A historical Tutsi rebel label evolved into a dehumanizing cockroach epithet for all Tutsis

Evidence

Vianney Higiri (2007, 85) explains the Kinyarwanda word ‘inyenzi’ as follows: ‘In the 1960s and 1970s, inyenzi would attack at night and kill innocent civilians. Then they would rapidly vanish in the countryside or retreat into Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda or Zaire. Due to this ability to terrorise the country and to disappear, the population associated the attackers with cockroaches instead of bravery. Cockroaches are annoying insects that disappear when somebody turns on the light. The only way to get rid of them is to kill all of them. As the decades went by, Inyenzi became a generic term for all Tutsis. The supporters of the Habyarimana regime and other Hutus opposed to the RPF also applied the inyenzi label to their political opponents.’ — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 84

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the etymology and semantic drift of ‘inyenzi,’ from a name for actual night attackers to a blanket dehumanizing label for Tutsis and political opponents.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in manufactured enemies: the cockroach-vermin metaphor scaffolds the group’s out-group as a pest requiring total extermination. — connects to: Colonial ideology and law jointly constructed the Tutsi as nonindigenous civilizers — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab: A History of the…, 46; Belief in a transnational Tutsi extermination conspiracy was manufactured to justify Hutu massacres — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 76; Hutu Power manufactured a unified Tutsi enemy spanning within and without Rwanda. — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 65 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Repetitive media branding of Tutsis as disloyal and externally backed made genocide seem logical. #expands (0.85) — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 81
• Belief in a transnational Tutsi extermination conspiracy was manufactured to justify Hutu massacres #expands (0.82) — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 76
• Colonial ideology and law jointly constructed the Tutsi as nonindigenous civilizers #complicates (0.80) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 46
• Hutu Power manufactured a unified Tutsi enemy spanning within and without Rwanda. #expands (0.80) — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 65
• Colonial rule legally constructed the Tutsi as a nonindigenous alien race. #corroborates (0.75)