Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy


Book Description

The Kingdom of Jimma Abba Jifar, established ca 1830, was the largest and most powerful of five monarchies formed by the Oromo peoples in south-western Ethiopia. Based on extensive fieldwork in the area, this work presents a study of the history and organisation of Jimma under its most powerful ruler, Abba Jifar II (1878-1932), stressing the political history and structure of Jimma with a comparative perspective which notes similarities and differences in processes and structures to monarchical systems elsewhere in Africa and the world.




Correcting the Record


Book Description

The critique of twentieth-century American anthropology often portrays anthropologists of the past as servants of colonialism who “extracted” information from indigenous peoples and published works causing them harm. Herbert S. Lewis recovers the reality of the first century of American anthropology as a vital scholarly discipline that rejected established ideas of race, insisted on the value of very different ways of life, and delivered irreplaceable ethnographic studies. This volume presents powerful refutations of the accumulated damaging myths about anthropology’s history.




Ethiopia


Book Description

This book is the most complete, accessible, and up-to-date resource for Ethiopian geography, history, politics, economics, society, culture, and education, with coverage from ancient times to the present. Ethiopia is a comprehensive treatment of this ancient country's history coupled with an exploration of the nation today. Arranged by broad topics, the book provides an overview of Ethiopia's physical and human geography, its history, its system of government, and the present economic situation. But the book also presents a picture of contemporary society and culture and of the Ethiopian people. It also discusses art, music, and cinema; class; gender; ethnicity; and education, as well as the language, food, and etiquette of the country. Readers will learn such fascinating details as the fact that coffee was first domesticated in Ethiopia more than 10,000 years ago and that modern Ethiopia comprises 77 different ethnic groups with their own distinct languages.




Contested Power in Ethiopia


Book Description

Drawing on nine case studies, this book offers a comparative ethnography of the contested powers that shape democratization in Ethiopia. Focusing on the competitive 2005 elections, the authors analyze how customary leaders, political parties and state officials confronted each other during election time.




Frontiers of Violence in North-East Africa


Book Description

Relates violent conflict through the 19th and 20th centuries in the region of Ethiopia and Eritrea and the Sudanese and Somali frontiers to ethnic, political, and religious conflict and the violent state- and empire-building processes which have defined the region.




Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age


Book Description

In this pioneering volume, leading international scholars argue for the development of a new approach to social theory that draws on regional studies for the conduct of comparative analysis in the global age. Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age moves beyond facile generalizations based on the historical experience of modernization in the West by highlighting differences rather than similarities and contrasts rather than commonalities, and by examining civilizational processes and culturally specific developmental patterns distinctive of different world regions. Essays combine comparative and historical sociology with civilizational analysis and the study of multiple and alternative modernities. Different patterns of modernization are compared within the framework of global/local compressed communication and interaction that results from globalization. The introductory chapter puts the present effort in the context of the seminal work of three generations of comparative sociologists, and what follows is a penetrating analysis of modernization and globality, opening the way for rectifying the erasure of the historical experience of a very sizeable portion of humankind from the foundation of social theory.




State and Economic Development in Africa


Book Description

This book critically assesses the impact of Ethiopia’s policy of Agriculture Development Led Industrialization. Employing qualitative and quantitative analysis, it presents empirical evidence suggesting persistent economic growth. The research highlights improvements in infrastructure, health care, education, poverty alleviation as well reductions in infant mortality rate. The impact of this economic growth has however had led to only slight improvements in the plight of the poor. The author argues that, while significant steps have been achieved with measurable economic gains, there are still undeniable obstacles within the federal system: prevailing patron-client relationships, constraints on state capacity to efficiently and effectively implement policy, and bureaucratic rent-seeking in the provision of public goods. The author concludes that these problems will have to be resolved before Ethiopia’s political economy can achieve the stage of sustainable development







Young Men in Uncertain Times


Book Description

Anthropology is particularly well suited to explore the contemporary predicament in the coming of age of young men. Its grounded and comparative empiricism provides the opportunity to move beyond statistics, moral panics, or gender stereotypes in order to explore specific aspects of life course transitions, as well as the similar or divergent barriers or opportunities that young men in different parts of the world face. Yet, effective contextualization and comparison cannot be achieved by looking at male youths in isolation. This volume undertakes to contextualize male youths’ circumstances and to learn about their lives, perspectives, and actions, and in turn illuminates the larger structures and processes that mediate the experiences entailed in becoming young men. The situation of male youths provides an important vantage point from which to consider broader social transformations and continuities. By paying careful attention to these contexts, we achieve a better understanding of the current influences encountered and acted upon by young people.




Ethiopia


Book Description

Ethiopia has experienced decades of turmoil. The founding fathers created Ethiopia to have prosperity, to have love for each other, and to have unity, but those who were taken aboard by force knew nothing, saw nothing, loved nothing, and only united to sort out all those goals through fighting. In Ethiopia, author Tadesse E.A. offers a profile of Ethiopia, one of the worlds oldest and most complex countries. Part history book and part book of memoirs, it provides deep insight into the country. Based on Tadesse E.A.s strong academic background, vast international experience, and identity as an Ethiopian, he presents a look at Ethiopia in a contemporary way. He shares his life experiences from childhood to adulthood in an unfinished country; deals with the forces of the past; highlights the challenges of the people and their struggle during the imperial era; discusses two long-running governments and the national election process; and offers insight into the nonstop struggles and challenges during the transition period. Ethiopia melds the background of the past and the making of the present. It helps in the understanding of yesterday, which warrants many questions of its own, and todays mood, the uncertainty, and the central fact of the ongoing fractures between Ethiopians. It shares the journey of Tadesse E.A.s life and what his country and its people have meant to him.