Ethiopian Journals Online (EJOL)
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Qaalluu, Smith and Metal: Traditional Conflict Resolution Mechanisms in the Medium of Metals among the Oromo of Northeast Wollega, Ethiopia
No full textThe introduction of metals, particularly iron, has always been seen as an important stage of socio-cultural, economic, and political departure of human development. Nevertheless, since its appearance in the form of utilitarian or armaments, iron has occupied an ambiguous position in any society. It has played both the role of production by increasing fertility or prosperity, and destruction by furnishing the process of or terminating life. This ambivalent position of the material is also evident in the position of the workers in their respective societies. Consequently, its workers (the tumtuu) are both feared and respected. This ambiguous position/role of the material and the artisans has long attracted heated debates amongstarchaeometallurgists. Although the double roles of iron tools among the Oromo traditional believers in Wollega can never escape such debates, engagement in such a debate is beyond the scope of this article. This article, however, departs from the search for the destinations of iron tools once they left the production sites in the operational sequences i.e. traditional ritual site of the Qaalluu. The data for this discussion have emerged from my current ethnoarchaeometallurgical research in northeast Wollega, which aims to documenting different destination of iron/metal products after they left the cottage of the smiths. This article attempts to draw on the secular meaning of metal tools in order to attain the symbolic significance derived from it. Utilizing the data from traditional spiritual sites in northeast Wollega (Butaa Nadoo and Sagro Guddina), the article outlines the peaceful resolution of various forms of conflicts at the traditional ritual sites in the medium of metal tools or by invoking their symbolic value
Reinventing the World? Trans-modernity’s Emancipatory and Communicative Possibilities
No full textModernity as a philosophical project seeks to lay the foundation for human emancipation in developing critical discourses of reason. The tool of critical discourses is to construct a logical power that banishes all obstacles which prevent from the Enlightenment conditions of humanity. At the outset of Jürgen Habermas’ critical social theory, priority is given to human emancipatory potentials to reach into a universal consensus while positively organizing instrumental as well as hermeneutic interests. If emancipation is human, then it requires rational as well as ethical discourses of approaching human global problems. In line with this argument, it must be an urgent task to introduce a new trend that can understand and potentially solve the real questions of [global humanity]. What are the fundamental causes for and in contemporary global social crises and distractions? Most of us would accept Habermas’ core argument that describes modernity as an unfinished project and its emancipative themes are not fully realized. But we need to go beyond the Habermasian perspective to identify human problems in which modernity faces globally. Thus, this article traces key emancipatory and communicative possibilities of trans-modernism (Dussel 1993).1 Trans-modernity as a critical paradigm aims at human liberation although its starting juncture is the concealed philosophical traditions of the colonized societies by using their lived and felt experiences
The Dynamics of (Agro) Pastoral Conflicts in Eastern Ethiopia
No full textEthnic-based resource conflicts were common in eastern Ethiopia among the Afar, Ittu-Oromo and Issa-Somali pastoral groups. This research attempted to identify the trends and prevalence of violent conflicts and the factors encouraging the rival groups to instigate conflicts. Qualitative data were collected from community leaders, ordinary members of the communities, and government official at various levels through one-on-one interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. The quantitative data were collected through household survey from the 128 households randomly drawn from the three districts of Meiso-Mullu, Meiso and Amibara. The results revealed that the trend of violent conflicts is increasing because of increased resource scarcity, absence of property rights, and weak customary institutions. The new political and administrative arrangements following the introduction of ethnic based federalism gave the existing conflicts new a dimension. The research revealed that socio-political factors and competition over scarce natural resources, particularly on water and pasture land, were found to be among important causes for most (agro) pastoral conflicts in the study area
Beyond Cartesian Philosophy of Essentialism, and the Quest for Intercultural Discourse: Some Examples
No full textRene Descartes is believed to be the founder of modern philosophy that exalts closure, singularity and monologue in the making of philosophical meanings. He sees mankind’s diverse horizons as virtually closed monads; undermines the possibility of openness, mutuality and dialogue. Accordingly, for Descartes, mankind has no common world to refer to, no common vision to live for; the world is essentially uncommunicative and windowless. The purpose of this article is to critically challenge this picture of humanity while trying to identify lessons that need to be critically attended towards forming a world of possibilities in which meaning is discovered rather through the acts of openness, mutuality, and dialogue. I take inspiration from intercultural philosophy that promotes an image of humanity that is an antithesis to the one maintained by Descartes. I will argue that mankind is not only capable of and optimistic to forming a world of better meanings through the revealing power of dialogue, perhaps mankind is a subject endowed with the capacity to dialogically break supposedly unbreakable boundaries. I urge on the need to celebrate the objectivity of an underlying truth of commonness amidst diversities. As will be defended, this last is not a merely speculative attribution of mankind for, indeed, there are concrete historical moments that could offer grounds for meaningful philosophical discernment. While one such example is Ethiopian, others are international which, I believe, could reveal an immense capacity to making the world become converse to and richer in meaning than the mutually isolating effects of Cartesian Either/Or and its world of windowlesseness
Electoral Politics, Multi-partism and the Quest for Political Community in Ethiopia
No full textFollowing the coming into power of the EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front) in 1991, several political organizations took part in the political process in Ethiopia that promised a multi-party system. Although general elections in which several political organizations took part were held in 1995, the May 2005 elections provided an opportunity for the people to participate in the elections en masse. This paper argues that while the EPRDF indulged in the rhetoric of multi-party politics before the 2005 election, its crackdown in the aftermath of the same, its claims of total victory in 2010 and 2015 elections, and the politics of antagonism it has been persistently pursuing exposed the regime’s lack of commitment in multi-party elections as an important aspect of democratic politics. Secondly while the protests of 2014-2017 and the subsequent initiatives on the part of the government since have rekindled hope for democratic engagement, uncertainties remain. By using state-society relations as framework of analyses and reviewing secondary sources – books, articles, reports and web sources – this article makes a critical reflection on multi-party political rhetoric, the consequences of political control and repression, the significance of the concept of political community for political transformation in general and the conduct of genuine multi-party elections in the country in particular in the future
Explorations of Three Rock Art Sites in Northwestern Tigray, Ethiopia
No full textThis article presents the result of archaeological reconnaissance carried in 2001 and 2004 with the support of the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in the districts of Tselemti and Tahtay Koraro in North western Tigray Administrative Zone. The objective of the research was to explore and document foot prints of ancient humans in the northern western periphery of Ethiopia. The study resulted with the discovery of three rock-art sites dating between 5000 BP and 2000 BP. The paintings of these rock art sites portray domestication scenes of cattle, sheep and goat. Thus, they can be categorized under the two phases of Dahthami and Surre-Hanakiya of the Ethio-Arabian Styles. They furnish an evidence of contacts between the populations of Ancient Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt and those of the Northern Horn in the aforementioned period
Women’s Access to and Utilization of Sanitation and their Determinant Factors in Some Selected Rural Areas of East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia
Get PDFThis study aimed to examine women’s sanitation access and utilization level and their determinants in some selected rural areas of East Gojjam Zone. The research employed cross sectional study design and data was collected from 380 women selected through multistage cluster sampling technique. Proportional odds model and partial proportional odds model were used to estimate the association between different factors and women’s sanitation access and utilization level. The result indicated that out of 380 sampled women, about 42.6% have high sanitation access compared with 34.7% medium and 22.6% low respectively. Despite this however; about 50.9% respondents have low sanitation utilization suggesting a mismatch between sanitation access at household level and women’s utilization status. Household size, access to sanitation facilities, and knowledge about the benefit of latrine utilization were found to be statistically significant determinants of women’s sanitation utilization while marital status, district, household income, participation in women health development team, and dependency ratio were found to be determinants of sanitation access. The study suggests that besides promotions to increase sanitation facility availability, monitoring on the utilization of the facilities need to be strengthened. Income creation capacity of women and their households should be strengthened as well
Book Review: Cuba and Africa, 1959-1994: Writing an Alternative Atlantic History
No full textTitle of the Book: Cuba ans Africa, 1959-1994: Writing an Alternative Atlantic History
Authors: Bonacci, G., Delmas, A., & Argyriadis, K’s. (Eds.)
Publisher: Wits University Press
Year of Publication: 202
Some Aspects of Medieval Historic Town Management Tradition in the Book of Aksum
Get PDFShort Communication: Some Aspects of Medieval Historic Town Management Tradition in the Book of Aksu
Postmodern Thoughts in Dawit’s Alämänor: Critiques on Normativity, Absolute Truth and the Sovereign SelfPostmodern Thoughts in Dawit’s Alämänor: Critiques on Normativity, Absolute Truth and the Sovereign Self
No full textThe advancement of communication technology in this postmodern era exposedpeople for multiple narratives – viewpoints that are often subversive to the existingmetanarratives. This condition, in turn, delegitimizes objective worldviews such astruth, social norms, self-identity and so on. But is there such a thing as objectivetruth? To what extent does an individual‟s inner self be affected by normativity inthe Ethiopian social setting? Having these couple of questions in mind, an attemptto scrutinize how Dawit in his novel Alämänor (2017, literally translated as“Nonexistence”, deconstructs people‟s conception about truth and reprehendsone‟s obedience to collective norms at the expense of their inner self is made. Inthis analysis, we illustrate that the novel is devoted to prove how people‟s intuitiveknowledge about „truth‟ is mistaken, and condemn some social norms that makepeople pretend to behave, communicate and act against their inner selves