This study assesses the impact of a large, state-sponsored sugar plantation scheme on agro-pastoralistsâ livelihoods and local land use change in southern Ethiopia, specifically in the lower Omo... Show moreThis study assesses the impact of a large, state-sponsored sugar plantation scheme on agro-pastoralistsâ livelihoods and local land use change in southern Ethiopia, specifically in the lower Omo Valley. The study compares the local perceptions on the ongoing Omo-Kuraz sugar project â sugar cane plantations and a cane-crushing factory â and describes how it has affected local communitiesâ environmental and livelihood strategies vis-Ă -vis the alleged ânew development opportunitiesâ. Focus group discussion, key informant interviews, and field observations were applied to get in-depth information about the socio-economic and environmental impacts of large scale land acquisitions. The results show that the implementation of large scale land acquisitions in the lower Omo Valley has put enormous pressure on local land use and land management systems. The Omo-Kuraz I and II projects, started in 2011, neither met the stated economic purposes of the then Ethiopian federal government nor satisfied the pastoral communitiesâ needs. The LSAI project is still highly contentious among the local community, the project office, and the local government. Our study recommends that shifting the perspective towards the local agropastoralistsâ activities, understanding their views and ways of âusingâ the environment, and creating a broader consultation platform with them may create opportunities for cooperation and synergy to optimize benefits and sustainably adapt the development project to the local context. Show less
J. Abbink produced a new bibliography on Ethiopian-Eritrean studies in society and history. It is a by- product of research he did on these countries in the past five years and is the ultimate... Show moreJ. Abbink produced a new bibliography on Ethiopian-Eritrean studies in society and history. It is a by- product of research he did on these countries in the past five years and is the ultimate volume in the series. The volume covers the period from 2016Â to July 2022 and contains all the crucial references to recent work in history, archaeology, sociology, anthropology, economics, agricultural studies, politics, international relations, environmental studies, religious and cultural studies. Also prominent are themes like the Nile Basin, (regional) conflict, food (in)security, gender relations, demographic developments, urban life, arts & crafts, and pastoral societies.A brief introduction situates the bibliography in the wider field of Ethiopian-Eritrean studies and clarifies the underlying criteria of inclusion and organization of the references. As much as possible, the individual references also contain a link to their digital publication website. The work is concluded with an author name index and is published as an E-book only. Show less
This study has examined traditional coping systems, emerging adaptation strategies and barriers to the adoption of these strategies. Structured questionnaires on coping and adaptation strategies... Show moreThis study has examined traditional coping systems, emerging adaptation strategies and barriers to the adoption of these strategies. Structured questionnaires on coping and adaptation strategies were conducted among Nyangatom households, expounded by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Correlations between times series (1987â2016) on rainfall, temperature and the local perceptions on CC were examined. The time series analysis confirmed pastoralists' perception that the frequency of extreme drought has increased since 1987. The Nyangatom responded by temporal migration and herd diversification. Other responses include flood cultivation and enhancing alliance formation with other ethnic groups. Multi-nominal logistic regression analyses indicated that age of household head (â), livestock ownership (+), crop productivity (+), off-farm income (+) and access to climate information (+) proved to be key determinants with a statistically significant (negative or positive) effect on adoption. Other factors that hindered climate change adaption include intermittent conflicts with neighbouring ethnic groups and limited access to alternative livelihood options. Interventions to facilitate transition towards sustainable, adaptation-based communities need to incorporate deliberate, longer-term, risk-reducing strategies, including rangeland management, water harvesting and small scale-irrigation schemes. Improved education access, extension services, and a conducive pastoral policy environment will help to enhance the Nyangatom adaptive capacity. Show less
In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in Africa, the boundaries of political belonging have always shifted. They continue to do so. Since the 1995 constitution, in a both peculiar and complex manner, ethnicity... Show moreIn Ethiopia, as elsewhere in Africa, the boundaries of political belonging have always shifted. They continue to do so. Since the 1995 constitution, in a both peculiar and complex manner, ethnicity has been included in the apparatus of rights and practices, with often far-reaching consequences for Ethiopian nation-building. Since 1991, citizenship in Ethiopia can hardly be discussed without reference to the post-1991 ethnofederal system, which was the result of the restructuring of domestic politics based on ethnolinguistic criteria. This reformation of the administrative landscape altered interethnic relations, and although justified as an answer to an age-old national question about belonging, and a guarantor for interethnic peace and justice, problems have abounded. In this article, we analyze Ethiopian citizenship in the wider context of global debates on âcultural citizenship.â We examine the bifurcated Ethiopian approach to national and regional citizenship and the language of cultural rights in a historical perspective both as continued subject-making as well as a form of claims-making. Focusing on citizenship and the powers that manifest social boundaries through cultural ascription, we circumvent both the instrumentalist and primordialist gaze on ethnicity and multiculturalism. Ethnicity appears as a reservoir and idiom of political appropriation within an evolving system of state-subject relations that has left the status of citizenship unresolved. Show less
âGood governanceâ has been defined as a necessary condition for (economic) âgrowthâ and âdevelopmentâ not only in in developing world but also in the wealthier, developed nations. This paper seeks... Show moreâGood governanceâ has been defined as a necessary condition for (economic) âgrowthâ and âdevelopmentâ not only in in developing world but also in the wealthier, developed nations. This paper seeks to sociologically explore the âarticulationâ of the ideology of good governance of the post-1991 Ethiopian federal state with versions of legitimate authority, just rule, accountability, economic fairness, etc. with reference to some local ethnic societies in Southern Ethiopia. Similarities and differences will be discussed so as to show that the concept of âgood governanceâ is multi-dimensional and ambivalent, evoking local notions (and expectations) of a just order and the rule of fairness among citizens as well. In the context of Ethiopia, its constant reiteration as a policy aim may thus also have contributed to citizensâ renewed claim-making as well as their rediscovering their own (cultural) notions of just governance. Show less
The 2015 elections in Ethiopia had a predictable outcome, showing an entrenched system of one-party dominance that self-referentially enacts the political order created by the Ethiopian Peopleâs... Show moreThe 2015 elections in Ethiopia had a predictable outcome, showing an entrenched system of one-party dominance that self-referentially enacts the political order created by the Ethiopian Peopleâs Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1991. EPRDF spokespersons continued to defend the partyâs hegemony as inevitable, grounded in a logic of technocratic authority and with reference to âstabilityâ and âdevelopmentâ. This paper describes the electoral process not in the light of democracy theory but of hegemonic governance theory. Elections seem to have lost relevance in Ethiopia as a means of political expression and are only important as a performance of hegemonic governance and as âglobal impression managementâ â showing state skills in securing a smooth electoral process as a major organisational feat in itself. Contradictions that the political process creates between the Ethiopian party-state and domestic constituencies, and between the attitudes/policies of certain donor countries, are downplayed or avoided, but problematic in the long run. Show less
In this paper I discuss food, cultural identity and development among the agropastoral Suri people of Southwest Ethiopia. Their food system is discussed in its actual form and in its process of... Show moreIn this paper I discuss food, cultural identity and development among the agropastoral Suri people of Southwest Ethiopia. Their food system is discussed in its actual form and in its process of change, accelerated since a decade or so. The theoretical concern of this paper is with issues of identity formation and continuity through the materiality of food and food systems, in the context of varying assumptions underlying discourses of development. The Suri people remain at the margins of the modernizing Ethiopian state and experienced a decline in food security, health and wealth in the last decade, coinciding with growing inter-group tension and new state developmental plans which devalue the agro-pastoral mode of life. State support or investment is in massive sugar and other mono-crop plantations and in enterprises by foreigners and private capitalists, not matched by parallel investment in local economies of agro-pastoralism and crop cultivation. Some of the effects on the production system, diet and âfood sovereigntyâ of the Suri are described so as to highlight the challenges they face, including growing internal differentiation, pressure on modifying their food system and the increasing sale and use of alcoholic drinks. Observing the, often ambivalent, changes in the Suri food pattern and food consumption shows the challenges they face in (re)defining group identity, responding to internal tensions and to state-capitalist modernizing schemes that impact their way of life. Show less
This work is another instalment of a scholarly bibliography in the social sciences and history of Ethiopia and Eritrea, produced at the African Studies Centre (University of Leiden). It is the... Show moreThis work is another instalment of a scholarly bibliography in the social sciences and history of Ethiopia and Eritrea, produced at the African Studies Centre (University of Leiden). It is the fifth and last publication by the author on this subject, and is only published as an E-book (The other volumes - of 1991, 1995, 2003 and 2010 â were first published in print form). The bibliography gives a representative choice of the most important and insightful scholarly contributions (and also some of the more âpopularâ material written for wider audiences) of the past five years, which have seen a notable acceleration of work and many new insights into the dynamics of the North-East African region. While fairly complete on a number of themes, citing the most authoritative titles, the work is obviously not exhaustive in its coverage. It provides, nonetheless, an essential starting point for research work, reference and teaching on the societies, culture and history of Northeast Africa. Show less
State mega-infrastructure projects in developing countries evoke challenges to citizenship and reconstruct the imagery of statecraft. The Ethiopian governmentâs construction of a large dam in the... Show moreState mega-infrastructure projects in developing countries evoke challenges to citizenship and reconstruct the imagery of statecraft. The Ethiopian governmentâs construction of a large dam in the Omo River evoked contesting accounts of development and legitimate governance among a variety of actors. Debates between relevant actors centre on classic topoi of the âdevelopmentâ discourse but present seemingly irreconcilable views. In the process, discourses of technocratic expertise claiming to evade âpoliticsâ as well as culturally grounded socio-economic narratives are mobilised. They are juxtaposed here to develop an anthropological interpretation of the discursive positions, connecting the analysis to a consideration of precarious citizenship and coercive state consolidation in Ethiopia. Show less
One of the core principles instituted by the post-1991 government in Ethiopia that took power after a successful armed struggle was ethnic-based federalism, informed by a neo-Leninist political... Show moreOne of the core principles instituted by the post-1991 government in Ethiopia that took power after a successful armed struggle was ethnic-based federalism, informed by a neo-Leninist political model called revolutionary democracy. In this model, devised by the reigning Tigray People's Liberation Front (later EPRDF), ethnic identity was to be the basis of politics. Identities of previously non-dominant groups were constitutionally recognized and the idea of pan-Ethiopian identity de-emphasized. This article examines the general features and effects of this new political model, often dubbed an ''experiment'', with regard to ideas of federal democracy, socio-economic inclusiveness, and ethno-cultural and political rights. After 20 years of TPLF/EPRDF rule, the dominant rhetorical figure in Ethiopian politics is that of ethnicity, which has permeated daily life and overtaken democratic decision-making and shared issue-politics. The federal state, despite according nominal decentralized power to regional and local authorities, is stronger than any previous Ethiopian state and has developed structures of central control and top-down rule that preclude local initiative and autonomy. Ethnic and cultural rights were indeed accorded, and a new economic dynamics is visible. Political liberties, respect for human rights and economic equality are however neglected, and ethnic divisions are on the increase, although repressed. Ethiopia's recent political record thus shows mixed results, with positive elements but also an increasingly authoritarian governance model recalling the features of the country's traditional hierarchical and autocratic political culture. This may produce more debate on the need for ''adjusting the experiment''. Show less
The Ethiopian government is an active partner in the general trend in Africa to hand out large tracts of land to foreign companies and governments for commercial farming, which is defined as... Show moreThe Ethiopian government is an active partner in the general trend in Africa to hand out large tracts of land to foreign companies and governments for commercial farming, which is defined as investment for national development. By 2009, there were 406 foreign large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) projects in the country on land inhabited or used by a variety of local peoples that have no legal title to the land, because all land in Ethiopia is State property. The economic impact of these enterprises (export crop farms, biofuel enterprises) is expected mainly on the national level. While there are precedents to these land deals in Ethiopia, doling out local lands without much consultation of local inhabitants or land users (e.g. in the large-scale resettlement schemes and State farms), today the controversy is augmented by insecurity about long-term ecological and food security effects and the generation of friction and counter-discourses that will make the schemes foci of conflict. National territory - 'the motherland' - and culturally significant locations are also leased out, threatening social systems and the cultural identities of local groups. Apart from the issue of food insecurity effects, economic dependency on foreign sources may increase. Nationalist issues thus may mingle with social, economic, and cultural heritage issues in emerging concerns on these large-scale leases. Critical discourse and protest are discouraged by the authorities. The paper discusses a number of arguments in this debate, comments on some incipient large-scale land acquisition projects, and sketches a research agenda, focusing on legal and social issues. App. (some major foreign land deals, 2007-2010), bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] Show less
This chapter revisits the issue of elections and democracy in Africa, a theme that emerged as dominant in scholarly discussions in African Studies in the 1990s. The trigger for featuring Ethiopia... Show moreThis chapter revisits the issue of elections and democracy in Africa, a theme that emerged as dominant in scholarly discussions in African Studies in the 1990s. The trigger for featuring Ethiopia as a case study was the May 2010 parliamentary elections when the incumbent party, which had been in power since 1991, took 99.6% of all the seats. While the various Ethiopian elections will not be discussed in detail, the political culture or wider context in which they occur - and always produce the same overall result - will be highlighted to demonstrate the enduring mechanisms and problems of hegemonic rule and how difficult it is to create a democratic system that allows for changes in power (i.e. alternation). The relationship between one-party rule and economic development will also be discussed - the latter being a donor obsession that clouds the political agenda. The chapter closes with some reflections on the recurring donor-country dilemmas when it comes to dealing with electoral autocracies, such as Ethiopia. Show less