tarafından nasıl aktif bir şekilde benimsendikleri yönündeki argümanları bize şiddet vakalarını daha iyi analiz edebilme imkânı tanımaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Etnik kimlik yaklaşımları, kimlik inşası, şiddet, Ruanda, Burundi

Destekleyen Kurum

T.C. İnönü Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü Bilimsel Araştırma Projeleri Koordinasyon Birimi

Proje Numarası

SYL-2018-1460

Teşekkür

T.C. İnönü Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü Bilimsel Araştırma Projeleri Koordinasyon Birimi'ne desteklerinden ötürü teşekkürlerimizi sunarız

Ethnic Identity Approaches and Violence: A Historical Comparison of the Rwanda and Burundi Cases through the Constructivist Approach

Öz

This study critically examines the main claims of primordial, instrumentalist and constructivist approaches regarding the nature, definition, functions of ethnic identities and identity-violence relationship through the cases of Rwanda and Burundi. Although Rwanda and Burundi have similar characteristics in terms of ethnic identities and demographic distribution of these identities, language, religion, cultural structure and historical experiences, when the violence cases associated with ethnic identities at different dates are examined, it is observed that there is a more intense conflict in Rwanda compared to Burundi. In addition, it is seen that ordinary people participate more intensely in these violence cases in Rwanda. The study explains this difference in Rwanda with the way ethnic identities are historically constructed and the transformation of the state towards a more centralized and authoritarian structure. When a triple historical periodization is made as pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods, in all three periods, there is a stricter, more discriminatory and more exclusionary ethnic identity construction in Rwanda compared to Burundi; this construction process is more affected by the centralization of the political structure, and as a result more the incidences of violence occurred. The relations between ethnic groups and the differences between the political structures of the two countries during the pre-colonial and colonial period had a significant impact on the intensity of violence in the post-colonial period. In general, the arguments of the constructivist approach on how identities are historically constructed and how they are actively adopted by the masses allow us to analyze cases of violence better.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Ethnic identity approaches, identity construction, violence, Rwanda, Burundi

Proje Numarası

SYL-2018-1460

Kaynakça

• Balibar, Etienne ve Immanuel Wallerstein (1991), Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities (London: Verso).
• Banton, Michael (2000), “Ethnic Conflict”, Sociology, 34 (3): 481-498.
• Berghe, Pierre L. Van Den (1995), “Does Race Matter”, Nations and Nationalism, 1 (3): 357-368.
• Bilgin, Nuri (2007), Kimlik İnşası (Ankara: Aşina Kitaplar).
• Braathen, Einar, Morten Boas, Gjermund Saether (2000), “Ethnicity Kills? Social Struggles for Power, Resources and Identities in the Neo-Patrimonial State”, Braathen Einar, Morten Boas, Gjermund Saether (Der.), Ethnicity Kills? The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa (London: Macmillan Press): 3-22.
• Brass, Paul R. (1991), Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison (New Delhi: Sage Publications).
• Buckley-Zistel, Susanne (2006), “Dividing and Uniting: The Use of Citizenship Discourses in Conflict and Reconciliation in Rwanda”, Global Society, 20 (1): 101-113.
• Bundervoet, Tom (2009), “Livestock, Land and Political Power: The 1993 Killings in Burundi”, Journal of Peace Research, 46 (3): 357-376.
• Chretien, Jean-Pierre (2003), The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History (New York: Zone Books) (Çev. Scott Straus).
• Cohen, Abner (1974), Urban Ethnicity (London: Tavistock Publications).
• Eller, Jack David, Reed M. Coughlan (1993), “The Poverty of Primordialism: The Demystification of Ethnic Attachments”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16 (2): 183-202.
• Fearon, James (2008), “Ethnic Mobilization and Ethnic Conflict”, Wittman, Donald A., Barry R. Weingast (Der.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy (New York: Oxford University Press): 852-868.
• Fearon, James, David D. Laitin (2000), “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity”, International Organization, 54 (4): 845-877.
• Fearon, James, David D. Laitin (2014), “Does Contemporary Armed Conflicts Have Deep Historical Roots?” Washington: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
• Gartzke, Erik, Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (2006), “Identity and Conflict: Ties that Bind and Differences that Divide”, European Journal of International Relations, 12 (1): 53-87.
• Geertz, Clifford (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books).
• Hintjens, Helen (2001), “When Identity Becomes a Knife: Reflecting on the Genocide in Rwanda”, Ethnicities, 1 (1): 25-55.
• Hintjens, Helen (2008), “Post-Genocide Identity Politics in Rwanda”, Ethnicities, 8 (1): 5-41.
• Horowitz, Donald L. (1985), Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press).
• Isabirye, Stephen B., Kooros M. Mahmoudi (2001), “Rwanda, Burundi And Their Tribal Wars”, Social Change, 31 (4): 46-69.
• Jacquemin, Celine A. (2015), “Hegemony and Counterhegemony: The Roots of the Rwandan Genocide”, Nasong’o, Wanjala (Der.), The Roots of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: From Grievance to Violence (London: Palgrave): 93-123.
• Kadende-Kaiser, Rose, Paul Kaiser (1997), “Modern Folklore, Identity, and Political Change in Burundi”, African Studies Review, 40 (3): 29-54.
• Kalyvas , Stathis (2008), “Ethnic Defection in Civil War”, Comparative Political Studies, 41 (8): 1043-1068.
• Kasfir, Nelson (1979), “Explaining Ethnic Political Participation”, World Politics, 31 (3): 365-388.
• Kaufmann, Chaim (1996), “Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars”, International Security, 20 (4): 136-175.
• Lemarchand, Rene (1970), Rwanda and Burundi (London: Praeger Publisher).
• Lemarchand, Rene (1996), Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide (New York: Cambridge University Press).
• Mamdani, Mahmood (2001), When Victims Become Killers (New Jersey: Princeton University Press).
• Mann, Michael (2005), The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
• McKay, James (1982), “An Exploratory Synthesis of Primordial and Mobilizationist Approaches to Ethnic Phenomena”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 5 (4): 395-420.
• Nasong'o, Wanjali (2015), “Explaining Ethnic Conflict: Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives”, Nasong'o, Wanjali (Der.), The Roots of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: From Grievance to Violence (London: Palgrave): 11-20.
• Newbury, David (2001), “Precolonial Burundi and Rwanda: Local Identities, Regional Royalties”, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34 (2): 255-314.
• Newbury, M. Catharine (1978), “Ethnicity in Rwanda: The Case of Kinyaga”, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 48 (1): 17-29.
• Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges (2001), “Ethnic Identification in the Great Lakes Region”, Bekker, Simon, Martine Dodds, Meshack M. Khosa (Der.), Shifting African Identities (Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council): 61-80
• Ogot, Bethwell (1984), “The Great Lakes Region”, Niane, D. Tamsir (Der.), General History of Africa IV: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century (California: University of California Press): 498: 524.
• Özkırımlı, Umut (2008), Milliyetçilik Kuramları: Eleştirel Bir Bakış (Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları).
• Prunier, Gerard (1995), The Rwanda Crisis: History of A Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press).
• Ray, Subhasish (2019), “History and Ethnic Conflict: Does Precolonial Centralization Matter?” International Studies Quarterly, 63 (2): 417-431.
• Reyntjens, Filip (2000), “Burundi: Prospects for Peace”, Minority Rights Group, 1 (1): 1-32.
• Reyntjens, Filip (2016) “Institutional Engineering, Management of Ethnicity, and Democratic Failure in Burundi”, Africa Spectrum, 51 (2): 65-78.
• Sanders, Edith (1969), “The Hamitic Hypothesis: Its Origins and Functions in Time Perspective”, The Journal of African History, 10 (4): 521-532.
• Shils, Edward (1957), “Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties: Some Particular Observations on the Relationships of Sociological Research and Theory”, The British Journal of Sociology, 8 (2): 130-145.
• Stapleton, Timothy (2017), A History of Genocide in Africa (California: Praeger Security International).
• Straus, Scott (2004), “How many perpetrators were there in the Rwandan genocide? An estimate”, Journal of Genocide Research, 6 (1): 85-98.
• Taylor, Rupert (1996), “Political Science encounters race and ethnicity”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 19 (4): 884-895.
• Vandeginste, Stef (2014), “Governing Ethnicity after Genocide: Ethnic Amnesia in Rwanda versus Ethnic Power-Sharing in Burundi”, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 8 (2): 263-277.
• Vansina, Jan (2004), Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom (Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press).
• Yang, Philip (2000), Ethnic Studies: Issues and Approaches (New York: State University of New York Press).
• Yeros, Paris (1998), “Introduction: On the Uses and Implications of Constructivism”, Yeros, Paris (Der.), Ethnicity and Nationalism In Africa: Constructivist Reflections and Cotemporary Politics (New York: Palgrave): 1-14.