Kagame, Alexis

Kagame, Alexis 

Born May 15, 1912, in Nyanza, Kigali Prefecture. Rwandan historian and philologist; the father of written Rwandan literature. Professor at the National University and the National Pedagogical Institute of Rwanda; doctor of philosophy.

Kagame graduated from the higher theological seminary in Astrida in 1941 (he was ordained and made an abbot); he then graduated from the university in Rome (1955). In 1941–47 and 1950–52 he directed the publication of the newspaper Kinyamateka (published in Kinyarwanda). Kagame is the author of works on the history and standards of the common law of Rwanda in the precolonial period. He has also written poems in Kinyarwanda, based principally on themes from folklore. Kagame compiled a Kinyarwanda-French dictionary.

WORKS

Le Code des institutions politiques du Rwanda précolonial. [Brussels, 1952.]
La Philosophic Bantu-Rwandaise de l’Etre. Brussels, 1956.
Histoire du Rwanda, 2nd ed. [Leverville, 1958.]
Introduction aux grands genres lyriques de Vancien Rwanda. Butaré, 1969.