This research counters the historiography of this region, which has always been written in binaries: Hutu in the plain and Tutsi in the hills, political power and spiritual power, pastoralists and agriculturalists. In this binary there is also an implicit and explicit understanding of hierarchy defined by identity, geography , occupational , gender and so on. These hierarchies are naturalized to the extent of determining the contemporary politics of the region. Once all these categories are put in the same analytical framework, power would be multiple, intermingle and be dispersed, and thus a more compelling history emerges. To study the construction of political communities living in the Imbo region, their relations across the lake and with the kingdom located in the hinterland, the research will debunk and highlight the categories and assumptions used to write about the pre-colonial and colonial period. My research site is in the capital city of Bujumbura.