Editing Tutsi (section)

===Autosomal DNA (overall ancestry)===
In general, the Tutsi appear to share a close genetic kinship with neighboring [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] populations, particularly the [[Hutu]]. However, it is unclear whether this similarity is primarily due to extensive genetic exchanges between these communities through intermarriage or whether it ultimately stems from common origins:

<blockquote>[...] generations of [[gene flow]] obliterated whatever clear-cut physical distinctions may have once existed between these two Bantu peoples – renowned to be height, body build, and facial features. With a spectrum of physical variation in the peoples, Belgian authorities legally mandated ethnic affiliation in the 1920s, based on economic criteria. Formal and discrete social divisions were consequently imposed upon ambiguous biological distinctions. To some extent, the permeability of these categories in the intervening decades helped to reify the biological distinctions, generating a taller elite and a shorter underclass, but with little relation to the gene pools that had existed a few centuries ago. The social categories are thus real, but there is little if any detectable genetic differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi.<ref>[[Joseph C. Miller]] (ed.), ''New Encyclopedia of Africa'', Volume 2, Dakar-Hydrology, Charles Scribner's Sons (publisher).</ref></blockquote>