Living Terraces in Ethiopia

Living Terraces in Ethiopia PDF

Author: Elizabeth E. Watson

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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Living Terraces is both an ethnographic and historical account of the terraces of Konso in southern Ethiopia. Terraced agricultural landscapes in Africa are remarkable feats of human engineering and social organization, enabling the conservation of soil and water and the cultivation of food. Indigenous terraced landscapes are all the morevaluable because they have been produced by the people themselves and maintained for several hundred years, evidencing a valuable degree of sustainability. Yet until this book, there have been few accounts of how such landscapesin Africa are produced and maintained over time. Taking a period of approximately a hundred years, Living Terraces is both an ethnography and history of the terraces of Konso in southern Ethiopia. It traces the way Konso agriculture and landscape has been produced and managed in close relationship with broader changes in Konso political and cultural lives. In shedding new light on the relationships between landscapes, livelihoods, culture and development, the book demonstrates the embeddedness of social institutions in areas of social, cultural, religious and political life, showing that social institutions cannot easily be abstracted, replicated or used instrumentallyfor development purposes. The result is a call for an approach to social institutions, so vital to development, which centralizes a study of culture, history and power in the analysis. ELIZABETH E. WATSON is a Lecturerin the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge

Ethiopia

Ethiopia PDF

Author: John Markakis

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1847010334

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An historical overview of Ethiopia's transformation from a multicultural empire into a modern nation state. Provides the gist of one scholar's knowledge of this country acquired over several decades. The author of numerous works on Ethiopia, Markakis presents here an overarching, concise historical profile of a momentous effort to integrate a multicultural empire into a modern nation state. The concept of nation state formation provides the analytical framework within which this process unfolds and the changes of direction it takes under different regimes, as well as a standard for assessing its progress and shortcomings at each stage. Over a century old, the process is still far from completion and its ultimate success is far from certain. In the author's view, there are two majorobstacles that need to be overcome, two frontiers that need to be crossed to reach the desired goal. The first is the monopoly of power inherited from the empire builders and zealously guarded ever since by a ruling class of Abyssinian origin. The descendants of the people subjugated by the empire builders remain excluded from power, a handicap that breeds political instability and violent conflict. The second frontier is the arid lowlands on the margins of the state, where the process of integration has not yet reached, and where resistance to it is greatest. Until this frontier is crossed, the Ethiopian state will not have the secure borders that a mature nation state requires. John Markakis is a political historian who has devoted a professional lifetime to the study of Ethiopia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa. He has published several books and many articles on this area.

Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia

Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia PDF

Author: Gérard Prunier

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1849046182

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When we think of Ethiopia we tend to think in cliches: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falasha Jews, the epic reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Communist Revolution, famine and civil war. Among the countries of Africa it has a high profile yet is poorly known. How- ever all cliches contain within them a kernel of truth, and occlude much more. Today's Ethiopia (and its painfully liberated sister state of Eritrea) are largely obscured by these mythical views and a secondary literature that is partial or propagandist. Moreover there have been few attempts to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture that goes beyond the usual guidebook fare. Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia seeks to do just that, presenting a measured, detailed and systematic analysis of the main features of this unique country, now building on the foundations of a magical and tumultuous past as it struggles to emerge in the modern world on its own terms.

Sports and Modernity in Late Imperial Ethiopia

Sports and Modernity in Late Imperial Ethiopia PDF

Author: Katrin Bromber

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1847012922

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This first academic study of the history of modern sports in Ethiopia during the imperial rule of the 20th century argues that modern sports offers new possibilities to explore the meanings of modernity in Africa. Providing an in-depth analysis of the role of sports in modern educational institutions, volunteer organizations, and urbanization processes, the author shows how agents, ideas and practices linked societal improvement and bodily improvement.

Ethiopian Warriorhood

Ethiopian Warriorhood PDF

Author: Tsehai Berhane-Selassie

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1847011918

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The history of the often-overlooked chewa Ethiopian warriors and their crucial role in defending their homeland against invasion, as well as their strong influence on political identity and the social infrastructure.

Islam & Ethnicity in Northern Kenya & Southern Ethiopia

Islam & Ethnicity in Northern Kenya & Southern Ethiopia PDF

Author: Günther Schlee

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1847010466

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A study of the longue durée of a marginalized part of northern Kenya, examining the process of territorialization and the role of Islam in politicizing ethnicity. The recent ethnic violence in Kenya has been preceded by a process of territorialization and politicization of ethnicity. This study examines a marginalized part of Kenya, the semi-arid north inhabited by pastoralists of three language groups - speakers of Oromo, Somali, and Rendille. It spans different periods of time, from early processes of ethnic differentiation between groups, through the colonial period when differences were reflected in administrative policies, to recent times, when global minority discourses, particularly those related to Islam, are tapped by local political agents and ethnic entrepreneurs. A companion volume to Pastoralism and Politics in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia, this book is based on over thirty-four years of field research and synthesizes findings from history and political anthropology. Günther Schlee is director of the Department of 'Integration and Conflict', Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany; Abdullahi Shongolo is an independent scholar based in Kenya.

Globalization: A Threat to Cultural Diversity in Southern Ethiopia?

Globalization: A Threat to Cultural Diversity in Southern Ethiopia? PDF

Author: Sandra Herting

Publisher: Diplomica Verlag

Published: 2011-11

Total Pages: 105

ISBN-13: 3842865821

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There are numerous ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia of which most also speak their own language and have distinct cultural trades. But how would the future of the different ethnic groups and their cultural heritage look like in the face of globalization processes? Is this cultural and linguistic diversity now diminishing through globalization processes and becoming replaced by a homogenous "global culture"? This study examines whether the cultures of southern Ethiopia are being penetrated by American popular culture, local cultural products are threatened with extinction and whether traditional lifestyles are becoming abandoned because the people of south Ethiopia are increasingly becoming part of a "global consumer culture". What about "modernization" efforts by development projects and the global spread of formal education through schooling, do they contribute to the elimination of indigenous knowledge systems? And does the spread of the English language already constitute a threat to linguistic diversity? Moreover, the impacts of the arrivals of international tourists and of Christian missionary organizations on the cultures of the different ethnic groups are being examined.

The Struggle for Land and Justice in Kenya

The Struggle for Land and Justice in Kenya PDF

Author: Ambreena Manji

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1847012558

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Finalist for the African Studies Association's 2021 Best Book Prize. Explores the limits of law in changing unequal land relations in Kenya.

Decolonising State and Society in Uganda

Decolonising State and Society in Uganda PDF

Author: Katherine Bruce-Lockhart

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2022-12-13

Total Pages: 419

ISBN-13: 1847012973

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Decolonization of knowledge has become a major issue in African Studies in recent years, brought to the fore by social movements such as #RhodesMustFall and #BlackLivesMatter. This timely book explores the politics and disputed character of knowledge production in colonial and postcolonial Uganda, where efforts to generate forms of knowledge and solidarity that transcend colonial epistemologies draw on long histories of resistance and refusal. Bringing together scholars from Africa, Europe and North America, the contributors in this volume analyse how knowledge has been created, mobilized, and contested across a wide range of Ugandan contexts. In so doing, they reveal how Ugandans have built, disputed, and reimagined institutions of authority and knowledge production in ways that disrupt the colonial frames that continue to shape scholarly analyses and state structures. From the politics of language and gender in Bakiga naming practices to ways of knowing among the Acholi, the hampering of critical scholarship by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range of Ugandan activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life.p by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range of Ugandan activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life.p by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range of Ugandan activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life.p by militarism and authoritarianism, and debates over the names of streets, lakes, mountains, and other public spaces, this book shows how scholars and a wide range of Ugandan activists are reimagining the politics of knowledge in Ugandan public life.

Women, Land and Justice in Tanzania

Women, Land and Justice in Tanzania PDF

Author: Helen Dancer

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1847011136

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Reveals the impact of Tanzania's land law reforms and the ways in which women's rights to land ownership have been overridden in spite of law.