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Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.20 (2015)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.20 (2015)

CHIHARU KAMIMURA

This study examines behavior changes pertaining to traditional medical practices as a result of health intervention and knowledge transmission by community health promoters in rural Amhara, with a specific focus on changes in people’s treatment-seeking behavior for the traditional folk illness known as “milk teeth diarrhea.” The extraction of milk teeth is a traditional treatment for this condition, and is considered in several publications to be one of numerous “harmful traditional practices (HTPs).” Interviews with people in villages and in the medical sector reveal that changes in treatment-seeking behavior for folk illness, ranging from consultations with traditional healers to treatment in modern medical facilities, are not necessarily led by changes in the folk classification of the illness. In the current cultural context, in which the Ethiopian government is promoting the abolishment of HTPs, the main drivers of change in health-seeking behaviors can be described in terms of the recommendation of modern medical treatments and the negation of traditional customs, two different processes that act simultaneously but are not always linked to each other. Thus, health-promotion programs should be sensitive to local, cultural, and actual circumstances when providing training to community health promoters in transitional periods from traditional to modern medicine.

Key words: folk illness, harmful traditional practices (HTPs), Amhara, health promotion, milk teeth diarrhea

YUTAKA FURUKAWA-YOSHIDA

In Europe, the US, and Japan, language is regarded as both a way of communication and a symbol of people’s solidarity. Recent conceptualizations of a deaf identity are based on the notion that people who are deaf are a linguistic minority who share one sign language as a common language. This contention, which is consistent with ideological multilingualism or multiculturalism, is important when reconsidering “hearing-impaired” or “deaf-and-dumb” frameworks from medical and social welfare perspectives. However, the idea of deaf people as a linguistic minority is not consensually accepted. This article explores the limitations of this idea, discussing cases of deaf children and hearing people in Kenya that involve mixed communication modes.

Keywords: communication, multilingualism, deaf children, sign language, Kenya

MORIE KANEKO

This report introduces archives and collections from six expeditions to Ethiopia between 1950 and 1971 at the Frobenius Institute, Germany. All of these expeditions focused mainly on southern Ethiopia. More than 90,000 pictures are available on the Frobenius Institute website. Most photographs and rock paintings were digitized from 2006 to 2009 with the financial support of the German Research Partnership (DFG). The majority are available for anyone to view and download at low resolution. The high-resolution images are also available upon request by email (detailed information on the five items required in the request is provided in this report). Despite the fact that the 16 mm film materials and Dr. Haberland’s legacy materials from his five expenditures to Ethiopia have not been released on the website, this report introduces a list of these items. A total of 1,171 objects from the Ethiopia expeditions are housed at the Institute, and 900 objects from two Ethiopia expeditions, in 1934-35 and 1954, at the World Cultures Museum (Weltkulturen Museum) in Frankfurt am Main. If you have the opportunity to visit Germany and wish to learn more about Ethiopia during the past century, please contact the researchers at the Frobenius Institute; you will be rewarded with a uniquely rich collection of materials.

Keywords: The Frobenius Institute, Leo Frobenius, Eike Haberland, South Ethiopia, Image archives

 

 

Reviewer, Shigeo Kikuchi
Rivalry between Religions and the State: Conflicts and Symbiosis of Religions in Ethiopia (Semegiau Sy1iky6 to Kokka: Ethiopia Kamigami no Sokoku to Kyosei). Minako Ishihara (ed.), Tokyo: Fukyosha Publishing Inc., 2014, pp. 436 (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Yukio Miyawaki
Modes of Construction and Preservation of History an1ong People without Writing Traditions: The Oral Chronicles of the Boorana, Southern Ethiopia (Mumoji Sbakai ni Okem Rekishi no Seisei to Kioku no Gibou: Koutou Nendaishi wo Keishou suru Etiop ia Nanbu Borana Sbakai). Chikagc Oba, pp. 463, Tokyo: Shimizukobundoshobo (in Japanese, English translation for thcoming in 2015).

Reviewer, Yoshimasa Ito
Million Ficldworker’s Series, Vol. 1: Entering the Field (100man-nin no f uirudo wahkah siriiz u: Fuirudo ni hairu). Wakana Shiino & Soichiro Shiraishi (eds.), Tokyo: Kokon-Shoin Publisher, 2014, pp. 242 (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Kyoko Nakamura
Anthropology of Nomadic Pastoralism and Sedentarization (Yuboku to Teiju no j inruigaku). Sun Xiaogang, Kyoto: Showado, 2012, pp. 196+viii (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Minako Ishihara
The Reality ofDiscrimination: Ethnography of the Kafa and the Manjo in Ethiopia (Dare ga Sahetsu wo Tsukunmoka: Ethiopia ni Ikiru Kaja to Manjo no Kankeishi). Sayuri Yoshida, Yokohama: Shunpudo, 2014, pp. 372 + xl (in Japanese)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.19 (2014)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.19 (2014)

KAORI MIYACHI

Although several aspects of female circumcision (FC), a well-known type of female genital surgery, have been discussed by scholars in various fields of study, several anthropologists have argued that FC has not been sufficienty examined (Shell-Duncan & Hernlund 2000). FC, which carries different labels in different contexts, including female genital mutilation (FGM), female genital cutting (FGC), and FC, became an international concern in the early 1920s and 1930s, when Western campaigns against this practice focused on infibulations and its consequences for childbirth. By the 1970s, emphasis had shifted to clitoridectomy and its consequences for sexual fulfilment (Hernlund & Shell-Duncan 2007). Since the 1970s, international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have condemned FGM/FGC/FC because it violates human (children’s) rights and negatively affects women’s reproductive health/rights. Despite these international movements and changes in associated rituals and procedures, this practice remains culturally significant in certain areas, including the Sudan, according to Boddy (2007) and other researchers. This paper does not aim to contribute to these types of discussions about FGMIFGCIFC; instead, as Shell-Duncan suggested (2000), it examines a specific case. Specifically, I describe the case of the Gusii people living in the western part of Kenya, the area with the highest prevalence of FC in this country.

Keywords: Female circumcision (FC), Gusii, rite of passage, seclusion, life stage, medicalization

MAMO HEBO & MASAYOSHI SHIGETA

Arsii Oromo men in Ethiopia traditionally dominate decision-making regarding major resources such as land and livestock, whereas the role of women has been limited primarily to domestic affairs. However, women have begun to challenge this custom-based dominance of men. Women now openly speak of this power imbalance and of their desire for it to change. Indeed, such change is emerging in the context of newly evolving laws and policies at national, regional, and local levels. Drawing primarily on the results of diachronic qualitative studies in the Kokossa and Kofale Districts of the Arsii Oromo highlands, this article examines areas of continuity and change in women’s rights to property and in local discourse on the power relations between the genders in the context oflegal and institutional pluralism. The results suggest relative improvement in women’s rights in general and in their right to participate in decisions regarding land and livestock transfer in particular. We also found that men and women were generally very aware of the laws and policies regarding gender equality, which serve as the context in which these changes are evolving. Yet, the extent of the improvement in women’s rights did not seem to match the degree to which participants were aware of gender equality. At the local level, traditional norms, values, and elements of the social structure appear to have constrained the application of laws and state administrative provisions designed to promote gender equality.

Keywords: Change and Continuity, Gender relations, Land and livestock, Legal pluralism, Ethiopia

MOTOMICHI WAKASA

Wolaytta is an Omotic language of the Mroasiatic family (or phylum) spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The aim of this paper was to create a grammatical sketch of the language. After offering basic background information on Wolaytta, I report that the language has 29 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes, the latter of which can be combined to form a long vowel or diphthong. I also briefly describe the notation employed by natives and an accentual system of Wolaytta. Most words in Wolaytta consist of a lexical stem and a grammatical ending. This paper lists the endings of each word class and mentions their uses. Suffixes that are used in word formation are also discussed. As for syntax, Wolaytta is a typical OV language, although its appositive construction may obscure the fact that modifiers precede their modified heads. The agreement between the subject and the predicate verb is generally determined by the form, not by the meaning, although there are some exceptions. Wolaytta prefers quotations in which direct and indirect speech is mixed. A nominalizer can be the head of a relative clause in which the substituted noun occurs. Finally, this paper touches on honorifics, rhymes, and oral literature in Wolaytta.

Keywords: Wolaytta language, phonology, morphology, syntax, rhyme

 

 

Reviewer, Nobuko Nishizaki
Ethnoecology of the Coffee Forest: Human- Nature Relationships in the Montane Forest of Southwestern Ethiopia (Kohi no Mori no Minzokushi: Ethiopia Nanseibu Kochi Sinriniki ni okeru Hito to Shizen no Kankei). Yoshimasa Ito, Kyoto: The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, 2012, pp. 129 (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Naoaki Izumi
Nomads of Siberia and Africa: Livelihoods with Domestic Animals in the Arctic and Desert (Shiheria trJ Afurilul no Yubokumin: Kjokuhoku trJ Sabaku de Kachiku trJ Tomoni Kurasu). Hiroki Takakura and Toru Soga, Sendai: Tohoku University Press, 2011, pp. 205+xv (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Itsuhiro Hazama
Anus of Feces: Social Change and Illness among the Turkana in Kenya (Kusokomon: Kenia Turukana no Syakaihendo to Byoki). Shinsuke Sakumichi, Tokyo: Kouseisha-kouseikaku, 2012, pp. 230+x (in Japanese).

Reviewer, Hiroaki Ishikawa
The Fascist War: Italian Invasion to Ethiopia in the Context ofWorld Politics (Fashisuto no Sensa: Sekaishiteki Bunmyaku de Yomu Echiopia Sensa). Ken Ishida, Tokyo: Chikura Shobo, 2011, pp. 270 (in Japanese).

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.18 (2013)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.18 (2013)

SAYURI YOSHIDA

The drastic changes in Ethiopia during the twentieth century have altered the ways in which minority groups, including hunters and craft workers, earn their livelihood. Although the gap between the standards of living of minorities and majority groups has narrowed, minorities are still excluded from the mainstream of social life and are discriminated against by majority groups. Some minority groups have attempted to oppose this discrimination. Although the Constitution grants rights to ethnic groups, these minorities have not been regarded as ethnic groups and have become even more marginalized and deprived of access to economic and political resources. This article discusses the petitions sponsored by the Manjo in the Kafa and Sheka zones of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Regional State of Ethiopia. The
Manjo are former hunters who suffer discrimination at the hands of the Kafa. The petitions requested improvement in the social status of the Manjo in the form of official recognition as an ethnic group and an end to the discrimination perpetrated by the Kafa. This article examines how the Manjo developed these petitions, claiming a distinct ethnic identity, by describing the social and historical background of the Manjo.

Keywords: Kafa, Manjo, minority, social discrimination, petition

TAKESHI FUJIMOTO

Cooperative labor is a common institutional practice found in agricultural societies around the world. This study focuses on cooperative labor among the Malo in southwestern Ethiopia, exploring its types and roles and discussing changes. The Malo are mountain farmers with a population of approximately 40,000-50,000. While they grow diverse crops in small home gardens using household labor, they cultivate cereals and pulses in large outlying fields often utilizing cooperative labor. Many agricultural tasks such as field preparation and weeding are performed during the rainy season from June to September and farmers have to cope with temporary labor scarcity during this time by holding cooperative labor parties. Three types of cooperative labor are known: dabo, kete, and zaje. Dabo is a type of festive labor in which prestigious host farmers would summon over 30 workers for help and reward them with lavish food and drinks. Prior to the Ethiopian revolution of 197 4-75, it played a major role in the redistribution of host farmers’ wealth as well as the enhancement of their prestige, but it has already disappeared. Kete is an intermediate type between festive labor and exchange labor. It flourished after the revolution but soon declined by the mid-1980s. Zaft is a type of exchange labor organized by a small number {less than 10} of neighboring farmers. A household opens a work party that rotates from household to household. Each household receives labor from other households and provides a modest lunch, after which the same amount of labor is later reciprocated. Although it was long unpopular due to it being the least enjoyable, this exchange labor has become dominant since around the mid-1980s. Thus, cooperative labor among the Malo has significantly changed from festive labor to exchange labor. Recently, however, even exchange labor is on the decline in the highlands where the population is becoming denser. In the neoliberal trend of economic differentiation since the 1990s, increasingly distressed farmers have asked newly wealthy farmers to employ them as wage laborers for farming. This type of wage labor, called abaale, is rapidly increasing and more or less eroding cooperative labor in the highlands. This gradual but fundamental change from cooperative to wage labor may be considered a sign of economic development. However, cooperative labor has various roles, such as fostering a sense of companionship and solidarity and the transmission of agricultural knowledge and skills from experienced farmers to young farmers by working together. Wage labor does not seem to take over these social roles, because it is only an economic contract. Although cooperative labor has been examined from economic viewpoints, it needs to be explored more from social perspectives.

Key words: cooperative labor, exchange labor, festive labor, reciprocity, wage labor

Research Report
ERI HASHIMOTO

Keywords: prophet, inter-communal conflict, war experience, South Sudan

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.17 (2012)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.17 (2012)

MORIE KANEKO

The objective is to redefine the overall practice of pottery making by Ari potters as one of their community-based technologies. In comparison with the firing method of Japanese kiln firing, Ari’s open firing was at first expected to cause an explosion or cracking of pots due to its abrupt rise of temperature. However, experiments on the ratio of contraction and water absorption of clay showed that they prevent the pots from exploding, even when the temperature of open-firing drastically goes up, by mixing plenty of ground-up broken pots with clay. They have achieved an effective way of making durable pots with minimum time and resources. In the analysis of Ari vocabularies for evaluating the traits of pots all through the process, specific folk categories, which were malki and aani, in evaluating the durability and quality were common to both makers and users. In addition, Ari potters explain the situation when pots are broken during open firing by using aani expression. Ari pottery making as a community-based technology was redefined that was influenced by the evaluation and social behavior are based on the various relationships, which are human-material relationships for making and classifying pots and human-human relationships for exchanging pots.

Keywords: Open firing, community-based technology, pots, Ari, southwestern Ethiopia

ITSUHIRO HAZAMA

The Karimojong have two genres of songs: eete and emong. Emong is a kind of song that individuals other than the composer refrain from singing in public; these songs mention specific castrated animals owned and herded by the composer/singer. A consciousness grounded in the ideology ofidentification with a castrated animal has had a profound effect on the structural features of this creative endeavor. Nevertheless, references to oxen constitute only a small portion of the lyrics of these songs, which describe the life-worlds of singers as they engage in the daily subsistence activities of pastoralism. This paper describes gender divisions of the singing situation characterizing emong and eete songs as well as the ‘empirical’ features of emong and examines: (1) how singing emong enables the singer to satisfy personal needs; (2) how visual images of animal coats function as a metaphoric source; and (3) how visual experiences, the sources of the poetic imagination, are transformed into auditory illusions through the manipulation of color and visual perception.

Keywords: Eastern Nilotic pastoral people, imagination, memory, ox songs, visual perception

YASUAKI SATO

In part of the Great Lakes Region of East Mrica, people make their livelihoods by intensively using bananas as a principal starchy food (PSF) as well as a wide variety of other crops. This study examines the selection of the PSF in terms of the cropping patterns and the food-use system among the Ganda people of Central Uganda. Data on their crops suggest that combining production of bananas and other crops is essential for a stable food supply. The ecological characteristics of bananas and the decisions of each household have great influence on cropping patterns. Regarding food use, descriptions reveal that delicate techniques and sensibilities in preparing banana meals are remarkably developed and are also applied to other crops. In this way, an analysis of neither a framework of people’s adaptations to external conditions nor one of food preferences is adequate to understand the complex people-nature relation in a study of food culture. Rather, it is crucial to use both frameworks in understanding the formation of food culture.

Keywords: agriculture, banana, food culture, Ganda, principal starchy food (PSF), Uganda

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.16 (2011)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.16 (2011)

HIROKI ISHIKAWA

Northern Ethiopian Historiography during the Second Half of the Solomonic Period (1540-1769)
The Christian kingdom of northern Ethiopia lost almost half its territory to the Oromo during the second half of the 16th century. “The History of the Galla” (Zenahu la Galla) written by Bahrey in 1593 is the most important work on this Oromo invasion. The chronicle of Sarsa Dengel (r. 1563-1597) was contemporaneous with “The History of the Galla” and is one of the royal chronicles that represent the nucleus of the historiography related to this region. The present paper considers the characteristics of historiography in northern Ethiopia during the second half of the Solomonic Period (1540-1769) by examining why Bahrey had to defend his writing of “The History of the Galla” and why the authors of the royal chronicles devoted so many pages to
the monarchs’ military victories.
The following hypotheses are proposed:
1. Bahrey wrote “The History of the Galla” to assert that the Oromo frequendy defeated the Christian armies because the social institutions and customs of the Oromo were better suited for warfare. On the other hand, intellectuals thought that historical accounts should be written to praise deeds of “good Christians.” Therefore, Bahrey justified his writing about the history of the Oromo, who were non-Christians, by citing the works of the famous Coptic historian al-Makin, who had devoted many pages to Muslim history.
2. The author of “The Chronicle of Sarsa Dengel” criticized al-Makin’s work and did not describe in detail the damage caused by the Oromo because his purpose was to reveal the miracles of God, which he found in the monarchs’ deeds, especially their military successes. The authors of the royal chronicles during the 17th and 18th centuries continued this policy. The impact of the Oromo incursion was addressed in 1he History of the Galla. However, the impact of these events on historiography was transient. The defense of Christianity continued to be a characteristic of the historiography of northern Ethiopia throughout the second half of the Solomonic Period.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Amhara, Oromo, Solomonic dynasty, historiography, Christianity

TORU SOGA

Refugee Life as an Extension of Pastoral Life: Survival Strategies of the Gabra Miigo Pastoralists in Southern Ethiopia
This paper explores the refugee life of the Gabra Miigo based on life history data collected from 54 informants. The Gabra Miigo are pastoralists in southern Ethiopia and have often become refugees since the 1960s due to international conflicts. When they became refugees, they applied subsistence strategies developed for the harsh arid environment to manage the difficulties of their lives. This paper evaluates such applications as a major contributor to rebuilding their pastoral life after repatriation. This paper also explains the modern political situation in Ethiopia that causes ethnic conflicts, characterized as the ‘new war’ according to Kaldor (1999). We then discuss the importance of subsistence strategies for pastoralist survival during the ‘new war.’

Key words: Gabra Miigo, refugee, subsistence strategy, rebuilding, survival, new war

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.15 (2011)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.15 (2011)

MAKOTO NISHI

Information Sharing, Local Knowledge, and Development Practices: Community-based HIV/AIDS Initiatives among the Gurage in Southern Ethiopia
by making such information accessible not only to health and academic professionals but also to the wider population of the country, including those who are living with HIV. At the same time, the extant information has certain limitations, particularly with respect to the promotion of community involvement in the support of households affected by HIV I AIDS. Although health experts often assume that community members do not have the appropriate knowledge to cope with HIV I AIDS, rural households affected by HIV I AIDS often rely on local communal practices, which are based on popular knowledge. This paper examines the initiatives undertaken by the Gurage, a people in Southern Ethiopia, in their efforts to cope with HIVI AIDS. Local leaders and health experts among the Gurage have focused on the popular knowledge and practices that have been used to cope with HIV/AIDS. Traditional labour-exchange groups have played vital roles in these efforts. Indeed, their initiatives to improve the livelihoods of households affected by the virus are firmly associated with local labour and production practices in Gurage society.

Keywords: HIVIAIDS, local knowledge, livelihood, development, community-based initiatives

KYOKO NAKAMURA

Representation of the Maasai by the Maasai: Information Sharing between Scholars and Local People
“wild,” “primitive,” “traditional,” “brave,” “beautiful,” “tall and slender,” “physically powerful,” and “excellent jumpers.” The Maasai are aware of these stereotypes and sometimes perform accordingly. This paper addresses the ways in which scholars and local people can share in the fruits of academic endeavors with respect not only to the accessibility of the work but also to the significance of the information. I argue that the significance of information shared by scholars and local people always differs according to the context of each recipient. Thus, careful attention must be paid to the context in which shared information is interpreted and to the nature of the interpretations. I clarify the experience of Maasai representations by the Maasai people and examine the significance that these representations hold for this group.

Keywords: Maasai representation, Samburu, anthropological output, local interpretation,decontextualization of information

HIROFUMI IWATANI

Building Relationships with Local People during Anthropological Research: Filming the Lion Dance in Japan
With advances in digital technology and techniques, digital archives have been created in Japan to provide digitised texts, photographs, and videos to the general public. However, as digital recording has become common, various issues have arisen. For example, the process of creating a digital archive and determining who owns its contents requires discussion among interested parties. Since 2002, I have studied groups involved in the traditional ‘lion dance’ (shishimai) in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and have collected video recordings of their dance. Initially, my purpose was to help preserve local culture by recording it on video. I then gave the videos to the local people in the form of a digital archive. At this stage, the shishimai groups were merely the subjects of the film. However, as the research progressed, both my relationship with the shishimai group members and the process of filming changed. This paper uses the case of filming the lion dance to discuss the researcher-subject relationship and the benefits of forming relationships and working cooperatively with local people.

Key words: digital archive, cooperation, lion dance, local people, video

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.14 (2010)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.14 (2010)

EIJI YAMASUE, ISAO MURAHASHI and KEIICHI N. ISHIHARA

We documented the reconstruction by local blacksmiths of obsolete traditional steelmaking methods in Dime, southwestern Ethiopia, and metallurgically analyzed the materials and products associated with this technology. The steelmaking operation was successfully recreated in 2004, including mining, furnace construction, and charcoal production. The produced sponge iron had a yield ratio of about 40%, contained 0.31-0.48 mass percent carbon, and lacked impurities. The collected slag contained typical components {iron, silicon, aluminum, potassium, phosphorous, titanium, manganese}. The blacksmiths used three kinds of iron ore (balt, bullo, gachi) that consisted primarily of goethite [α-FeO(OH)] and kaolinite (A12O3・2SiO2・ 2H20); white inclusions in gachi contained calcium phosphate hydrate [Ca3(P04)2・xH2O]. The local blacksmiths specifically preferred gachi for steelmaking; the reasons for this selection were discussed from the viewpoint of slag-forming ability. Comparison of Dime steelmaking with other traditional steelmaking methods confirmed the independent development of geographically specialized knowledge and steelmaking techniques in Dime, as in Europe and Japan.

Key words: steelmaking, Ethiopia, metallurgy, iron ore, blacksmith

TORU SAGAWA

The Daasanach have fought with four neighboring pastoral groups, viewed as “enemies” (kiz), for more than a half-century. The Daasanach claim that their primary motive for going to war is the demonstration of masculinity, allowing men to be recognized as “brave” by community members. Various cultural apparatuses praise the “brave man”who kills a member of a kiz group and who raids their livestock. Nevertheless, men do not homogeneously mobilize for war. In this paper, I examine (1) the ideology that motivates men to go to war, (2) individual experiences of the battlefield and how reflection on those experiences affect an individual’s choice of action when the next war arises, and (3) how people accept others’ decisions to go to or abstain from a war.

Key words: violence, subject, individuality, masculinity, East African pastoral society

MOMOKA MAKI

A type of raid known as the Gaz occurred in northeastern Ethiopia in 1941-1942. The raiders, from Wajirat and Raya Azebo in southern Tigray and northern Wollo, attacked the Mar, causing chaos in this region. The raiding coincided with the beginning of the British-supported reconstruction of the Ethiopian empire following five years of Italian occupation. Attempts to stop the raiding were marked by administrative, organizational, and financial difficulties. This analysis of the Gaz describes the internal difficulties and social disturbances faced by the Ethiopian government and British military and the reactions to the political and social changes resulting from the withdrawal of the Italians and the reconstruction of the empire.

Key words: Tigray, Wollo, raiding, Gaz, Wajirat, Raya Azebo, Mar, history

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.13 (2009)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.13 (2009)

BELLE ASANTE TARSITANI

This research involves the fields of socio-cultural anthropology, material culture studies, andmuseology, and employs a multifaceted conceptual framework to view the nature of transactionsbetween people and the objects in their environment. Specifically, this research documents the interactions among community members pertaining to the cultural objects managed by the museums ofHarar, Ethiopia. In Harar, the multi-ethnic community has worked cooperatively and with limited resources to effectively manage tradition and modernity in the museum context. Based on case studies of four museums, the findings illustrate that the management of material culture in local Mrican museums need not be storehouse practices, without intended goals, at both the individual and communal levels. The objects in Harar’s collections are, in fact, catalysts through which people define and redefine themselves. The present analysis also demonstrates that not all Mrican museum collections have been initiated or maintained with Western models in mind. Instead, the present study reveals that the formal and informal activities that were initiated indigenously and integrated into the custodianship of local museums in Harar exemplify contemporary adaptations of cultivating practices that were built upon indigenous aesthetic preferences and local systems of alliances.

Keywords: museums, heritage, community participation, Harar, Ethiopia

YUKIO MIYAWAKI

This paper explores how new possession cults in an agro-pastoral society have appropriated idioms from alien cultures and constructed a new identity based on a geographical image of state rule that had been repressed by their traditional ideology. The Hor is an agro-pastoralist group residing in the South Omo Zone. During the1960s, the ayana possession cult, originating in Borana, was introduced to the Hor and spread rapidly. Despite oppression during the Derg regime, this cult has steadily expanded its sphere of influence. Notable features of ayana cults include: 1) their adoption of the cultural idioms of Ethiopian highlanders in rituals, even though these are considered as abhorrent according to aada (tradition), and 2) the fact that their membership consists of more than 80% women. Although the cult has its own social organization constructed with idioms appropriated from the age system of the Hor, it violates such Hor patriarchal systems as lineage, clan, territorial group, and age. By holding seances, rituals, and divinations, influential female mediums and their followers can cross these traditional social boundaries. In the past, spirit possession had been interpreted as possession by ancestral spirits and treated with rituals intended to soothe ancestors, thus consolidating the patriarchy. However, most ayana spirits are reported to come from outside the Hor people. Indeed, reports of spirits of the Amhara (Sidaama) and of white men (Farenji) have been increasing recently. Thus, the ayana possession cult has offered an alternative interpretation of possession by introducing alien spirits and has restructured the imagined space that represents the foundation of the Hor patriarchy. These features are closely intertwined and give followers the basis for resisting tradition. The cult provides not only a social space in which they are liberated from patriarchal rule, but also a symbolic space in which they can imagine the vast world outside of the patriarchal community.

Key words: Southwestern Ethiopia, Arbore, Hor, ayana, spirit possession, resistance, space

YASUO MATSUN.AMI and MINAKO ISHIHARA

Ya’a, an Oromo village located in Beni Shangul and Gumuz Regional State in Ethiopia, is one of the most significant Muslim pilgrimage centers in Ethiopia. Ya’a became a pilgrimage center when a Tijani shaykh,AI-Faki Ahmad Umar, died there in 1953. This article is about the process of making the film titled Pilgrimage to Ya’a. Matsunami, the filmmaker, participated in the pilgrimage ritual and involved the residents of Ya’a in making the film. We describe how Matsunami accompanied a group of pilgrims traveling on foot and how the festival performed at Ya’a was organized by the residents. The film was screened at Ya’a in October 2007, and we also detail how the viewers, the residents ofYa’a, reacted to the film. This study reconsiders the collaborative approach to making ethnographic films and examines the possibility of a participatory filmmaking.

Keywords: Oromo, participatory filmmaking, pilgrimage, Tijaniya, Ya’a

KEN MASUDA

Studies of interethnic warfare in the Lower Omo Valley have explored relationships between ethnic identity and culture and between society and ecology. This paper is the first to add ethnographic information about myth, clan classification, and interethnic warfare among the Banna to academic discourse. It also clarifies how Banna people construct their “ethnic” identity: they identify themselves as members of the Banna through a various forms of recognitipn and narratives, but these everyday activities do not guarantee a discrete Banna land, language, and culture. Research has revealed that, contrary to the group’s assertion, Banna identity has no discrete unity. Appadurai (1996) theorized that locality is a “phenomenological property of social life,” which might be discovered through description of neighborhoods as “the actually existing social forms in which locality, as a dimension or value, is variably realized.”

Keywords: Banna, clan distribution, identification, locality, warfare

TAKESHI FUJIMOTO

Peripheral mountain farmer groups in the middle Omo valley have met sporadic yet massive violent conflicts assumingly brought by lowland agro-pastoralists in the lower Omo valley since the 1970s. This paper focuses on conflicts in Malo, south of the middle Omo River. In March 1976, immediately after the collapse of the imperial regime, nearly half of the Malo land was invaded by unidentified armed attackers. The attacks were totally one-sided. Settlements were heavily devastated and cattle completely looted; more than 1,000 farmers were killed. Similar attacks have ensued over the years. Local farmers claim that the main perpetrators are golde, Surmic-speaking agro-pastoralists from the lower Omo valley, with whom they formerly had little connection. As a result of the attacks, numerous settlements and fields near the river have been permanently abandoned. Differential state rule over the lower and middle Omo valleys since the imperial conquest at the end of the 19th century have shaped a great imbalance of power in terms of modern arms possession between these peoples. Continuous state intervention is needed to prevent future conflicts.

Keywords: herder-farmer conflicts, Malo, golde, middle Omo valley, southwest Ethiopia

Book Reviews

Gen Tagawa
Mamo Hebo. Land, Local Custom, and State Policies: Land Tenure, Land Disputes and Disputes Settlement among the Arsii Oromo of Southern Ethiopia, Kyoto: Shoukadoh Book Sellers, 2006,
186 pp.

Takeshi Fujimoto
Ren’ya Sato and Shinichi Takeuchi, eds. The Story of Land and People: Africa I. (Asakura World Geography Series, Vol. 11) Kazunobu Ikeya, , Asakura Shoten, 2007,435 pp. (in Japanese)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies nol.12 (2008)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.12 (2008)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

HIROKI ISHIKAWA

The war discourse of the Hor, comprised of idioms that provide them with meanings related to waging war, diverges considerably from the Hor’s present interethnic relationships with their neighbors. Since the end of the 19th century, the Hor have lived under Ethiopian state rule but have tried to maintain their cultural and political autonomy by constructing and upholding a patriarchal “tradition” (aada). This “tradition” includes sets of discourses and rituals, among which the war discourse is one of the most important. This paper analyzes the war discourse and demonstrates how it functions to consolidate the Hor’s patriarchal tradition. As interethnic relationships have changed, new idioms have been added, even though the discourse appears authentic and unchanging. While deterioration of the Hor’s relationship with the neigh boring Borana animated the war discourse in the 1990s, changes to the discourse also reflect challenges
to Hor tradition from within.

Keywords: discourse, Ethiopia, Hor, tradition, warfare

MAKOTO NISHI

Since the 1990s, the idea of participation has become a popular norm in implementing development cooperation. Community-based organizations (CBOs) are widely thought to promote local democratic participation effectively in the development process. However, the potential relationship between CBOs and development agencies raises questions about the relationship between a CBO and the people whom it claims to represent. Determining whether the organization benefits only the local elite or provides a discussion forum among groups with different positions is critical.
The Gurage Road Construction Organization (GRCO), which has been operating since 1962, is one of the most successful CBOs in Ethiopia. It was established in Addis Ababa as an association of Gurage migrants from southern Ethiopia to raise funds for the construction of roads and schools in their homeland. GRCO acquired a wide support base through negotiations with members of urban and rural communities. GRCO leaders sought not only to construct massive public works in their villages but also to develop alternative social relationships for the fairer redistribution of development funds.

Key words: community-based organization, development, ethnicity, redistribution

TOMOHIRO SHITARA

I have studied Italian colonial buildings in Gondar, Ethiopia, continuously since 2003. In my previous research, I clarified the total number of Italian colonial buildings, the concept of the Italian urban master plan, and the distribution, height, construction materials, construction methods, current conditions, and ownership status of Italian colonial buildings. Here, I focus on the spatial formations of and construction methods for Italian colonial residences and the divisional formation of Italian residential areas. During the colonial period, four Italian residential areas were constructed. These areas were distinguished clearly by dweller type in terms of profession:
high officials, officials, soldiers, and civilians. Italian colonial residences involved three types of construction methods, i.e., prefabrication, masonry, and reinforced concrete construction, which are subdivided into 10 types of principal structure. The use of each type of principal structure was distinguished by the dwellers’ profession. Italian colonial residences involved three types of building, i.e., detached house, row house, and dormitory, and contained various rooms, e.g., living and dining rooms (L&D), bedrooms, kitchens, toilet and bathrooms, corridors, and
verandas. Most residences had both verandas and corridors. Furthermore, Italian colonial residences involved seven types of layout; most were organized into three of the most common (“V→C→X, L&D”, “V→L&D→C→X,” and “V→L&D→X”. corridor (C); living and dining room (L&D); veranda (V); and bedroom, kitchen, toilet and bathroom, or other space (X)).

Key words: colonial architecture, construction method, Ethiopia, Gondar, Italy, spatial formation

SAYURI YOSHIDA

Under the present Ethiopian government, social discrimination is a human rights issue. Despite the national policy of the right to self-determination launched by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the Manjo, a socially discriminated minority who live in the western Kafa and eastern Sheka zones, feel that they are being deprived of this right. In 2002, the Manjo attacked the Kafa in an attempt to put an end to this discrimination. Knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the Manjo uprising is essential for understanding the conflict. This article describes these circumstances and the changes brought about by the incident.

Keywords: Kafa, Manjo, social discrimination, minorities, conflicts

YUKIO MIYAWAKI

The war discourse of the Hor, comprised of idioms that provide them with meanings related to waging war, diverges considerably from the Hor’s present interethnic relationships with their neighbors. Since the end of the 19th century, the Hor have lived under Ethiopian state rule but have tried to maintain their cultural and political autonomy by constructing and upholding a patriarchal “tradition” (aada). This “tradition” includes sets of discourses and rituals, among which the war discourse is one of the most important. This paper analyzes the war discourse and demonstrates how it functions to consolidate the Hor’s patriarchal tradition. As interethnic relationships have changed, new idioms have been added, even though the discourse appears authentic and unchanging. While deterioration of the Hor’s relationship with the neighboring Borana animated the war discourse in the 1990s, changes to the discourse also reflect challenges
to Hor tradition from within.

Keywords: discourse, Ethiopia, Hor, tradition, warfare

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies vol.11 (2007)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.11 (2007)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

MORIE KANEKO

In this paper, I describe pottery making by examining fine finger movements, with a focus on both shared finger movements common among potters and on unique pot-forming procedures developed by each maker. I regard Ari pottery making as a community-based technology (CBT) that creates commodities necessary for people’s basic daily needs, and consider how pottery makers create new sizes and shapes of pots based on two-way relationships between users’ demands and makers’ trials and errors. I describe the pot-forming process by (1) analyzing the fine movement of potters’ hands and fingers, (2) identifying each maker’s pot-formation processes, and, (3) analyzing the process of creating new shapes by focusing on relationships between makers and users.
Observations and analysis revealed four main characteristics. First, I found that Ari pottery makers exhibit 20 patterns of common finger movements and follow four stages in making pots. Second, observations focused on finger movement patterns showed that each maker develops a different procedure to form pots. Variations in pottery making are related to the weight and thickness of each pot and the customer’s evaluation of the durability of the pots. Third, each potter follows her own procedure in forming pots. Fmally, potters may invent new finger movement patterns (FMPs) to create new sizes and shapes for pots to accommodate orders by preferred customers (jaala). Pottery making in the Ari area is one aspect of Ari society, and potters have developed their pottery making techniques on the basis of social relationships.

Keywords: Ari, Ethiopia, finger movement patterns, pottery making, unit of process

MAKIKO OGUSA

Since France colonized the Republic of Djibouti in the 19’11 century, nomads have formed settlements in the area, concentrated on the outskirts of Djibouti City. The Balbala District is one of the biggest such settlements, which today is largely made up of slum quarters. To stem the expansion of slums, the government has resorted mainly to “lotissement,” or the creation of land allotments for settled nomads. However, this strategy has had only limited success, because it was designed from the viewpoint of the administration and disregarded the nomadic notion of the living environment. Here, we assessed the adequacy of this method of land use and clarify its cw-rent status. We conclude that to better manage slums in this district, it is necessary to consider the settled nomads’ viewpoint of land use.

Key words: slum, land use, nomad settlement, Is sa, Afar

ITSUSHI KAWASE

The aim of this paper is to highlight and analyze my anthropological filmmaking practice based on long-term participant observation of two different itinerant musical groups in northern Ethiopia: Azmari and Lalibalocc. I produced two different films on both groups: Kids got a Song to Sing (2006) and Lalibalocc-Living in the Endless Blessing (2005). These films were shown at academic seminars, conferences, lectures, and film festivals. The films I have produced take a slightly different viewpoint from that of most ethnographic films, which do not engage the subjects and are filmed in a detached manner, as if from a distance. They also differ from problem-and-solution-oriented documentary films that advocate specific social change or convey strong messages to the audience. Rather, the films attempt to capture the lives of people as they communicate and collaborate with the researcher/filmmaker. This method questions the binary opposition of researcher and informant. I consider the interactions between myself as an anthropological researcher with a video camera and the people of my films to be the fundamental aspect of the reality in an anthropological filmmaking context. The first part of this paper introduces the Azmari and Lalibalocc people, including their geographical, social, and historical background. Then I argue and clarify my position on filmmaking regarding certain key concepts of how to approach subjects.

Keywords: Gondar, Azmari and La.libalocc, anthropological filmmaking dealing with intimacy

Book Reviews