Alcohol can be used as a theme to belittle, patronize and differentiate people. This happens especially when different kinds of beverages are accorded a different status across social and ethnic... Show moreAlcohol can be used as a theme to belittle, patronize and differentiate people. This happens especially when different kinds of beverages are accorded a different status across social and ethnic groups in society. The case study presented in this chapter highlights cultural aspects of social inequality and ethnic stratification by tracing the ambivalent connections between alcohol, power and cultural dominance in the Maji region of southern Ethiopia, where the author carried out fieldwork in 1995/1996. Maji society's 'drinking situation' reflects the area's history of divergent ethnocultural traditions and exposure of people to State narratives of civilization and governance. Historically, the local people, among them the Dizi, Me'en and Suri, were deemed politically and culturally less civilized by the central State and the northern immigrants. The Suri, as agropastoralist lowlanders, were considered especially coarse in their mannerisms and livelihood pursuits. Alcohol (ab)use is explained by many non-Suri northerners in the neighbouring villages as another example of the Suri's 'backward' social behaviour. This chapter explores the basis of such remarks and what they reveal about hegemonic relations and group prestige. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
In 1994, Ethiopia became a federal democratic republic composed of nine regional states, which bear the name of their majority ethnic group, except Gambela and the Southern Region. This paper... Show moreIn 1994, Ethiopia became a federal democratic republic composed of nine regional states, which bear the name of their majority ethnic group, except Gambela and the Southern Region. This paper discusses some issues of ethnicity and the "national project" in Ethiopia in relation to the Southern Regional State, officially the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS), which has a population of 11 million, or some 17 percent of the total Ethiopian population. The Southern Region, known for its notable ethnolinguistic diversity, is a double challenge: to the Ethiopian federation, because of this diversity and the lack of a dominant ethnic majority; and to the development of the region itself, in search of a coalition of ethnic elites that will manage policy and administration, and an appropriate role of ethnic identity. The paper sketches the history and ethnocultural diversity of the "South"; its economic and political role within the Federation; changing politics of identity resulting in patterns of cooperation and conflict; and the role of ethnicity as political construct and sociocultural identity. The South is a region vital to the redefinition and survival of the Ethiopian federation and of Ethiopian nationhood. There is a need in this multi-ethnic region to sustain commonalities bridging differences and to define common issues and interests of efficient governance and economic development. There are new opportunities for the Southern people. The price of the heightened organizational significance of ethnicity is the increased volatility and conflict potential of ethnic group consciousness. Show less
There is, as yet, still no adequate theoretical idiom to conceptualize, in an accepted, conventional manner, the processes conditioning ethnic naming and the political-economic embeddedness of... Show moreThere is, as yet, still no adequate theoretical idiom to conceptualize, in an accepted, conventional manner, the processes conditioning ethnic naming and the political-economic embeddedness of cultural complexities. The traditional primordial-mobilization dichotomy in ethnic studies, with its heuristic and descriptive advantages, remains attractive. Nonetheless, it would be advantageous for future anthropological studies of ethnic groups and relations to focus on the processes of infrastructural political-ecological conditioning of ethnic labels and their symbolic use. An explanation in terms of the psychological, affective validity of ethnicity is at most a derivative of such a process and has more to do with the individual experience rather than the collective aspects of ethnicity. The case of Maji 'awraja' (subprovince) in southwestern Ethiopia, where the author conducted fieldwork in 1988-1990, serves as illustration. The ethnonyms in use here primarily reflect a history of politico-ecological conflict between various groups of different composition and not a smooth transfer of cultural heritages within well-defined "tribes", despite a popular local image to the contrary. State discourse and policy plays a crucial role in the process. The discussion is restricted to four groups: the Dizi, the Tishana-Me'en, the Surma (or Tirma) and the Northerners (or "Amhara"). Bibliogr., notes, ref Show less
The alternative proposed here for the tribal model as a unit of study is not another, better unit of study (e.g. a mode of production, an expanding social formation, or a well-defined spatio... Show moreThe alternative proposed here for the tribal model as a unit of study is not another, better unit of study (e.g. a mode of production, an expanding social formation, or a well-defined spatio-temporal portion of reality), but a growing awareness of possible problems and interrelations, informed by insights from history and political economy. Thus this paper is an exercise in the interaction of anthropology and history in the analysis of a specific set of data: Introduction - The end of rural anthropology in Zambia? - The unit of study - Studying the Nkoya - Ethnicity, history and the Nkoya experience - Nkoya ethnicity and the dialectics of consciousness - Conclusion: beyond the unit of study. Show less
