{"id":9289,"date":"2022-01-21T15:36:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T15:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation"},"modified":"2022-01-21T16:24:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T16:24:11","slug":"bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation","title":{"rendered":"Bamporiki urges dialogue on Rwandan cultural revitalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Rwandans need to embrace their cultural identity to help promote their longstanding traditions and language, the State Minister for Culture has said. Edouard Bamporiki said it\u2019s about time Rwandans deliberately engaged in conversations aimed at reclaiming and preserving their heritage and passing it on to the future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder generations should lead the way,\u201d he told The New Times\u2019 Rwanda Check-In podcast during an exclusive interview recently. \u201cIt\u2019s our duty to revive our culture and re-embrace our Rwandan philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bamporiki, who recently sent social media users into overdrive for calling himself Idebe, said current generations had lost track of many Rwandan concepts and values that used to be deeply cherished before the advent of colonialism and Christianity.<\/p>\n

The minister has since defended his Idebe declaration, which he says was provoked by local actress Alliance Isimbi\u2019s surprise decision to give him a cow, explaining that in Rwandan culture when a man received a cow as a present from a woman he would be referred to as Idebe.<\/p>\n

Many people were bemused by this since the term Idebe, which, to many, simply means an empty tin, is considered to be an insult when used in describing someone.<\/p>\n

Bamporiki acknowledged that even some of his friends did not know the original meaning of Idebe, revealing that some even called him to express their concern about what they viewed as a public backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were asking how they could help but I told them that everything was fine,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople just didn\u2019t know the real meaning of Idebe in our culture and I am happy that they now know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed further about the incident, he said that he had never met Isimbi before their encounter in Bugesera when he and a friend of his (Marie Immaculee Ingabire) bumped into the actress and her friends at a lakeside joint. Bamporiki and Ingabire were on their way from a trip to the latter\u2019s farm in Bugesera, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t even know that (someone was taking a video), but I am glad it did actually go viral, because it made people learn something new about our language and culture, and it showed me that there is a gap as far as understanding the Rwandan philosophy is concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that Idebe is just one of the many Kinyarwanda concepts and words that had since been distorted or altered to mean a different thing, sometimes the exact opposite of the original meaning. He mainly blamed this on colonialists, missionaries and previous regimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen colonists came their goal was to undermine and distort the Rwandan philosophy, because Rwandan society was well organised and they did not want that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we can bring some of these important values and concepts back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Distorted Rwandan concepts, phrases<\/b><\/p>\n

Asked about other concepts he thought had been distorted he gave the example of the term \u2018Ntacyo atwaye\u2019, which he said today means someone who is harmless, and yet in ancient Rwanda it meant someone with no authority over anyone or anything, which meant they were almost insignificant in society.<\/p>\n

When the colonialists first arrived, he said, they moved to denigrate the King as well as traditional chiefs (Abatware) because they wanted to strip them of their authority and legitimacy to manage society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was once an event and the colonialists kept inquiring about the status of those who were arriving and they would beat those who were identified as Abatware, while they embraced those with no authority (Ntacyo atwaye). \u201cThe respective meanings of these two words have since been switched and this was deliberately engineered.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that when the colonialists came they abolished Umuganura (ancient Rwanda\u2019s version of thanksgiving) and replaced it with tithes and church offerings. \u201cWhat we were doing for our country before was effectively transferred to the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bamporiki, an award-winning filmmaker and poet, also cited \u201cthe misleading interpretation\u201d of the phrase \u2018Aravanga amasaka namasakaramentu\u2019 (literally to mean \u2018mixing sorghum and sacramental rites\u2019), which is widely understood to mean that someone is confusing things.<\/p>\n

The minister, who\u2019s also a poet and actor, said this saying was derived from a colonial scheme to discredit a traditional Rwandan chief, who they loathed for promoting the concept of Umuganura at a time Christianity was taking root.<\/p>\n

Bamporiki also explained that the Christian doctrine of trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) was used by the missionaries to replace ancient Rwanda\u2019s version of trinity: Umwami (the King), u Rwanda and the public (Rubanda). The three components in Rwandan philosophy, he said, served as the pillars of unity that characterised pre-colonial Rwanda.<\/p>\n

He also cited distortions around several traditional rituals and practices such as kubandwa, inkwano (loosely translated to mean \u2018dowry\u2019), gutwikurura, among others.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stop obsessing about foreign culture\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

Bamporiki revealed that the Ministry of Youth and Culture would soon embark on a campaign to instigate debate around Rwandan philosophy and the need to \u201creconnect with Rwandan literature, philosophy and values.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said they intend to engage members of the Rwanda Elders Advisory Forum and other senior citizens in a fresh bid to actively promote Rwandan culture.<\/p>\n

Asked about the feasibility of reviving some old traditions, he admitted that some ancient practices were long outdated, but insisted there is \u201ca part of our forgotten and distorted traditions, values and literature\u201d that remains relevant and needs salvaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that the young generations love Rwanda, and it is easy to learn about something you love,\u201d he said. \u201cYoung people should keep their feet on the ground and be open to learn about our country and culture, our language and the Rwandan philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called on parents to teach Kinyarwanda to their children and take pride in the country\u2019s rich culture, instead of only obsessing about foreign languages and lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can raise generations who are proud of their language and heritage,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Bamporiki also said he was writing a book, entitled \u2018Isano Muzi\u2019, on key aspects of the Rwandan kingdom and how ancient Rwandans were a united people.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Rwandans need to embrace their cultural identity to help promote their longstanding traditions and language, the State Minister for Culture has said. Edouard Bamporiki said it\u2019s about time Rwandans deliberately engaged in conversations aimed at reclaiming and preserving their heritage and passing it on to the future generations. \u201cOlder generations should lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17,28],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-9289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nBamporiki urges dialogue on Rwandan cultural revitalisation - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rwandans need to embrace their cultural identity to help promote their longstanding traditions and language, the State M ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bamporiki urges dialogue on Rwandan cultural revitalisation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rwandans need to embrace their cultural identity to help promote their longstanding traditions and language, the State M ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-21T15:36:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-21T16:24:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/01\/img-61eade1477f58.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bamporiki urges dialogue on Rwandan cultural revitalisation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-21T15:36:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-21T16:24:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\"},\"wordCount\":1033,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/01\/img-61eade1477f58.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Culture and Art\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/bamporiki-urges-dialogue-on-rwandan-cultural-revitalisation\",\"name\":\"Bamporiki urges dialogue on Rwandan cultural revitalisation - 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