Ministry of Science and Higher Education

Anthropology

September 2012
Addis Ababa
 Ministry of Science and Higher
Education

Module Title : Anthropology

Prepared By : Hawassa
University (HU) &
Addis Ababa University (AAU)

Module Writers :Elias Alemu (PhD,

HU)
:Dagne
Shibiru (PhD, HU)
:Getaneh
Mehari (PhD, AAU) Anthropology

Course Code: Anth101

Credit Hours: 3

i
Abbreviations and Acronyms
FGM: Female Genital Mutilation

IK: Indigenous Knowledge

IKS: Indigenous Knowledge system

MoSHE: Ministry of Science and Higher

Education

ii
Module Introduction:

Dear Learner! Welcome to this course, Anth101. The course is expected to

acquaint you with essential concept of anthropology covering a wide array of

questions revolving around our very existence. It cover issues such as what

makes human beings similar to each other? How do we differ one another?

What do anthropologist mean when they talk about diversity, multiculturalism,

marginalization, inclusion and exclusion?

The course will enable learners grasp the different ways of being human by

dealing with themes such as culture, kinship, marriage, cultural relativism,

ethnocentrism, humanity, human origins, cosmologies, race, ethnicity, ethnic

relations, ethnic boundaries, marginalization, minorities, local systems of

governance, legal pluralism, indigenous knowledge systems, and indigenous

practices and development.

Contents of the module: In addition to the above mentioned themes, this

module comprised the following contents: scope of anthropology, braches of

anthropology, unique features of anthropology, and research methods in

anthropology.

Delivery Methods: The teacher or course facilitator who is assigned to

deliver is recommended to make use of different active learning methods

including: brainstorming, question and answer, group discussion, buzz-group,

iii
cross-over, home-works, reading assignments, peer teaching, and seldom active

lecturing.

Modes of Assessment: To assess the progress of student, the instructor/ the

course facilitator is expected to employ a continuous assessment technique in

the form of quizzes, group and individual assignments, take-home exam, final

exam, term paper. The purpose of using various assessment techniques is to

improve the process of students’ learning.

Module Learning Competencies:

Up on the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

 Develop an understanding of the nature of anthropology and its broader

scope in making sense of humanity in a global perspective;
 Understand the cultural and biological diversity of humanity and unity in
diversity across the world and in Ethiopia;
 Analyze the problems of ethnocentrism against the backdrop of cultural
relativism;
 Realize the socially constructed nature of identities & social categories
such as gender, ethnicity, race and sexuality;
 Explore the various peoples and cultures of Ethiopia;

 Understand the social, cultural, political, religious& economic life of

different ethnolinguistic & cultural groups of Ethiopia;
 Understand different forms marginalization and develop skills
inclusiveness;
 Appreciate the customary systems of governance and conflict resolution
institutions of the various peoples of Ethiopia;
 Know about values, norms and cultural practices that maintain society
together;
 Recognize the culture area of peoples of Ethiopia and the forms of
interaction developed over time among themselves; and
 Develop broader views and skills to deal with people from a wide variety
of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

iv
Acknowledgments:

The writers of this would like to express their gratitude to the rest of the

anthropology syllabus developing committee members at Hawassa University

(Namely, Dr. Alemante Amera; Dr. Hanna Getachew and Ato Debela Gindola) for

their enormous contribution throughout the preparation of this module. We

would also like to thank Ato Alazar Lissanu (from Arba Minch University) for his

valuable comments and proofreading of the module, and all anthropology

instructors from Dessie University, Wollega University, Selale University,

v
Gondar University, Jimma University and Mekelle University. Thank you for

being with us from the very beginning.

Contents
Module Introduction:........................................................................................................................iv

Acknowledgments:.............................................................................................................................vi

Unit One................................................................................................................................................1

1. Introducing Anthropology and its Subject Matter................................................................1

1.1 Definition, Scope and Subject Matter of Anthropology....................................................2

vi
1.2 Sub-fields of anthropology.......................................................................................................6

1.3 Unique (Basic) Features of Anthropology............................................................................14

1.4 Misconceptions about anthropology......................................................................................16

1.5 The Relationship between Anthropology and Other Disciplines....................................17

1.6 The Contributions of anthropology.......................................................................................17

1.7. Unit Summary............................................................................................................................19

Unit Two.............................................................................................................................................22

2. Human Culture and Ties that Connect..................................................................................22

2.1. Conceptualizing Culture: What Culture is and What Culture isn't...............................23

2.2 Characteristic Features of Culture.....................................................................................24

2.3 Aspects/Elements of Culture................................................................................................26

2.4 Cultural Unity and Variations: Universality, Generality and Particularity of Culture
.............................................................................................................................................................28

2.5. Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Human

Rights.................................................................................................................................................29

2.6 Culture Change..........................................................................................................................33

2.7 Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship.............................................................35

2.8 Unit Summary............................................................................................................................45

Unit-Three........................................................................................................................................47

3. Human Diversity, Culture Areas and Contact in Ethiopia..................................................47

3.1. Human Beings & Being Human: What it is to be human?...............................................48

3.2 Origin of the Modern Human Species: Homo sapiens sapiens........................................51

3.3 The Kinds of Humanity: human physical variation....................................................56

3.4 Human Races: the history of racial typing.................................................................60

3.5 The Grand Illusion: Race, turns out, is arbitrary.............................................................62

vii
3.6. Why is Everyone Different? Human Cultural Diversity/Variation..............................63

3.7. Culture area and cultural contact in Ethiopia...................................................................64

Unit Four............................................................................................................................................67

4. Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable Groups.........................................................67

4.1 Definition of concepts.............................................................................................................68

4.2 Gender-based marginalization...............................................................................................69

Female genital cutting.................................................................................................................70

4.3 Marginalized occupational groups.......................................................................................72

4.4 Age-based vulnerability..........................................................................................................75

4.5. Religious and ethnic minorities.............................................................................................79

4.6. Human right approaches and inclusiveness: Anthropological perspectives...............80

4.7. Unit Summary............................................................................................................................81

Unit Five............................................................................................................................................83

5. Identity, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism in Ethiopia.................................83

Contents of the Unit:.....................................................................................................................84

Unit learning outcomes:..................................................................................................................84

5.1. Identity, Ethnicity and Race: Identification and Social Categorization........85

5.2. Conceptualizing Ethnicity –What’s it?.................................................................................91

5.3. Ethnic Groups and Ethnic Identity.....................................................................................99

5.4. Race –The Social Construction of Racial Identity.........................................................103

5.5. Theories of Ethnicity: Primordialism, Instrumentalism and Social Constructivism

...........................................................................................................................................................107

5.5.2. Instrumentalist (Situational) Theory of Ethnicity...................................................111

5.6. Unit Summary .......................................................................................................................114

Unit Six.............................................................................................................................................116

viii
6. Customary and Local Governance Systems and Peace Making........................................116

6.1 Indigenous and local governance..........................................................................................117

6.2 Intra and inter-ethnic conflict resolution institutions.................................................120

6.3 Inter-ethnic conflict resolution.........................................................................................124

6.4 Women’s role in conflict resolution and peacemaking....................................................125

6.5 Legal pluralism: interrelations between customary, religious and state legal systems
...........................................................................................................................................................129

6.6 Unit Summary...........................................................................................................................131

Unit Seven.......................................................................................................................................133

7. Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Practices...................................................133

7.1. Definition of concepts......................................................................................................134

7.2 Significance of indigenous knowledge................................................................................139

7.3. Indigenous knowledge and development...........................................................................141

7.4. Preservation, Challenges and Limitations of IK..............................................................143

7.5. The Erosion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems(IKS)..................................................145

7.6. Unit summary.......................................................................................................................147

ix
 Unit Two

2. Human Culture and Ties that Connect

2.7 Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship

Reflect your views on the following question

 What comes to your mind when you think of marriage and

family?

Dear student, in one way or another we touched about the importance of culture

and aspects of culture in our previous discussions. In this section you will be

introduced to the idea of how we as social beings organize ourselves and how

the cultural rules governing our ties on marriage, family organization, residence

patterns after marriage, forms of descent and descent groups, and other

aspects of kinship.

2.7.1 MARRIAGE:

Almost all known societies recognize marriage. The ritual of marriage marks a

change in status for a man and a woman and the acceptance by society of the

new family that is formed. The term marriage is not an easy terms to define.

For years, anthropologists have attempted to define these terms in such a way

to cover all known societies. Frequently, anthropologists have debated whether

or not families and the institutions of marriage are universals. One interesting

case is that the Nayar of Southern India, did not have marriage in the

conventional sense of the term. Although teenage Nayar girls took a ritual

husband in a public ceremony, the husband took no responsibility for the women

after the ceremony, and frequently he never saw her again. Thus the Nayar do

not have marriage according to our definition in that there is no economic,

1
cooperation, regulation of sexual activity, cohabitation, or expectation of

permanency.

2.7.1.1 Rules of Marriage

Societies also have rules that state whom one can and cannot marry. Every

society know to anthropology has established for itself some type of rules

regulating mating (sexual intercourse). The most common form of prohibition is

mating with certain type of kin that are defined by the society as being

inappropriate sexual partners. These prohibitions on mating with certain

categories of relatives known as incest taboos. The most universal form of

incest taboo involves mating between members of the immediate (nuclear)

family: mother-sons, father-daughters, and brother-sisters.

There are a few striking examples of marriage between members of the

immediate family that violate the universality of the incest taboo. For political,

religious, or economic reasons, members of the royal families among the ancient

Egyptians, Incas and Hawaiians were permitted to mate with and marry their

siblings, although this practiced did not extended to the ordinary members of

those societies.

Marriage is, therefore, a permanent legal union between a man and a woman. It

is an important institution without which the society could never be sustained.

2.7.1.2 Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?

In a society one cannot marry anyone whom he or she likes. There are certain

strict rules and regulations.

a) Exogamy:

This is the rule by which a man is not allowed to marry someone from his own
social group.

2
Such prohibited union is designated as incest. Incest is often considered as sin.

Different scholars had tried to find out the explanation behind this prohibition.

i.e. how incest taboo came into operation.

In fact, there are some definite reasons for which practice of exogamy got

approval. They are:

A conception of blood relation prevails among the members of a group.

Therefore, marriage within the group-members is considered a marriage

between a brother and sister

Attraction between a male and female gets lost due to close relationship

in a small group.

There is a popular idea that a great increase of energy and vigor is

possible in the progeny if marriage binds two extremely distant persons

who possess no kin relation among them.

Kottak claimed also that exogamy has adaptive value, because it links

people into a wider social network that nurtures, helps, and protects them

in times of need pushing social organization outward, establishing and

preserving alliances among groups.

b) Endogamy:

A rule of endogamy requires individuals to marry within their own group and

forbids them to marry outside it. Religious groups such as the Amish, Mormons,

Catholics, and Jews have rules of endogamy, though these are often violated

when marriage take place outside the group. Castes in India and Nepal are also

endogamous. “Indeed, most cultures are endogamous units, although they usually

do not need a formal rule requiring people to marry someone from their own

society” (Kottak, 2017: 150).

3
 c) Preferential Cousin Marriage:

A common form of preferred marriage is called preferential cousin marriage and

is practiced in one form or another in most of the major regions of the world.

Kinship systems based on lineages distinguish between two different types of

first cousins, these are:

Cross Cousins: are children of siblings of the opposite sex- that is one’s

mother’s brothers’ children and one’s father’s sisters’ children.

The most common form of preferential cousin marriage is between cross cousins

because it functions to strengthen and maintain ties between kin groups

established by the marriages that took place in the proceeding generation.

Parallel Cousins: When marriage takes place between the children of the

siblings of the same sex, it is called parallel cousin marriage. are children of

siblings of the same sex, namely the children of one’s mother’s sister and one’s

father brother. The mate may come either from one’s father’s brother’s

children or mother's sister’s children.

A much less common form of cousin marriage is between parallel cousins, the

child of one’s mother’s sister or father’s brother. Found among some Arabic

societies in North Africa, it involves the marriage of a man to his father’s

brother’s daughter. Since parallel cousins belong to the same family, such a

practice can serve to prevent the fragmentation of family property.

d) The Levirate and Sororate

Another form of mate selection that tends to limit individual choice are those

that require a person to marry the husband or wide of deceased kin.

The levirate- is the custom whereby a widow is expected to marry the brother

(or some close male relative) of her dead husband. Usually any children fathered

4
by the woman’s new husband are considered to belong legally to the dead

brother rather than to the actual genitor. Such a custom both serves as a form

of social security for the widow and her children and preserved the rights of

her husband’s family to her sexuality and future children.

The sororate, which comes into play when a wife dies, is the practice of a

widower’s marrying the sister (or some close female relative) of his deceased

wife. In the event that the deceased spouse has no sibling, the family of the

deceased is under a general obligation to supply some equivalent relative as a

substitute. For example, in a society that practice sororate, a widower may be

given as a substitute wife the daughter of his deceased wife’s brother.

2.7.1.3. NUMBER OF SPOUSES

Societies have rules regulating whom one may/may not marry; they have rules

specifying how manymates a person may/should have.

• Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time.

• Polygamy i.e. marriage of a man or woman with two or more mates.

Polygamy can be of two types:

 Polygyny: the marriage of a man to two or more women at a time.

 Polyandy: the marraige of a woman to two or more men at a time

 Marriage of a man with two or more sisters at a time is called

sororal polygyny. When the co-wives are not sisters, the marriage

is termed as nonsororal polygyny.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Polygamy marrige

 Having two/more wives is often seen as a sign of pristige.

5
  Having multiple wives means wealth, power, & status both for the

polygnous husband, wives and children.

 It produces more children, who are considered valuable for future

economic and poltical assets.

 Economic advantage: It encourages to work hard (more cows,

goats..) for more wives

 The Drawbacks of Polygyny:Jealousy among the co-wives who

fequently compete for the husband’s attenttion.

2.7.1.4 Economic Consideration of Marriage

Most societies view as a binding contract between at least the husband and wife

and, in many cases, between their respective families as well. Such a contract

includes the transfer of certain rights between the parties involved: rights of

sexual access, legal rights to children, and rights of the spouses to each other’s

economic goods and services. Often the transfer of rights is accompanied by

the transfer of some type of economic consideration. These transactions, which

may take place either before or after the marriage can be divided into three

categories:

1. Bride Price

2. Bride Service

3. Dowry

1.Bride Price: It is also known as bridewealth, is the compensation given upon

marriage by the family of the groom to the family of the bride. According to

Murdock, in Africa it was estimated that 82% of the societies require the

payment of bride price.

6
Anthropologists identified a number of important functions that the institutions

of bride price performed for the well-being of the society. For example, bride

price has been seen:as security or insurance for the good treatment of the

wife: as mechanism to stabilize marriage by reducing the possibility of divorce:

as a form of compensation to the bride’s lineage for the loss of her economic

potential and childbearing capacity: and as a symbol of the union between two

large groups of kin.

2. Bride Service: When the groom works for his wife’s family, this is known

as bride service. It may be recalled that in the Old Testament, Jacob labored

for seven years in order to marry Leah, and then another seven years to marry

Rachel; Leah’s younger sister, thus performed fourteen years of bride service

for his father-in-law. Bride service was also practiced by the Yanomamo, a

people living in the low- lands of Venezuela. During this time, the groom lives

with the bride’s parents and hunts for them.

3. Dowry: A dowry involves a transfer of goods or money in the opposite

direction, from the bride's family to the groom’s family.

2.7.1.5 Post-Marital Residence

Where the newly married couple lives after the marriage ritual is governed by

cultural rules, which are referred to as post-marital residence rule.

• Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives

of the husband’s father.

• Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives
of the wife.

• Avunculocal Residence: The married couple lives with or near the

husband’s mother’s brother.

7
 • Ambilocal/Bilocal Residence: The married couple has a choice of living

with relatives of the wife or relatives of the husband

• Neolocal Residence: The Married couple forms an independent place of

residence away from the relatives of either spouse.

Reflect your views on the following issue

 Please take 15 minutes and write the major types of

marriage and a kind of residential place a married

couple will take in

your locality. And share it with your classmates.

2.7.2 FAMILY

Family is the basis of human society. It is the most important primary group in

society. The family, as an institution, is universal. It is the most permanent and

most pervasive of all social institutions. The interpersonal relationships within

the family make the family an endurable social unit.

Cultural anthropologists have identified two fundamentally different types of

family structure-the nuclear family and the extended family.

1. The Nuclear Family: Consisting of husband and wife and their children, the

nuclear family is a two-generation family formed around the conjugal or marital

union. Even though the unclear family to some degree is part of a larger family

structure, it remains relatively autonomous and independent unity. That is, the

everyday needs of economic support, childcare, and social interaction are met

within the nuclear family itself rather than by a wider set of relatives.

In those societies based on the nuclear family, it is customary for married

couple to live apart from either set of parents (neolocal residence), nor is there
8
any particular obligation or expectation for the married couple to care for their

aging parents in their own homes. Generally, parents are not actively involved in

mate selection for their children, in no way legitimize the marriages of their

children, in no way legitimize the marriages of their children, and have no

control over whether or not their children remain married.

2. The Extended Family

In societies based on extended families, blood ties are more important than ties

of marriage. Extended families consist of two or more families that are linked

by blood ties. Most, this takes the form of a married couple commonly living

with one or more of their married children in a single household or homestead

and under the authority of a family head.

In the case of a patrilineal extended family, the young couple takes up residence

in the homestead of the husband’s father, and the husband continues to work

for his father, who also runs the household. Moreover, most of the personal

property in the household is not owned by the newlyweds, but is controlled by

the husbands’ father.

It is important to point out that in extended family systems, marriage is viewed

more as bringing a daughter into the family than acquiring a wife. In other

words, a man’s obligations of obedience to his father and loyalty to his brothers

is far more important than his relationship to his wife. When a woman marries

into an extended family, she most often comes under the control of her mother-

in-law, who allocates chores and supervises her domestic activities. As

geographical mobility are more likely associated with nuclear family than with

extended family. There is a rough correlation found between extended family

system and an agricultural way of life.

9
2.7.2.1 Functions Marriage and Family

Family performs certain specific functions which can be mentioned as follows:

1. Biological Function: The institution of marriage and family serves

biological (sexual and reproductive) function. The institution of marriage

regulates and socially validates long term, sexual relations between males

and females. Thus, husband wife relationship come into existence and

become a socially approved means to control sexual relation and a socially

approved basis of the family. Sexual cohabitation between spouses

automatically leads to the birth of off-springs. The task of perpetuating

the population of a society is an important function of a family. Society

reproduces itself through family.

2. Economic Function: Marriage brings economic co-operation between men

and women and ensure survival of individuals in a society. With the birth

of off-springs the division of labor based on sex and generation come into

play. In small scale societies family is a self-contained economic unit of

production, consumption and distribution.

3. Social Function: Marriage is based on the desire to perpetuate one’s

family line. In marriage one adds, not only a spouse but most of the

spouse’s relatives to one’s own group of kin. This means the institution of

marriage brings with it the creation and perpetuation of the family, the

form of person to person relations and linking once kin group to another

kin group.

4. Educational and Socialization Function: The burden of socialization (via

processes of enculturation and education) of new born infants fall

primarily upon the family. In addition, children learn an immense amount

10
 of knowledge, culture, values prescribed by society, before they assume

their place as adult members of a society. The task of educating and

enculturating children is distributed among parents. Moreover, family

behaves as an effective agent in the transmission of social heritage.

2.7.3 KINSHIP

A significant concept in Anthropology – The concept of kinship is vitally

important in Anthropology, because kinship and family constitute the focal

points in anthropological studies.

Kinship is the method of reckoning relationship. In any society every adult

individual belongs to two different nuclear families. The family in which he was

born and reared is called ‘family of orientation’. The other family to which he

establishes relation through marriage is called ‘family of procreation’. A kinship

system is neither a social group nor does it correspond to organized aggregation

of individuals. It is a structured system of relationships where individuals are

bound together by complex interlocking and ramifying ties.

The relationship based on blood ties is called “consanguineous kinship”, and the

relatives of this kind are called ‘consanguineous kin’. The desire for reproduction

gives rise to another kind of binding relationship. “This kind of bond, which

arises out of a socially or legally defined marital relationship, is called a final

relationship”, and the relatives so related are called ‘a final kin’. The final kinds

[husband and wife] are not related to one another through blood.

2.7.4 DESCENT

Descent refers to the social recognition of the biological relationship that

exists between the individuals. The rule of descent refers to a set of principles

by which an individual traces his descent. In almost all societies kinship

11
connections are very significant. An individual always possesses certain

obligations towards his kinsmen and he also expects the same from his kinsmen.

Succession and inheritance is related to this rule of descent. There are three

importantrules of decent are follows;

1. Patrilineal descent

When descent is traced solely through the male line, it is called patrilineal

descent. A man’s sons and daughters all belong to the same descent group by

birth, but it only the sons who continue the affiliation. Succession and

inheritance pass through the male line.

2. Matrilineal descent

When the descent is traced solely through the female line. It is called

matrilineal descent. At birth, children of both sexes belong to mother’s

descent group, but later only females acquire the succession and inheritance.

Therefore, daughters carry the tradition, generation after generation.

3. Cognatic Descent

In some society’s individuals are free to show their genealogical links either
through men or women. Some people of such society are therefore connected
with the kin-group of father and others with the kin group of mothers. There is
no fixed rule to trace the succession and inheritance; any combination of lineal
link is possible in such societies.

Reflect your views on the following questions

 How do families and marriage differ in different

societies?

 What do you see as the main differences between nuclear and extended

families?
 Origin and evolution of human beings?

12
2.8 Unit Summary

Dear Students!

In this unit we have treated the central concept of anthropology which is

culture. Culture consists of the things people make, their behavior, their beliefs

and ideas. Using a comparative perspective, anthropology examines biological,

psychological, social, and cultural universals and generalities. There are also

unique and distinctive aspects of the human condition. The belief that one’s own

culture represents the best way to do things is known as ethnocentrism. Cultural

relativism is the idea that each culture is unique and distinctive, but that no one

culture is superior. We have also underscored that culture is always changing.

Mechanisms of cultural change include diffusion, acculturation, and independent

invention. In addition, globalization describes a series of processes that

promote change in our world in which nations and people are increasingly

interlinked and mutually dependent.

The other important topic of our discussion in this unit has concentrated on ties

that unite such as family; marriage and kinship. The incest taboo and marriage

prohibitions compel individuals to marry outside the family. Societies have rules

regarding number of spouses and post marital residence rules, which result in

the creation of a variety of types of families. Societies also have rules

regarding how marriage is contracted Different types of marriage rules result

in different structures of relationship or alliance between descent groups.

Kinship terminology in different societies reflects the pattern of descent,

family type, and marriage found in those societies.

2.9 Assessment techniques

13
The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group assignment,

individual assignments, administering different examinations and mandatory

reading assignments.

Facilities required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers.… etc.

Suggested Reading Materials

Rosman. A, Rubel, G.P. and Weisgrau, M. (Eds) . (2009)— The Tapestry of

Culture : An

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (9th ed.) Rowman & Owman & Owman &

Little Field Publisher Inc.

Beattie, J. (1964). Other Cultures: Aims, Methods and Achievements in Social

Anthropology. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.

Ferraro, G. (1992), Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. St. Paul:

West Publishing

Company

Kottak, C. P. (2004), Anthropology: the Exploration of Human Diversity

(10thed.).McGraw

Hill, New York.

Kottak, C. P. (2005). Mirror for Humanity: Introduction to social Anthropology.

(5thed.).

McGraw Hill, New York

Keesing, R. (1981). Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective. (2nd ed.).

New York: McGraw Hill Inc.

14
Scupin, R. and DeCorse, R.C. . (1988). Anthropology: A Global Perspective (2nd

ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Unit-Three

3. Human Diversity, Culture Areas and Contact in Ethiopia

Study Hours: 8 face-to-face hours

Dear Learners!

Welcome to unit three. The unit deals with human diversity, culture areas and

contact in Ethiopia. In this unit, we believe you will get a better understanding

of what makes humanity different from other animal species within the animal

kingdom and how did diverse groups of people emerge across the globe through

time. The unit is structured in such a way that you will be able to recognize/

find out the sources of human variation emanating from environmental,

evolutionary and cultural factors.

As a result, in this unit, you will be introduced to themes such as humanity,

human diversity or variation, race, racial forms, culture areas and aspects of

contact in the context of Ethiopia.

15
Throughout the unit, you are kindly persuaded to participate actively in class

activities and discussions; share your experience with others in class and on

campus; engage in debates and arguments and handle assignments in and out of

classroom.

Contents of the Unit:

The major themes covered in this unit are: notions of humanity, diversity,

human diversity, race and racial types . Besides, the unit discusses culture area,

cultural contact and historical trajectories of contact between different

culture areas in Ethiopia.

Unit learning outcomes:

Up on the successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Understand the concept of humanity, diversity/variation, race and racial

types

 Figure out the unique characteristics that make humanity different from

other animal species

 Recognize human diversity and variation across the world from

environmental, evolutionary and cultural perspectives

 Sort out the diverse culture areas of Ethiopia

 Appreciate the unavoidable and necessary aspect of cultural diversity in

Ethiopia

 Understand the historical trajectories of cultural contact in the context

of Ethiopia

16
 3.1. Human Beings & Being Human: What it is to be human?

Reflect your views on the following questions

 What do you understand by the term humanity, diversity, and

human

diversity/variation?

 What makes human beings different fromother animals?

 Origin and evolution of human beings?

 As you learnt in the first two units of this module, anthropology is a

broader discipline covering a vast spatio-temporal dimension in the study of

man/humanity.

 Since anthropology studies humanity in its entirety, it is often called a

mirror of humanity.

 As Kluckhohn correctly pointed out: "Anthropology holds up a great mirror

to man and lets him look at himself in his infinite variety."

 In this case, anthropology helps human beings to look into themselves by

searching for answers to questions that challenge us.

 Some of the questions central to humanity and anthropology are:

• What are the commonalities among humans worldwide? (That is what does

every human culture do?)

• What are the variations among humans worldwide (That is, what things do

only some cultures do?)

• Why do these commonalties and variations exist in the first place? (In

other worlds why aren't all human cultures the same?)

• How does humanity change through time? (Is it still evolving, and if so,

how?)
17
 • Where has Humanity been, and what can that show us about where

humanity is going? (That is, what can we learn about ourselves today,

from the past?)

 In order to address these questions, we should rely on key anthropological

concepts of comparative approach (cultural relativism) and evolution.

 The comparative approach, which is also known as cultural relativism, entails

those cultures shouldn't be compared one another for the sake of saying one

is better than the other.

 Instead, cultures should be compared in order to understand how and why

they differ and share commonalties each other.

 The comparative approach or cultural relativism encourages us not to make

moral judgments about different kinds of humanity, and it examines cultures

on their own and from the perspective of their unique history and origin.

 Evolution is another key concept in anthropology which, together with the

comparative approach (cultural relativism) allows us to the address the

aforementioned fundamental questions regarding our distant origin, current

stage of growth, forms of adaptation, and predict future direction of

development.

 By studying evolution, the change of species through time, anthropologists

tend to treat humanity as one of the biological species in the animal kingdom.

 In this respect, human biology and culture have evolved over millions of years

and they will continue to evolve together.

 Human biology affects human culture; and similarly, human culture affects

human biology.

 One example of this is that the brain size of humans has become larger over

millions of years of evolution, and this is considered biological change.

18
 Whereas, the change in human brain has brought cultural changes in terms of

increased intelligence, language and even the emergence of writing.

 This is why anthropologists use the term biocultural to describe the dual

nature of human evolution: both biological and cultural dimensions.

 Human beings are described as a biocultural animal.

 In what follows we will see the meaning of biocultural evolution with practical

examples.

3.1.1. The biocultural animal?

 As we have discussed above, humanity evolves both as a result of biological

factors and cultural factors.

 For this reason, anthropologists call it biocultural evolution.

 Culture, which you have learnt at length in unit two of this module, is the set

of ideas that dictate how you see and act in the world.

 Although humans survive by using both their biology and cultural information,

 all other animals survive mainly through their biology and by relying on

instinct rather than such cultural information.

 For example, cultural, not instinctual, information tells you certain kinds of

wood are good for making a digging stick.

 You don’t know about different kinds of wood instinctually but because

detailed information about the properties of different kinds of wood was

passed on to your mind culturally — through some form of language — by your

parent generation or your peers.

 This difference may seem trivial, but it’s actually very important.

 For example, consider the following cultural behaviors and their possible

involvement with biological evolution of our species:

19
  The earliest use of stone tools corresponds with increased consumption

of animal protein. More animal protein in turn changes the hominid diet

and potentially its anatomy.

 The use of clothing (itself a cultural artifact) allows human bodies to

survive in environments they wouldn’t normally survive in. For example,

the human body is naturally best-suited for equatorial environments, not

the Arctic, but the invention of heavy coats and other such clothing

enables that body to survive Arctic temperatures.

 As a result, Paleo-anthropologists are concerned with understanding how

cultural, noncultural, and bio-cultural evolutionary factors shaped humanity

through time.

 If this is the case, let us first see the meaning of humanity from the

anthropological perspective.

 Humanity is the most common term we to use refer to human beings.

 Humanity stands for the human species, a group of life forms with the

following characteristics:

 Bipedalism (walking on two legs);

 Relatively small teeth for primates of our size;

 Relatively large brains for primates of our size;

 Using modern language to communicate ideas; and

 Using complex sets of ideas called culture to survive.

 Standing on two legs and having particularly small teeth and large brains are

all anatomical characteristics, and they’re studied by anthropologists focusing

on human biological evolution.

20
 Surviving by using a wide array of cultural information (including instructions

for making a pottery or farming tools in Ethiopia) is the use of culture.

 It’s studied by other anthropologists, and even more study the evolution of

language.

 Humanity is a general term that doesn’t specify whether you’re talking about
males, females, adults, or children; it simply means our species- Homo sapiens
sapiens- at large.
 The term humanity can be applied to modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)
as well as some of our most recent ancestors, placed more generally in Homo
sapiens, without the subspecies (the second sapiens) suffix.
 Exactly when Homo sapiens evolved into Homo sapiens sapiens is a complex
question based on when humans became anatomically modern and when they
became behaviorally modern.

Reflect your views on the following issue

 Write short essay on the difference between anatomical modernity and

behavioural modern origin and evolution of human beings?

3.2 Origin of the Modern Human Species: Homo sapiens sapiens

Reflect your views on the following questions

 What does different world religions and cosmologies say

about the origin of

human beings?

 What about scientific (paleo-anthropological explanations) about the

origin and evolution of human beings?

21
3.2 1. Cosmologies Vs. Evolutionally and Paleo-anthropological Explanations

• One of the major questions anthropologists grapple with is the origins of

humankind.

• The fossil record preserves evidence of past life on Earth, tracing a

progression of simple one celled organism to increasingly diverse forms.

• How did these different forms of life emerge and new species arise?

• The biological explanations for this process is the focus of this section.

• Theories concerning the evolution of life date back to the ancient Greeks, but

it was only during the 19thcentury that the first comprehensive theories of

evolution were developed.

• They were made possible through discoveries in many different areas.

• The acceptance of evolutionary theory is based on research in many fields.

• Indeed, the value of evolutionary theory is its utility as a unifying explanation

for a wide variety of phenomena.

• Before examining the scientific basis for our understanding of evolution, it is

useful to consider other explanations of human origins.

3.2.1.1 Cosmologies and Human Origins

• The most profound questions are the ones that perplex us the most.

 Where did we come from?

 Why are we here?

 What is our place in the universe?

• These questions have been shared by many people throughout history.

• Most cultures have developed explanations that provide answers to these

fundamental questions.

• Cosmologies are conceptual frameworks that present the universe (the

cosmos) as an orderly system.

22
• They often include answers to these basic questions about human origins and

the place of human kind in the universe, usually considered the most sacred

of all cosmological conceptions.

• Cosmologies account for the ways in which supernatural beings or forces

formed human beings and the planet we live on.

• These beliefs are transmitted from generation to generation through

 ritual,

 education,

 laws,

 art, and language.

• For example, the Navajo people of the southwestern United States believe

that the Holy People, supernatural and sacred, lived below ground in 12 lower

worlds.

• A massive underground flood forced the Holy People to crawl through a hollow

reed to the surface of the Earth, where they created the universe.

• A deity (god) named Changing Woman gave birth to the Hero Twins, called

Monster Slayer and Child of the Waters.

• Human mortals, called Earth Surface People, emerged, and First Man and

First Woman were formed from the ears of white and yellow corn.

• In the tradition of Taoism, male and female principles known as yin and yang

are the spiritual and material sources for the origins of humans and other

living forms.

• Yin is considered:

 the passive,

 negative,

 feminine force or principle in the universe,

 the source of cold and darkness,

23
• whereas yang is:

 the active,

 positive,

 masculine force or principle,

 the source of heat and light.

• Taoists believe that the interaction of these two opposite principles brought

forth the universe and all living forms out of chaos.

• These examples illustrate just two of the highly varied origin traditions held

by different people around the world.

Western Traditions of Origins

• In Western cultural traditions, the ancient Greeks had various mythological

explanations for human origins.

• One early view was that Prometheus fashioned humans out of water and

earth.

• Another had Zeus ordering Pyrrha, the inventor of fire, to throw stones

behind his back, which in turn became men and women.

• Later Greek views considered bio- logical evolution.

• The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (c.636–546BC) attempted to

understand the origin and the existence of the world without reference to

mythology.

• He argued that life originated in the sea and that humans initially were

fishlike, eventually moving onto dry land and evolving in to mammals.

• The most important cosmological tradition affecting Western views of

creation is recounted in the biblical Book of Genesis, which is found in Greek

texts dating back to the 3rdcentury BC.

• This Judaic tradition describes how God created the cosmos.

24
• It begins with “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” and

describes how creation took six days during which light, heaven, Earth,

vegetation, Sun, Moon, stars, birds, fish, animals, and humans originated.

• Yahweh, the Creator, made man, Adam, from “dust” and placed him in the

Garden of Eden.

• Woman, Eve, was created from Adam’s rib.

• Later, as Christianity spread throughout Europe, this tradition became the

dominant cosmological explanation of human origins.

• In Europe before the Renaissance, the Judeo-Christian view of creation

provided the only framework for understanding humanity’s position in the

universe.

• The versions of creation discussed in the biblical text fostered a specific

concept of time: a linear, non-repetitive, unique historical framework that

began with divine creation.

• These events were chronicled in the Bible; there was no concept of an ancient

past stretching far back in time before human memory.

• This view led some theologians to attempt to calculate the precise age of the

Earth on the basis of information in the Bible, such as references to births

and deaths and the number of generations mentioned.

• One of the best known of these calculations was done by Archbishop James

Ussher of Ireland (1581–1656).

• By calculating the number of generations mentioned in the Bible and drawing

of classical writers, Ussher dated the beginning of the universe to the year

4004 BC.

• Thus, according to Bishop Ussher’s estimate, the Earth was approximately

6,000 years old.

25
• The biblical account of creation led to a static, fixed view of plant and animal

species and the age of the Earth.

• Because the Bible recounted the creation of the world and everything on it in

six days, medieval theologians reasoned that the various species of plants and

animals must be fixed in nature.

• God had created plant and animal species to fit perfectly within specific

environments and did not intend for them to change.

• They had been unaltered since the time of the divine creation, and no new

species had emerged.

• This idea regarding the permanence of species influenced the thinking of

many early scholars and theologians.

3.2.1.2. Evolutionary and paleo-anthropological

perspectives on human origin

 As opposed to cosmological explanations that we discussed above, today

anthropologist rely on scientific views of evolution in order to explain human

origins.

 Simply put, evolution refers to a process and gradual change in specie over

time.

 In fact, evolution is used to describe the cumulative (collective) effects of

three independent facts.

 Importantly, these attributes of evolution can be observed in nature every

day. They are:

 Replication: The fact that life forms have offspring (descendants);

26
  Variation: The fact that each offspring is slightly different from its

parents, and its siblings; and

 Selection: The fact that not all offspring survive, and those that

do tend to be the ones best suited to their environment.

 The scientific explanation of human origin and the concept of evolution are

attributed to a series of discoveries of early modern period and the works of

handful of scientists in the physical/natural sciences.

 One of the prominent persons in relation to this development is Charles

Darwin (1809-1882), a British Naturalist of the period.

 Charles Darwin is known for his theory of natural selection in the evolution

of species and the idea of survival of the fittest.

 One of Charles Darwin’s contributions to civilization was to demonstrate that

humanity was part of the world of living things, not separate from it.

 For thousands of years, Western civilization, backed up by the biblical story

of creation, held humanity as a special creation fundamentally different from

all other living things.

 By Darwin’s time, many were beginning to question this assessment, but the

cultural pressure to conform to the dominant religion prevented most from

saying so out loud.

 But Darwin’s ideas and the many it fertilized set the foundation for a new

study: the study of humans as living, evolving creatures in many ways no

different from the rest of animal life.

 Today, anthropologists have countless amount of data, much of it based on

studies of DNA, the molecule that shapes all Earth life, to back the claims

Darwin made in 1859.

 In doing so, anthropologists study humanity as a biological phenomenon by

raising questions such as:

27
  What species are we most and least like?

 Where and when did we fist appear?

 What were our ancestors like?

 Can we learn about human behavior from the behavior of our nearest

relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas?

 Is our species still evolving? How do modern human genetics,

population growth, and other current issues play out from a biological

perspective?

 The answers to the above mentioned and many other questions about our

species in the study of evolution, the change through time of the properties

of a living species.

 That’s because evolution is the foundation of the life sciences.

 Many kinds of life forms have become extinct (like the dinosaurs), but each

of today’s living species (including humanity) has an evolutionary ancestry that

reaches far back in time.

3.3 The Kinds of Humanity: human physical variation

[

Reflect your views on the following questions

 Why isn’t everyone the same?

 Why do people worldwide have differences in their phenotypic attributes?

• People come in many colors and shapes; people of the Mediterranean, for

example, are obviously darker-skinned than those of Scandinavia, and natives

of the Arctic are shorter and stockier than the tall, lean Samburu of East

Africa.

28
• Why is this? How did these variations come about, and what do they mean for

humanity as a species?

• The answer comes from the study of human biology by physical

anthropologists.

• In this section we will see how human populations have adapted to their

varying environments by the same evolutionary process that shapes all living

things from the perspective of race.

3.3.1. Racial types- anthropological perspectives

• Like all living things with sensory input, humans have to classify their

perceptions into some kind of order:

• These things go with these others but don’t belong in this group.

• Some people have darker skin, so they’re in the “darker skin” category.

• And the list goes on.

• Obviously, not all human beings look the same, so humans have spent some

time putting people of different colors, body shapes, and so on into

different categories sometimes called races.

• Unfortunately, this tendency has had some very bad consequences for

millions of human beings over the centuries.

• Biologically speaking, a race is a group of organisms of the same species that

share similar physical (and genetic) attributes and specific geographic

regions.

• In short, they’re subdivisions of a single species- meaning they can mate and

have offspring that are healthy enough to have their own offspring-

exhibiting some characteristics reflecting their geographical origins.

• This definition is pretty slippery (greasy), though, because finding good

examples of distinctly different races is difficult.

29
• The most visible non-human animal races are those of dogs.

• Wherever you go, all dogs are in the same species- Canis familiaris- but they

have obvious physical differences.

• Strictly speaking, they’re of different races - and even this isn’t so strict,

because these differences come from humans selectively breeding these

animals for certain characteristics, not from their originally inhabiting very

different environments.

• Once, all dogs (most likely first domesticated about 20,000 years ago) were

wolf-like, and their modern diversity is more a result of human selective

breeding than geographical adaptation.

• Just like any other living thing, human beings adapt to their environments

through an evolutionary process.

• Throughout this unit we will see the ways in which our species adapts mainly

through cultural means; that is, we survive our environments not because

we’ve adapted to them biologically, but with artifacts and complex behavior.

• In this respect, it should be noted that human bodies (human beings) have

adapted to certain conditions over time.

 Adaptation is can be understood as a process (behavioral and/or biological)

that increases the likelihood of survival for an organism.

 An adaptation can be a mutation that confers an advantage.

 For example, a frog that has better-camouflaged skin than its siblings has a

lower chance of being snapped up by a fish, and therefore a stronger chance

to survive and have offspring that will carry the gene for better-adapted

camouflage.

 In humans, adaptations include complex behavior, such as making tools.

 These behaviors aren’t passed on genetically but rather culturally.

30
 Some of these bodily adaptations are pretty easily visible, and some are only

visible when you look very closely at the genes.

 Skin color—one of the most visible human characteristics — is a good example

of adaptation to a particular environment.

 The darkest skin appears in populations originating in tropical zones, such as

Africa and Asia.

 The lightest skin is traditionally found in northern Europe because over time,

 natural selection favored darker skins in areas that received extensive and

more intensive sunlight, because individuals with lighter skin in these areas

were more prone (disposed to) to skin cancers.

 Darker skin, then, is an adaptation to the geographical conditions of Africa.

 What’s the adaptive value of lighter skin? It has to do with vitamin D, of all

things.

 Vitamin D is a nutrient that helps human bones form properly.

 Without enough vitamin D, deformities like the disease rickets, which

normally includes bowed legs and a misshapen pelvis, will occur.

 Humans naturally produce Vitamin D through the skin when they’re exposed to

sunlight, but cloudier parts of the world — like northern Europe — are

exposed to much less sunlight than regions in the tropics, where the species

began.

 As early human populations were expanding into northern Europe around

40,000 years ago,

 those individuals with darker skin were less able to manufacture Vitamin D

and probably experienced a much lower birthrate than those populations with

lighter skin.

 Lighter skin, then, is an adaptation to the geographical conditions of Europe

because over time,

31
 the prehistoric colonists of Europe who happened to be born with lighter skin

(simply by chance) had more offspring, who themselves carried the genes for

lighter skin.

• Biological adaptations aren’t instantaneous.

• They take place over the span of generations, so an African moving to Europe

won’t evolve lighter skin, nor will a European travelling to Africa evolve darker

skin (except for some tanning).

• A suntan is a lighter-skinned body’s defense mechanism — the release of dark

pigmented melanin — against too much ultraviolet light.

• Another example of biological adaptation in human beings is the difference of

stature (physique) between arctic (such as Inuit) and East African (such as

Maasai) people.

• In biology, Bergmann’s rule indicates that in colder regions, warm-blooded

animals will have stockier bodies than their counterparts from warmer

regions, because stockier bodies are more efficient at retaining body heat.

• In the cold polar regions, the Inuit have a short and stocky build; the Maasai

of East Africa have taller and more slender bodies that don’t have to retain

so much heat — they actually have to dump excess heat in their hot

environment, which is facilitated by their body shape.

• Body stature in these cases is an adaptation to the geographical conditions of

hot African and the cold Arctic.

• The rapid physiological changes that occur in one’s lifetime — like a

mountaineer’s adjustment to lower oxygen levels at high altitude — are

referred to as habituation or acclimatization.

• These aren’t passed on genetically to the next generation (because changes

acquired during life can’t be encoded in the genes,) and they’re reversible (as

when the mountaineer returns to lower elevations.)

32
3.3.2. What Anthropologists can say for sure about Human
Races?

So do human races exist? Very strictly speaking, yes. Homo sapiens sapiens does

feature geographically based differences within the species. However, you must

consider two very important points.

First, these genetic differences don’t mean a lot, biologically. Because all

healthy humans can mate and have healthy offspring, we’re all in Homo sapiens

sapiens, biologically speaking. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Not only is it

inaccurate to say “the female species” when talking about significant sex

differences between males and females, but it’s also inaccurate to say “the

African race” or the “European race” when speaking of deep differences in

these peoples. A look at the genes shows no significant species-level differences

— only very minor visible ones such as skin color, shape of nose, or hair texture.

Biologically speaking, though, these differences aren’t important. For most

physical anthropologists (who’ve spent the most time closely examining human

biology), race is nearly meaningless when applied to humanity.

Rather than talk about races, physical anthropologists more commonly talk today

of ancestry, a more general term that recognizes the reality of some

geographically specific human adaptations but doesn’t turn them into loaded,

black-and-white races (pun intended.) Ancestry may be important, for example,

when considering someone’s genetic health because different human populations

have developed slightly different genetic characteristics over time.

Second — and most important — is that cultural behavior isn’t genetically linked

to those geographical differences. This disconnect is one of anthropology’s most

important discoveries and lessons for humanity. People from Scandinavia aren’t

reserved — or whatever other behavioral trait you may apply to them — because

33
it’s in their genes to be so. It’s not. Most of human behavior isn’t biologically

determined or filtered in through the natural environment — most of it is

culturally learned. An infant from Japan can be raised in the Kalahari of

Southern Africa and won’t automatically remove his shoes when going into a

home unless his culture specifically teaches him to do so. Like any human can

acquire any language, any infant can acquire any culture; it’s culture that really

drives behavior, not the genes. The ancient belief that human races have innate

behavioral traits — industrious Asians or hot-blooded Mediterraneans — is

simply wrong.

One of the main reasons the race concept really doesn’t apply to humans is that

defining human races is almost impossible: To what race do you assign a person

born from a Native American and a native African marriage? Do you create a

new race in this case? Although some of these designations do exist, to come up

with a race for every possible combination of ancestries would be an infinite

job. Plus, it would just be another exercise in drawing lines where they don’t

really exist. And what’s “black” or “white”? Is a Greek person black or white? Of

course, they’re in between. Assigning people to a race based on skin color

becomes an exercise in holding up paint chips to the skin.

3.4 Human Races: the history of racial typing

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 what can you say for sure about human races?

Like all animals, humans have undoubtedly been classifying their neighbors in

various ways for a very long time.

34
Some of the first records of humans classifying others as certain “types” come

from ancient Egypt, where by 1350 BC you can see records of them classifying

humans by skin color:

Egyptians were red-skinned, people south of Egypt were black-skinned, those

living north of the Mediterranean Sea were white-skinned, and people to the

east were yellow-skinned.

By the the16th century, during the Age of Discovery, Europeans voyaging around

the world were encountering many previously unknown peoples and developing

racial classifications of their own. Because skin color was so noticeable, many

racial classifications were based only on that factor. Additionally, these

unknown people weren’t Christian and didn’t share European culture and values,

so the Europeans labeled them Savages. In fact, they thought they could use

racial type as an indicator of just how Savage a person was. The less European-

looking, of course, the more Savage. Though most have ditched this concept

today, many racial supremacists still believe that cultural behavior correlates

with skin color, nose shape, hair texture, or what have you.

Some naturalists in the 16th through 19th centuries proposed that savages were

even a different species than white Europeans, saying that they shouldn’t even

be considered human. This classification made persecution and enslavement of

different peoples purely because of how they looked much easier. Early

attempts by Europeans to categorize people into racial schemes were extremely

biased and hierarchical, associating morality and intelligence with skin color and

other physical attributes. These schemes always placed Europeans at the top of

the scale, and the successively darker-skinned peoples at the bottom.

By the mid-1800s, naturalists began using a method of describing the shape of

the head called the cephalic index, a ratio measurement of the length and width

35
of the head. Dolichocephalic peoples had long and narrow heads (like most

northern Europeans), and brachycephalic peoples tended to have broad heads —

like many southern Europeans. Not surprisingly, this classification scheme and

others like it led to many arguments about which peoples were superior to the

others.

The root problem of all this flailing around at the identification of human types

was biological determinism, the idea that physical traits were somehow linked to

behavior. Many thought traits like intellect, values, and morals were all products

of one’s race. Today, most people know better, although some people still wear

sheets and call for “racial purity,” an impossible and destructive idea.

A similar way that everyone — including early anthropologists — had this idea all

wrong was in the application of Darwin’s principles of biological evolution to

societies. This led to a concept known as social Darwinism, the idea that as

societies and nations evolved and competed, the morally superior societies would

prevail as the less-moral, “savage” societies were weeded out, and that this was

all natural and good. Around this time debates about the superiority or

inferiority of particular groups continued and some began to fear that civilized

(meaning northern European Christian) society was slowly being destroyed by

“unfit” peoples who, for one reason or another, were not being weeded out.

With behavioral characteristics “linked” to genetic characteristics in the minds

of many (including scientists), some in the 19th and early 20th centuries even

advocated for state regulation of marriages, family size, and whether to allow

an individual to reproduce. This practice became known as eugenics, and the

Nazis took it to a terrible extreme during World War II. In Germany, the Nazi

party began to systematically kill those members of society that it considered

inferior to the northern-European Christian ideal they held. Using eugenics as

36
the basis for its acts, the Nazi party killed millions of Jewish people, Gypsies

and others it considered inferior in an attempt to create a master race.

The problems with the concept of a master race — aside from the obvious moral

issues surrounding eugenics — is that biological variation is necessary for the

health of a population. Basically, if all members of a population are the same, the

population has no buffer against a particularly lethal or catastrophic disease or

any other major change in the species’ selective environment. If everyone is the

same, everyone is susceptible to the same potential disaster. For this reason,

many biologists measure the overall health of a species by its very genetic

diversity. So even if a master race were possible, and one could (and would want

to) manage to prevent any interbreeding, the end result would be a genetically

uniform and genetically vulnerable population. The idea of a master race is

therefore suicidal.

3.5 The Grand Illusion: Race, turns out, is arbitrary

Reflect your views on the following question

 Why do you think is race become an elusive concept?

Over the years, various anthropologists have attempted to classify the human

species into various races, such as Caucasian, Black African, Asian, and so on.

The problem is that the physical traits used to identify which group an

individual belonged in aren’t binary opposites like black or white, period, with no

middle ground. They’re continuous traits, meaning that a whole spectrum exists

between, say, “black” and “white” skin designations.

37
Any attempt to classify human races raises a number of questions. Although

Asians look pretty clearly different from Europeans in some respects, what do

you do with people who look, well, partly Asian and partly European? And does

“European” end in the Middle East, where some African traits are present?

Where does Africa even begin, genetically speaking? Who’s going to draw up the

lines between “black” and “white” (and what qualifies that person for the job,

anyway)? One thorough 1972 study by Harvard anthropologist R.C. Lewontin

concluded that “Human racial classification is of no social value and is positively

destructive of social and human relations. Since such racial classification is now

seen to be of virtually no genetic or taxonomic [classifying] significance either,

no justification can be offered for its continuance.” Bottom line: For most

professional anthropologists today, human “race” is an antiquated concept. For

biomedical reasons (and sometimes forensic identification of bodies), the reality

of genetic ancestry can be important, but color coded races, loaded with

behavioral traits, are basically arbitrary.

3.6. Why is Everyone Different? Human Cultural

Diversity/Variation

Reflect your views on the following question

 Why don’t others do things the way we/you do?

Although all humans are of the same species, they don’t all act the same; human

behavior varies tremendously worldwide. If race doesn’t control a person’s

characteristics, what does account for human behavioral variation? In short,

the answer is culture. Cultures differ because people live in different

38
conditions, be they ecological, economic, social, or what have you. For example,

each culture is ultimately a unique adaptation to the social and environmental

conditions in which it evolves. The culture of the Amazonian foragers has

certain characteristics, and they value certain things and act certain ways,

because they have evolved in a particular ecological environment, one different

from highland Scots, whose own culture is an adaptation to their unique

environment. This difference is ultimately why human behavior isn’t the same

worldwide.

Of course, human cultures have been evolving for thousands of years — and in

the modern age, with mass communication and mass movement of peoples from

one environment and culture to another, culture has changed very quickly.

3.7. Culture area and cultural contact in Ethiopia

Put simply culture areas refers to a cluster of related cultures occupying a

certain geographical region. In anthropology the concept of culture area has

been used beginning from the 1920s where Afred Kroeber and his

contemporaries were interested in examining the concentration of cultural

trains in a given geographic area.

In the context of Ethiopia, we may come up with different culture are in

relation to subsistence. These are plough culture, Enset culture area, pastoral

societies culture area.

A. Plough culture area

Plough culture area represents those parts of the country where agriculture is

predominantly the means by which subsistence is eked out. Most of highland and

central parts of the country serves as the backbone of the economy is

39
considered a plough culture. The area often called plough culture has been a

subject of anthropological inquires over the past seven decades starting from

the 1950s. Some of the ethnographers who studied the area that we call plough

culture are Donald Levine, Allen Hobben, Fredrick Gamst and Jack Bauer.

B. Enset culture area

Enset culture area, on the other hand, covers a vast region in the southern part

of country. Enset cultivating regions of the present day SNNPRS such as the

Guraghe, Sidama and Gedeo areas constitute enset culture area. In this region,

enset serves as a staple diet to the people who make use the plant in a wide

variety of forms for a living.

C. Pastoral culture area

Pastoral culture area is found in the low land areas covering a large section of
the Afar in the northwest, Somali in the southeast and Borena of southern of
Ethiopia. As opposed ot the above the cases, inhabitants of the pastoral culture
area rely significantly on their herds and cattle for a living. Mobility of people
and herds is a major characteristic feature of the people occupying the
pastoral culture area.

Reflect your views on the following question

 Search for anthropological findings/studies in

your library focusing on plough culture, enset

culture and pastoral culture areas in Ethiopia.

Summarize the finding of scholars in a group of five students

and present the result of you work in class to your instructor

and students.

 How do you explain the pattern of historical interaction

between the different culture areas of the country discussed

40
 in this unit?

 What other culture areas can identify in the country in addition

to the above three types?

3.8. Unit Summary

Dear learners!

In this unit, we have covered a wide variety of issues including human origins,

humanity, diversity, race and racial types, culture areas of Ethiopia at length. By

now you know what it means to be human? what is meant by biocultural animal,

the difference and similarities among human population, and the cultural

explanation for human variation across the world. In addition, we have discussed

three different culture areas in the context of Ethiopia by taking subsistence

into consideration.

3.9. Assessment Techniques

The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group assignment,

individual assignments, administering different examinations and mandatory

reading assignments.

3.9 Facilities required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers.… etc.

Suggested reading materials:

Kottack, C. P. (2007). Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural

Anthropology (5th ed.). McGraw Hill, Boston.

41
Scupin, R. and DeCorse, R.C. (1988). Anthropology: A Global Perspective (2nded.).

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Scupin, R. and DeCorse, R.C. . (2016). Anthropology: A Global Perspective (8th

ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Smith, M. C. and Davies, T. E. (1998). Anthropology for Dummies. Indianapolis:

Wiley Publishing Inc.

Tuniz, C. and Vipraio, T.P . (2015). Human: An Unauthorized Biography. Springer,

Switzerland.

Unit Four

4. Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable Groups

Study Hours: 4 Face to Face Hours

Dear Students!

 Welcome to Unit Four. In the previous unit we have seen the nature and

dimensions of human cultural diversity explained using socially constructed

concepts such as of race.

 We also discussed issues related culture areas, culture contact and cross-

cultural similarities in the Ethiopian setting.

 Unit Four focuses on issues of marginalization and vulnerability.

 It specifically deals with different forms of marginalization targeting

occupational groups, women, children, and older people, religious and ethnic

minorities.

 It also discusses the human right approaches, the notion of inclusiveness in

anthropological perspective.

42
 In due course, students are required to assume active role in class activities

and discussions; sharing of experiences, undertaking different debates and

arguments and take-home assignments.

Contents of the Unit

 Concepts related to marginalization

 Gender-based marginalization

 Marginalized occupational groups

 Age-based vulnerability: marginalization of children and older persons

 Marginalization of religious and ethnic minorities

 Inclusiveness and the human rights approach

Unit Learning Outcomes

Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 define concepts related to marginalization

 identify forms of marginalization targeting different social groups and

populations

 analyze the major causes and manifestations of different forms of

marginalization

 discuss the notion of inclusiveness and the human rights approach to

protect vulnerable and minority groups

 suggest viable ways of promoting inclusive approaches and protecting

marginalized and vulnerable groups

Introduction

 In the previous unit, we discussed issues such as human diversity in terms of

race, religion and culture in broader sense.

43
 We also dealt with culture areas, culture contact and cross-cultural

similarities in the Ethiopian context.

 In this unit, we will discuss issues related to marginalized, minority and

vulnerable groups focusing on global and Ethiopia settings.

 The chapter specifically focuses on marginalization of women, children,

occupational, religious and ethnic minorities. Let us begin with definition of

some concepts.

4.1 Definition of concepts

 What is marginalization? Marginalization is defined as a treatment of a

person or social group as minor, insignificant or peripheral.

 Marginalization involves exclusion of certain groups from social interactions,

marriage relations, sharing food and drinks, and working and living together.

 Who are mostly marginalized? There are marginalized social groups in every

society and culture.

 Women,

 children,

 older people, and

 people with disabilities are among marginalized groups across the world.

 The nature and level of marginalization varies from society to society as a

result of cultural diversity.

 Religious, ethnic, and racial minorities are also among social groups

marginalized in different societies and cultures.

 Crafts workers such as:

 tanners,

 potters, and

 ironsmiths are marginalized in many parts of Ethiopia.

44
 What is vulnerability? Vulnerability refers to the state of being exposed to

physical or emotional injuries.

 Vulnerable groups are people exposed to possibilities of attack, harms or

mistreatment.

 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention, protection and

support.

 For example, children and people with disabilities need special support and

protection as they are exposed to risks and neglect because of their age and

disabilities.

 Universities have introduced special needs education for students with

disabilities to give them special support.

 Minority groups: The phrase ‘minority group’ refers to a small group of people

within a community, region, or country.

 In most cases, minority groups are different from the majority population in

terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and language.

 For example, black Americans are minorities in the United States of America.

 Christians could be minorities in a Muslim majority country.

 Muslims can be minorities in a predominantly Hindu society.

 Hence, minority groups can be:
 ethnic minorities,
 religious minorities, or
 racial minorities in a given community, region of country.
 There are different forms of marginalization.
 In this chapter we will discuss issues related to occupational, age and gender-
based marginalization.

45
 Reflect on the following questions

What kind of marginalization do you observe in your

social environment?

Who are the most marginalized groups?

What are the major causes for the marginalization of

those groups of people?

4.2 Gender-based marginalization

 Gender inequality involves discrimination on a group of people based on their

gender.

 Gender inequality mainly arises from socio-cultural norms.

 The manifestations of gender inequality vary from culture to culture.

 Girls and women face negative discrimination in societies across the world.

 Women are exposed to social and economic inequalities involving unfair

distribution of wealth, income and job opportunities.

 Gender-based marginalization is a global problem.

 It involves exclusion of girls and women from a wide range of opportunities

and social services.

 Gender disparities in education is a good example.

 Girls in developing countries, especially those who live in remote and rural

areas, are excluded from formal education.

 The enrollment of girls in higher education is much lower than that of boys.

 Women do not enjoy equal employment opportunities.

 They do not have equal rights in terms of property ownership and inheritance.

46
 Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based violence such as rape,

early/child marriage, abduction/forced marriage, domestic violence and

female genital cutting/mutilation.

 There are some customary practices that affect the health and wellbeing of

girls and women.

 These practices collectively are called harmful traditional practices (HTPs).

 We will discuss two examples: early/child marriage and female circumcision,

also called female genital cutting/mutilation.

 Let us begin with female genital cutting, which is widely practiced in most

regions of Ethiopia.

Female genital cutting

 Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced in 28 countries in western, northern

and eastern Africa.
 The prevalence of FGC is very high in Somali (98%)1, Djibouti (93%), Egypt
(87%), Sudan (87%), and Eritrea (83%).
 Ethiopia is one of the high prevalence countries in Africa.
 According to recent reports, 65% of girls and women in 15 to 49 years age
category are circumcised (UNFPA & UNICEF, 2017).
 According to Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey report, the

prevalence of FGC in Ethiopia varied from region to region.

 Somali (99%), Afar (91%), and Harari (84%) are the three regions with very

high prevalence of the practice.

 The prevalence of FGC in Oromia (76%), Benishangul-Gumuz (63%), Amhara

(62%) and Southern, Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regional

states (62%) is also high.

 The prevalence of the practice in also high in big cities such as Addis Ababa

(54%) and Dire Dawa (79%).

1 Figures show the percentage of girls and women (aged 15 to 49 years) who have undergone female genital
cutting.
47
 The two regions with relatively low FGC prevalence are Tigray (24%) and

Gambella (33%).

Health impacts of female genital cutting

 There are four major types of FGC. They are :
 Type I (clitoridectomy),
 Type II (excision),
 Type III (infibulation), and
 Type IV (all the rest).
 The first three types of FGC are practiced in Ethiopia.
 According to the Ethiopian demographic and health survey (EDHS 2016),
 3% of circumcised women (age 15-49) experienced the type of
circumcision that involves cutting without flesh removing
(clitoridectomy),
 7% experienced sewn closed type (infibulation), and
 73% experienced cut and flesh removed (excision).
 Harms of FGC vary because the types of FGC practiced in different regions
and cultural settings are different.
 Type III (also called infibulation or phraonic) is the most severe form of FGC.
 This type of FGC is widely practiced in the Somali, Afar, and Harari regions.
 Short term and long-term implications for the health of girls and women
including:
 severe bleeding,
 infections,
 pain during sexual intercourse,
 delivery complications, and
 fistula.
 The impacts also include psychological trauma.

Factors that encourage female genital cutting

 The prevalence of FGC has been declining in Ethiopia.

 However, it is still practiced in most of the regions in the country.

 Why do people practice FGC? The practice is sustained for some reasons:

1) people consider it as an integral part of their culture; and

48
 2) people believe that the practice has some benefits.

 The following are some of the beliefs related to the practice:

 FGC is considered as a process of purifying girls. In some cultures,

uncircumcised girls/women are considered as impure.

 According to local beliefs, marriage to uncircumcised girls would bring

misfortunes such as illness, infertility, and conflict.

 Hence, girls must be circumcised to be clean and ready for marriage

 Uncircumcised girls would be disobedient, powerful and ill-mannered.

 In some parts of Ethiopia, people believe that uncircumcised girls tend

to destroy household utensils.

 There is a widely held belief that uncircumcised girls are promiscuous

(unrestrained) because they have high sexual drive.

 Some people believe that marriage to uncircumcised girls/women would

not be stable and long-lasting.

 FGC is also considered as a means of preserving girls’ virginity, which

is considered as a precondition for marriage in some cultures.

Reflect on the following questions

Do you think that beliefs related to FGC are acceptable?
Do you accept the benefits of FGC outlined above?
What shall be done to accelerate the abandonment of
? FGC

 Female genital cutting is sustained is enforced by social expectations and

norms.

 Girls and parents who decide to abandon the practice would be subject to

social sanctions. The following are examples:

49
 Social exclusion and marginalization: Community members would

exclude uncut girls and women from a wide range of social relations

and interactions.

 Gossip and insult: community members, including peer groups, boys,

women and men, put pressure on uncircumcised girls and their parents

through gossiping and insulting.

 In some parts of Ethiopia, men do not marry uncircumcised girls. As a

result, uncircumcised girls are excluded from marriage opportunities

and love relationships.

 In some parts of the country, people do not eat food cooked by

uncircumcised girls. Uncircumcised girls/women are not also allowed to

join other people for prayer. This is because uncut girls are labeled as

impure.

Read and Discuss

 What are the cultural justifications for practicing

FGC in different regions and cultural settings in

Ethiopia?

 Do you think that FGC has negative impacts on health

and wellbeing of girls and women? If so what are the

harms caused by the practice?

 Propose culturally appropriate/sensitive solutions to

the problems caused by FGC.

50
4.3 Marginalized occupational groups

 According to anthropological findings, there are occupational marginalized

groups in many parts of Ethiopia.

 The following are marginalized occupational groups in our country:

 tanners,

 potters,

 weavers and ironsmiths.

 These craft-workers have different names in different parts of the country.

 Craft-workers such as potters and tanners are considered as impure and

excluded from social interactions, ownership of economic resources (e.g.,

land), and participation in associations and celebrations.

 As noted above, marginalized occupation groups are people engaged in craftworks

such as pottery, tannery, and iron works.
 Craft-workers in Ethiopia produce several articles such as traditional hand-

woven clothes, household utensils, and farm tools.

 Crafts workers lead a life of paradoxes (inconsistencies).

 They have important contributions to their communities; however, they are

marginalized by the dominant and majority groups.

 For examples, weavers produce cultural clothes highly demanded by

thousands and millions of people.

 Many people use cultural clothes during annual celebrations, religious holidays,

weddings, culture days, and mourning.

 The demand of cultural dresses has been increasing in the last three decades.

 People dress cultural clothes in different occasions such as cultural festivals,

days of nations and nationalities, and religious celebrations.

 Despite their contributions, weavers are marginalized from the wider society.

51
 Reading

A book edited by Dena Freeman and Alula Pankhurst (2001) is

an important reading material on marginalized occupational
groups in Ethiopia. The title of the book is ‘ Marginalized
Minorities of Craftworkers and Hunters in Southern Ethiopia’.
The book focuses on marginalized occupational groups in 14
ethnic/cultural groups including the Gurage, Kambata, Kafa,
Dawro, Gamo, Sidama and Konso. Read a few chapters and
discuss some of the issues among your classmates or during
class discussion.

 Ironsmiths are among occupational groups marginalized in many cultural

settings in Ethiopia.

 Ironsmiths make and repair iron articles without using machines.

 They contribute a lot especially in rural areas.

 Ironsmiths serve rural communities by producing farming tools such as

 plough shares,

 sickles, and

 hoes (digs).

 Ethiopia families widely use household utensils (e.g., knives and axes) made by

ironsmiths.

 Tanners make leather products that serve community members.

 Potters produce pottery articles essential for food processing and serving

and fetching water.

 Despite their contributions, these craft-workers are considered inferior and

marginalized from wide areas of social interactions.

52
 Craft-workers such as potters and weavers
have a big contributions to their respective
communities; however, they are excluded and
mistreated by the majority groups.

hat do you think the reason for the marginalization of these
occupational groups?

hat is the impact of this practice to the development of
the crafts industry in Ethiopia?

hat solution do you suggest to eradicate the
marginalization of crafts workers and protect their
rights?
Write your answer and read it in the class.
 Marginalization of despised occupational groups is manifested in many ways in

different parts of Ethiopia.

 Dena Freeman and Alula Pankhurst (2001), well-known anthropologists,

identified different forms of marginalization targeting minority occupational

groups.

 Some of them are summarized in the following table.

Types and manifestations of marginalization of craft-workers

Type of Manifestations of marginalization
marginalizatio
n
Spatial  Craft-workers settle/live on the outskirts of villages, near to
marginalizatio forests, on poor land, around steep slopes.
n  They are segregated at market places (they sell their goods
at the outskirts of markets).
 When they walk along the road, they are expected to give
way for others and walk on the lower side of the road.
Economic  Craft-workers are excluded from certain economic activities
marginalizatio including production and exchanges. In some cultures, they
n are not allowed to cultivate crops.

53
  They have a limited access to land and land ownership.
Social  Craft-workers are excluded from intermarriage, they do not
marginalizatio share burial places with others; they are excluded from
n membership of associations such as iddirs.
 When marginalized groups are allowed to participate in social
events, they must sit on the floor separately-sometimes
outside the house or near the door.

Cultural Cultural marginalization is manifested in negative stereotyping

marginalizatio such as the following:
n  Occupational minorities are labelled as impure and polluting;
they are accused of eating animals that have died without
being slaughtered;
 Occupational minorities are also considered unreliable,
lacking morality, respect and shame.

Source: Alula Pankhurst and Getachew Assefa (2008)

The above table summarizes forms of marginalization targeting occupational
minorities such as potters, tanners, and ironsmiths. Manifestations of economic,
spatial, social and cultural marginalization are outlined to illustrate the level of
discrimination against craft-workers. These are examples. You may find other
forms of marginalization when you read the literature on this issue. There are
different arguments related to this issue. Discuss the following issues.
The marginalization of craft-workers is an issue of human rights.

Provide your critical reflection on the following questions.

 How do you evaluate the negative stereotypes against craft-

workers?

 What are the short and long-term impacts of such

stereotypes targeting occupation minorities?

 Some people argue that marginalization of craft-workers is

one of the factors that hinders the development of
craftworks and small scale manufacturing in Ethiopia. Do you
agree? If you do what are your reasons?

54
4.4 Age-based vulnerability

 What is age-based vulnerability? Age-based vulnerability is susceptibility of

people, especially children and older people, to different forms of attack,

physical injuries and emotional harms.

 For example, children and older people (people aged 60 and above) are

exposed to possibilities of attack, harm and mistreatment because of their

age.

 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention, protection and

support.

 In this section, we discuss some example related to children and older people.

4.4.1 Children: Discrimination/vulnerability

 Children are among vulnerable groups exposed to harm because of their age.

 Both boys and girls are exposed to some harm and abuse in the hands of older

people.

 However, girls are exposed to double marginalization and discrimination

because of the gender.

 Child girls are exposed to various kinds of harm before they reach at the age

of maturity.

 As discussed earlier in this chapter, girls are exposed to HTPs such as female

genital cutting.

 Minor girls are also exposed to early/child marriage in many parts of Ethiopia.

Early/child marriage:

 Early marriage refers to marriage which involves girls below the age of 18.

 The prevalence of early marriage is declining in Ethiopia and other African

countries.

55
 However, it is still widely practiced in different regions of Ethiopia.

 According to international human rights conventions, early marriage is

regarded as violation of the rights of the child.

 Early marriage has the following major harmful consequences:

 Young girls enter into marital relation when they are too young to give

their consent to get married.

 Early marriage inhibits girls' personal development; it hinders girls’

chance to education and future professional development.

 Early marriage exposes young girls to sexual abuse by their older

husbands.

 Early marriage leads to early pregnancies, which increases risks of

diseases and complications during delivery, fistula, and death of the

mother or child.

 Child marriage is an illegal practice according to the Criminal Code of Ethiopia.

 Despite these legal restrictions, however, early marriage is still practiced in

different regions of the country.

Facts about early marriage in Ethiopia

 Forty percent of all women who are in their early

twenties married before the age of 18.

 Eight per cent of girls aged 15-19 were married before

they reach at the age of 15.
 Uneducated girls, girls from poor family, and girls living

in rural areas more likely marry earlier that rich-

family, urban and educated girls (Harper et al, 2018,

page 44).

56
 Read more on early marriage and its implications for the
wellbeing of girls.

Factors encouraging early marriage:

 According to study findings, there are various factors that drive early

marriage.

 Social norms and economic factors are the two major drivers of the practice.

Social norms:
 Social norms contribute a lot for the continuation of early marriage in many

parts of the world.

 Chastity of girls is one of the social norms that influence parents and

relatives to protecting girls from pre-marital sex.

 The value attached to virginity is another driver of early marriage.

 Girl’s reputation (status) and family social status are associated with sexual

purity of girls.

 Parents incline to marry off their daughter before the girl reach at the stage

of poverty to avoid the possibility of pre-marital sex and love affair.

 Community members influence unmarried teen-age girls to get married as

early as possible.

 They do this through social pressure including insulting unmarried young girls.

 Komoker, an Amharic term, is the widely used insult to ridicule girls

considered to be late to get married.

 Economic factors are among the major factors that drive child marriage.

 In many areas of Ethiopia marriage provides economic security for young

girls.

57
 Hence, parents, in some cases girls, support early marriage for economic

benefits such as access to land and other resources.

 Parents’ desire to get a good husband for their daughter is also another

reason.

4.4.2 Marginalization of older persons

 We have discussed age-based marginalization considering the vulnerability of

children.

 Age based marginalization also affects older people.

 The phrase ‘older people’ refers to adults with the age of 60 and above.

 The number of older people is increasing globally.

 According to the estimation of the United Nations (2009), the number of

older people will increase to 2 billion by 2050.

 Eighty percent of the 2 billion older persons would live in low and middle-

income countries.

 This means Africa would have a large number of older adults after 30 years.

 Ethiopia, the second populous country in Africa, would also have millions of

older persons after three decades.

Discuss the impacts of demographic changes

- What do you think about this demographic

change?

- What are the potential challenges of an

increasing population of older people?

- Ethiopia currently has large number of younger people. What

are the advantages and challenges of having large population
of young people in countries like Ethiopia?

58
 People’s attitude towards older persons is changing over time in Ethiopia and

all over the world.

 Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian cultures.

 Older persons have been considered as custodians (upholders) of tradition,

culture, and history.

 The role of older persons crucial in

 mentoring younger people,

 resolving disputes, and

 restoring peace across Ethiopian cultures.

 Situations are changing as family structures and living patterns are changing

over time.

 Rural-urban migration, changes in values and life style, education and new

employment opportunities lead to so many changes.

 Care and support for older people tend to decline as younger people migrate

to urban areas and exposed to economic pressure and new life styles.

 Ageism is a widely observed social problem in the world.

 Ageism refers to:

 stereotyping,

 prejudice, and

 discrimination against people based on their age.

 Older women and men enjoyed a certain level of support and respected in the

past.

 This was true in many cultures of Ethiopia in the past.

 Things have been changing in recent times.

 Older people are facing various problems as a result of modernization,

globalization, and urbanization.

59
 Older people are exposed to social exclusion because of their lower social and

economic status.

 In most cases, older people are excluded from social, cultural, political and

economic interactions in their communities.

 Older persons are marginalized because they are considered as social burden

rather than social assets.

 Communities do not provide older persons with opportunities to contribute to

their communities.

Discuss changes related to older people

 What kind of challenges do older men and women face

in Ethiopia? Do the challenges vary in rural and urban

areas?

 Do you think that respect for older people is declining

over

time?

 What kind of change do you observe social and

economic status of older people in the community you
come from?

4.5. Religious and ethnic minorities

 We have discussed the marginalization of different social and occupational

groups in different socio-cultural contexts.

 Religious and ethnic minorities groups also face different forms of

marginalization.

 There are several examples of marginalization and discrimination targeting

religious and ethnic minorities in the world.

 Let us mention two examples.

60
  The Jewish people suffered from discrimination and persecution in

different parts of the world. They were targets of extermination in

Germany and other Western European countries because of their

identity.

 Muslim Rohingyas are among the most marginalized and persecuted people

in the world. According to Abdu Hasnat Milton et al (2017), the Rohingya

are ‘one of the most ill-treated and persecuted refugee groups in the

world’. In recent years, more than half-a-million Rohingyas fled from

their homes in Nyanmar to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. As

people living in refugee camps, the Rohingyas are vulnerable to problems

such as malnutrition and physical and sexual abuse.

 These are among the widely known examples of discrimination against

religious and ethnic minorities.

 The problem is not limited to specific areas, regions or countries.

 Although the level of the problem varies in different contexts, religious and

ethnic minorities face different forms of discrimination in many parts of the

world.

4.6. Human right approaches and inclusiveness: Anthropological perspectives

 All forms of marginalization and discrimination against vulnerable and

minority groups contradict the principles of human rights.

 The major human rights conventions denounce discrimination against women,

children, people with disability, older people and other minority and

vulnerable groups.

 People with disabilities have the right to inclusive services and equal

opportunities.

61
 The human rights of women and girls include right to be free from harmful

traditional practices such as forced marriage, early marriage, and female

genital cutting.

 Any form of discrimination, exclusion, and gender-based violence also violate

the human rights girls and women.

Explore the human rights treaties

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

(CRC) is a human rights treaty approved by

the United Nations in 1989. The Convention

has 41 articles focusing on the survival rights, development

rights, protection rights and participation rights.

Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW) is also a human rights treaty

endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.

Read the two conventions and outlines articles focusing on

exclusion and discrimination against children and women.

 Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality.

 Do you remember the meaning of cultural relativism? It is one of the guiding

principles in social anthropology.

 It is about the importance of understanding the values, norms, customs and

practices of a particular culture in its own context.

 This requires appreciating the life styles of others including their dressing

styles, food habits, beliefs, rituals and celebrations.

 It also requires avoiding value judgments such as saying ‘this custom is

backward or primitive’.

 This does not mean that we need to appreciate every custom and practice.

62
  Anthropologists do not support/appreciate cultural practices that violate the

rights and wellbeing of individuals and groups.

 For example, anthropologists do not support the following harmful practices

in the name of cultural relativism:

 Female genital cutting (FGC):

 Anthropologists do not support FGC for practical reasons:

 FGC violates the rights of girls to physical integrity.

 It has short- and long-term consequences for the health of girls and women.

 Early/child marriage:

 Anthropologists do not support early marriage for similar reasons:

 Early marriage violates the rights of young girls to make decision about

their future.

 It destroys their chance to education, and personal and professional

development.

 Early marriage negatively affects their physical and psychological wellbeing.

Dear Students:

We are finalizing this unit. Please reflect on the following issues before you

move on to the next unit: (1) how do you understand cultural relativism? (2) Do

we need to support/appreciate harmful customary practices in the name of

cultural relativism?

4.7. Unit Summary

 In this Unit, we have discussed issues related to marginalization of different

groups including gender, age, religious and ethnic groups.

 It also outlined the marginalization of occupational groups such as potters,

tanners and weavers in different cultural settings in Ethiopia.

63
 The Unit also dealt with the human rights approach and the importance of

inclusive approaches to protect the rights of marginalized, vulnerable and

minority groups.

 In the next you will learn about theories of inter-ethnic relations and

multiculturalism.

4.8. Assessment Techniques

The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group

assignment, individual assignments, administering different examinations and

mandatory reading assignments.

4.9 Facilities Required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers .… etc.

Suggested Reading Materials

Abdu Hasnat et al (2017). Trapped in Statelessness: Rohingya Refugees in

Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public

Health. 14, 942, p. 1-8.

Central Statistical Agency (CSA) [Ethiopia] and ICF. (2016). Ethiopia

Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and

Rockville, Maryland, USA: CSA and ICF.

Freeman D. and Pankhurst, A. (Eds.) Living on the Edge: Marginalized Minorities

of Craftworkers and Hunters in Southern Ethiopia. Department of

Sociology and Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University.

Harper, C.; Jones, N.; Ghimire, A.; Marcus, R.; and Bantebya, G. K (Eds.). 2018.

Empowering Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries: Gebder Justice and

Norm Change. New York: Routledge.

64
Freeman D. and Pankhurst, A. (Eds.) Living on the Edge: Marginalized Minorities

of Craft workers and Hunters in Southern Ethiopia. Department of Sociology

and Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University.

Harper, C.; Jones, N.; Ghimire, A.; Marcus, R.; and Bantebya, G. K (Eds.). 2018.
Empowering

Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries: Gebder Justice and Norm Change.

New York: Routledge.

Unit Five

5. Identity, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism in

Ethiopia

Study Hours: 8 face-to-face hours

Dear Learners!

 Welcome to unit five.

 This unit deals with the social world of identity, ethnicity, race,

interethnic relations and multiculturalism.

65
 Ethnicity, race, and nationality pose one of the greatest challenges to the

survival of humankind in the 21stc, for

 they touch the very core of the social fabric, personal identity and

individuality;

 they influence how we think of others and ourselves;

 they play a role in our morality and political behavior; and

 they affect our everyday existence in significant ways.

 Indeed, they seem to affect most things we do and think, from the most

mundane (routine) ways in which we behave to the dearest beliefs we hold

about ourselves and others.

 Such identities have as much political, sociological and economic salience

as they ever had.

 To this end, it is hoped that you will benefit a lot out of this unit in terms

understanding the process of social categorization and identification, as

you will rigorously discuss about how ethnic difference is socially

constructed, organized and negotiated –in context of diversity.

 And, how ethnic identification, or indeed any kinds of identification,

works, and made socially relevant and the relationship of ethnicity to

other analogues or homologues identifications such as race and national

identity.

 In this unit therefore, you will be introduced to concepts like ethnicity

and race as both a social construct as well as a constituent feature of

people’s identities and lived experiences, their nature and characteristics

and the active role they play in the social, economic and political life of

people.

 Drawing upon theoretical discourses, the unit will also provide you insights

on the ways in which ethnic identity and ethnic relations are defined and

66
 perceived by people, how particular world-views are being maintained, or

contested and how societies use these constructions for, among other

things, nation-building, economic development, resources competition and

group mobilization for different materialistic and political ends.

 In addition, the various discussions in the unit incorporate a contextual

discussion of ethnicity and multiculturalism in Ethiopia.

 In due course, students are required to assume active role in class

activities and discussions; sharing of experiences, undertaking different

debates and arguments and take-home assignments.

Contents of the Unit:

The major topics that we are about to uncover in this part of the module

include: the elaboration and detailed problematization of the concepts of

ethnicity, identity, ethnic identity as essentially illusive concepts in need of

further explications. In due course, all related concepts such as ethnic groups,

ethnic boundaries, race etc. will be explored. The most prominent theoretical

positions concerning these issues are also addressed in more broader terms with

their critics and counter critics.

Unit learning outcomes:

Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 Define ‘ethnicity’ and differentiate it from other cognate (equivalent)

identifications and group categorization such as race and nation;

 Understand the basics of ethnic identity and ethnic group –as the

outcome of a dialectical process of internal and external definition;

 Develop greater understanding over the often-contested nature of

culture, identity, ethnicity and race;

67
  Understand lack of sound biological or scientific basis for use of race in

analytical sense to group identification and categorization;

 Identify the major theories of ethnicity and describe their main

arguments regarding the nature, characteristics and silent feature of

ethnicity;

 Explain the different aspects and patterns of ethnic relations and

understand how ethnic groups maintain their ethnic boundary (identity)

while interacting with others;

 Critique ethnicity as a dynamic aspect of social organization and ethnic

boundaries as flexible and constantly reproduced through social

interaction;

 Analyze how ethnic and other cognate identifications are socially

constructed and manipulated as a powerful tool for economic and political

ends.

5.1. Identity, Ethnicity and Race: Identification and Social

Categorization

Introduction

Dear learners, welcome to this section. This section mainly deals with the social
construction of identity, and process of group identification, categorization and
its implication for people lives. It will shed some light on concrete issues of
identity, ethnicity, and race and how ethnic and racial identification, or indeed
any kind of identification, work in the process of group identification and social
categorization. In this way, the section will offer a set of conceptual tools,
which go far beyond the immediate interpretation of day-today politics in their
applicability.

68
 Reflect your views on the following questions.

 How do you describe who you are (your identity)?

 What are the ways we tell for others who we are?

 Why do people are obsessed with their identity?

 What’s the point of this obsession with who we are?

 All animals recognize differences between “self” and “other”.

 In human societies, these differences take on enormous significance,

partly because humans are so individualistic - rather than being clone-like

automatons, humans have individual personalities.

 Society validates that individualism by giving infants unique names.

 Those names also keep track of who’s related to whom, sometimes for

generations back into the past.

 What’s the point of this obsession with who we are? Why am I named “X”

rather than “#26-A,” and why do we go further, adding categorical

identifiers such as “ethnic X” or “race Z” to our identifications?

 To understand themselves as a species, humans have to also understand

themselves as individuals within networks of other individuals.

 This unit explores identity, individual and collective; and how societies

worldwide manage to define and categorically identify different kinds of

identities, such as ethnic, racial and national identity.

 Brubaker (2004), inculcate that identity more generally is not real,

either, in the sense that it is not a ‘thing’ that people can be said to have

or to be.

 Instead, we should talk about ongoing and open-ended processes of

identification.

69
  By this logic, identity does not impel people to do anything; it is, rather,

people who engage in identification.

 It is certainly true, for instance, that whatever reality can be attributed

to groups depends on people thinking that groups exist and that they

belong to them.

 It is also certainly true that identity depends on processes of

identification and does not determine, in any mechanistic or causal sense,

what individuals do (Jenkins, 2008).

 Throughout the discussions that will come under the subsequent

subtopics, this section will explore the ways in which ethnic categories

and relations are being defined and perceived by people;

 how people talk and think about their own group as well as other groups,

and how particular world-views are being maintained or contested.

 Moreover, by exploring both differences and similarities between ethnic

phenomena, it thereby provides a nuanced and complex vision of ethnicity,

process of ethnic and other identity constructions and group

categorization in the contemporary world.

5.1.1. Ethnicity: What’s in a name?

Introduction

This section provides detail conceptual discussion and discourses on ethnicity

and the derivate concepts of ethnic group and ethnic identity by contextualizing
within the broader social process of identification and group categorization.
Through contextual discussion of social life at the level of everyday interaction,
which is the locus where ethnicity is created and re-created, it provides some
insights on how ethnicity emerges and is made relevant through ongoing social
situations and encounters, and through people's ways of coping with the
demands and challenges of life.

70
 Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What do people mean when they talk about ethnicity?

 Why does currently, ethnic studies and ethnic issues

dominate

public and academic discourses?

 Why does ethnicity seem to matter to some people(s) – in

some situations – but not to others?

 Why and when does ethnicity really matter?

 After the end of the second world war, words like “ethnicity”, “ethnic

groups” “ethnic conflict” and “nationalism” have become quite common

terms in the English language, and they keep cropping up in the press, in

TV news, in political programmes and in casual conversations.

 There has been a parallel development in the social sciences with a

growing interest in such studies.

 During the 1980s and early 1990s, we have witnessed an explosion in the

growth of scholarly publications on ethnicity, ethnic phenomenon and

nationalism across different disciplines, within social sciences.

 An important reason for the current academic interest in ethnicity and

nationalism is the fact that such phenomena have become so visible in

many societies that it has become impossible to ignore them.

 In the early twentieth century, many social theorists held that ethnicity

and nationalism would decrease in importance and eventually vanish as a

result of modernization, industrialization and individualism.

 This never came about.

71
 On the contrary, ethnicity and nationalism have grown in political

importance in the world, particularly since the Second World War.

 Thirty-five of the thirty-seven major armed conflicts in the world in 1991

were internal conflicts, and most of them - from Sri Lanka to Northern

Ireland - could plausibly be described as ethnic conflicts.

 In addition to violent ethnic movements, there are also many important

non-violent ethnic movements, such as the Québecois independence

movement in Canada.

 In many parts of the world, further, nation-building - the creation of

political cohesion and national identity in former colonies - is high on the

political agenda.

 Ethnic and national identities also become strongly pertinent following the

continuous influx of labour migrants and refugees to Europe and North

America, which has led to the establishment of new, permanent ethnic

minorities in these areas.

 During the same period, indigenous populations (such as Inuits& Sami)

have organized themselves politically, and demand that their ethnic

identities and territorial entitlements should be recognized by the State.

 Finally, the political turbulence in Europe has moved issues of ethnic and

national identities to the forefront of political life.

 At one extreme of the continent, the erstwhile Soviet Union has split into

over a dozen ethnically based states.

 With the disappearance of the strong Socialist state in the countries of

Central and Eastern Europe, issues of nationhood and minority problems

are emerging with unprecedented force.

72
  On the other extreme of the continent, the situation seems to be the

opposite, as the nation-states of Western Europe are moving towards a

closer economic, political and possibly cultural integration.

 But here, too, national and ethnic identities have become important issues

in recent years.

 Many people fear the loss of their national or ethnic identity as a result

of a tight European integration, whereas others consider the possibilities

for a pan-European identity to replace the ethnic and national ones.

 The process reveled how personal identities are intimately linked with

political processes and that social identities, e.g. as Danes or Europeans,

are not given once, and for all, but are negotiated over.

 Both of these insights are crucial to the study of ethnicity.

 The same is true for Ethiopia, where issue of ethnic and national

identities is contested and ethnicity has become the official organizing

principle of the state since 1991.

5.1.2. Ethnicity – A Short Historical Overview

 Dear learners, in this section, the history and meanings of ‘ethnicity’ will
be explored.
 By making a short historical overview on the use of the term, it will show
how the term ‘ethnicity’ have been used in various ways to refer to
different human ‘groupings’ and how this is opened a door for the
elasticity and ambiguity of its conceptual meaning.
 By exploring different scholarly works and arguments, it will also attempt
to define and conceptualize the concept.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What is the root word (etymological origin &

meaning) of the term ‘ethnicity’? What’s its

73
 meaning?

 How do terms like‘ ethnicity and ethnic’ have historically been

used and applied at different times and spaces?

 The study of ethnicity and ethnic relations has in recent years come to

play a central role in the social sciences, to a large extent replacing class

structure and class conflict as a central focus of attention.

 This has occurred on an interdisciplinary basis involving social

anthropology, sociology, political theory, political philosophy and history

(Erikson, 2002).

 In this regard, the academic and popular use of the term ‘ethnicity’ is

fairly, modern.

 According to John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith (1996), the term

“ethnicity” is relatively new, first appearing in the Oxford English

Dictionary in 1953.

5.1.3. The term itself –Ethnicity

 The English origin of the term ‘ethnicity’ is connected to the term

“ethnic,”–which is much older and has been in use since the Middle Ages.

 The word is derived from the Greek term ‘ ethnos’ (which in turn, derived

from the Latin word ‘ethnikos’), which literally means “a group of people

bound together by the same manners, customs or other distinctive

features” (Vanderwerf et al., 2009).

 In the context of ancient Greek, the term refers to a collectivity of

humans lived and acted together -which is typically translated today as

74
 ‘people’ or ‘nation’ (not political unit per say, but group of people with

shared communality) (Jenkins, 1997).

 Contrary to its literal meaning however, ancient Greeks were using the

term ‘ethnos’ in practice to refer to non-Hellenic, people who are non-

Greek and considered as second-class peoples.

 Likewise, in early England, it used to refer to someone who was neither

Christian nor Jewish (to refer to heathen or pagan).

 In its modern sense, it was only after the end of II World War that the

term widely adopted and begins to use.

 Before World War II, while the term “tribe” was the term of choice for

“pre-modern” societies and the term “race” was used to refer modern

societies (Jenkins, 2001).

 Due to the close link between the term “race” and Nazi ideology, after

the end of II WW, the term “ethnic” gradually replaced “race” within

both the North American tradition and the European tradition.

 The North American tradition adopted ‘ethnic’ as a substitute for

minority groups within a larger society of the nation-state (referring to

the Jews, Italians, Irish and other people considered inferior to the

dominant group of largely British descent).

 The European tradition regularly opted to use ‘ethnic group’ as a synonym

for nationhood, defined historically by descent or territory (Vanderwerf

et al., 2009:5).

 At the same time both traditions shared a joint aim to replace what had

become a popular, but heavily compromised (due to the Nazi experiment),

concept of ‘race’.

 Nevertheless, popular discourses, in both Europe and North America,

have ‘racialized’ the concept of ethnicity, that is ‘race’ was largely

75
 preserved (in its quasi-biological sense) and has only now been used

interchangeably with ‘ethnicity’.

 Furthermore, the collapse of the colonial world in the 1950s and 1960s

has brought even more confusion on questions of ‘ race’, ‘culture’ and

‘ethnicity’.

 The homelands of former European colonizers have become populated

with new, post-colonial immigrants, who are visibly different.

 Following the consolidation of North American popular and legislative

discourse these groups have also become defined as ‘ ethnic’, thus,

simultaneously preserving old definitions of historical ethnicity by

descent or territory (i.e., Welsh, Flamans, Walloons, etc.) while adding the

new definition of ethnicity as an immigrant minority (i.e., Pakistani, West

Indian, Sri Lankan, etc.).

 As Jack David Eller put it, “some of the most perplexing problems arise

from the vagueness of the term and phenomenon called ethnicity and

from its indefinite and ever-expanding domain…ethnicity is “vague, elusive

and expansive” (Eller, 1999).

 The fall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet-style federations

along ‘ethnic’ lines and the emergence of ‘ethnic cleansing’ policies in the

Balkans and the Caucasus have further complicated these definitional

issues.

 With the wars on former Yugoslav soil, extensive and influential mass

media coverage of ‘ethnic conflict’ has seen the term ‘ethnic’ degenerate

into a synonym for tribal, primitive, barbaric and backward.

Finally, the ever-increasing influx of asylum seekers, refugees and economic

migrants to Western Europe, North America and Australia, who do not

necessarily express visible or significant physical, cultural or religious

76
differences to their hosts, together with their uncertain legal status (i.e.,

waiting for a decision on asylum), has relegated the term ‘ ethnic’ to a quasi-

legislative domain. In this context, the term ‘ ethnicity’ often refers again to

noncitizens who inhabit ‘our land’, just as it did in the days of ancient Greece

and Judea; that is, to second-class peoples.

What is obvious from this short history of the term is the fact that ‘ethnicity’

contains a multiplicity of meanings. Such a plasticity and ambiguity of the

concept allows for deep misunderstandings as well as political misuses. As Jack

David Eller put it, “some of the most perplexing problems arise from the

vagueness of the term and phenomenon called ethnicity and from its indefinite

and ever-expanding domain (Eller, 1999:8). In other words, ethnicity is “vague,

elusive and expansive”. Hence, in the following section attempts will be made to

conceptualize ethnicity and its related concepts of ethnic group and ethnic

identity from different scholarly viewpoints.

5.2. Conceptualizing Ethnicity –What’s it?

Quite suddenly, with little comment or ceremony, ethnicity has achieved a nomni

present status. Even a brief glance through titles of books and monographs over

the past few years indicates a steadily accelerating acceptance and application

of the terms “ethnicity” and “ethnic” to refer to what was before often

subsumed under ‘culture’, ‘cultural’, or ’tribal’. New journals have appeared using

the terms in their titles, and special programs of ethnic studies are showing up

in university catalogs. Almost any cultural-social unit, indeed any term

describing particular structures of continuing social relations, or sets of

regularized events now can be referred to as an "ethnic" this or that. This can

be seen in the proliferation of titles dealing with ethnic groups, ethnic identity,

77
ethnic boundaries, ethnic conflict, ethnic cooperation or competition, ethnic

politics, ethnic stratification, ethnic integration, ethnic consciousness , and so

on. Name it and there is in all likelihood, someone who has written on it using

“ethnic” or “ethnicity” qualifiers to describe his or her special approach to the

topic.

Nevertheless, most scholars who uses “ethnicity” find definition either

unnecessary or they are reluctant to provide general framework for the

concept. Isajiw looked at 65 studies of ethnicity in anthropology, and sociology

and found only 13 that defined the term. Writers generally take it for granted

that the term refers to a set of named groupings, singled out by the researcher

as ethnic units. Membership in such group is then shown to have an effect on, or

correlation with, one or more dependent variable(s). In this sense, ethnicity is

widely used as a significant structural phenomenon. But that is hardly a

definition.

Reflect your views on the followin

g questions.

 How do you define or conceptualize ethnicity?

 How dodifferent scholarsdefine and conceptualize ethnicity?

So it is important to be clear about what our subject – ethnicity - is and about

what it is not. None of the founding fathers of anthropology and sociology - with

the partial exception of Max Weber granted ethnicity much attention. Max

Weber, in his work entitled “Economy and Society”, first published in 1922

(1978:385-98), provided the early and influential sociological conceptions of

ethnicity and ethnic group. According to Weber, an “ethnic group” is based on

the belief in common descent shared by its members, extending beyond kinship,

political solidarity vis-a-vis other groups, and common customs, language,

78
religion, values, morality, and etiquette. In other words, ethnic groups are those

human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent

because of similarities or physical type or of customs or both, or because of

memories of colonization and migration. It does not matter whether or not an

objective blood relationship exists, but whether it is believed to exist.

Perhaps the most significant part of Weber’s argument is that: “ ethnic

membership does not constitute a group; it only facilitates group formation of

any kind, particularly in the political sphere. On the other hand, it is primarily
the political community, no matter how artificially organized that inspires the
belief in common ethnicity” (1978: 389).

Weber seems to be suggesting that the belief in common ancestry is likely to be

a consequence of collective political action rather than its cause; people come to

see themselves as belonging together – coming from a common background – as a

consequence of acting together. Collective interests thus, do not simply reflect

or follow from similarities and differences between people; the pursuit of

collective interests does, however, encourage ethnic identification. In terms of

collective action, this form of ethnic communality is a form of monopolistic

social closure: it defines membership, eligibility and access.

Any cultural trait in common can provide a basis for and resources for ethnic

closure: language, ritual, economic way of life, lifestyle more generally, and the

division of laboure, are all likely possibilities in this respect. Shared language

and ritual are particularly implicated in ethnicity: mutual intelligibility of the

behavior of others is a fundamental prerequisite for any group, as is the shared

sense of what is ‘correct and proper’ which constitute individual ‘honor and

dignity’. By this token, an ethnic group is a particular form of status group.

Finally, Weber argues that since the possibilities for collective action rooted in

79
ethnicity are ‘indefinite’, the ethnic group, and its close relative the nation,

cannot easily be precisely defined for sociological purposes.

As Weber (1968) emphasized, it is the effectiveness of social action and, above

all, a political aspect of group action that ‘inspires belief in common ethnicity’

and transforms group membership into a political community. For Max Weber,

an ethnic group is based, on the belief in common descent shared by its

members because of similarities or physical type or of customs or both, or

because of memories of colonization &migration. And “it does not matter

whether or not an objective blood relationship exists”, but believed to exist.

The next great contribution to our understanding of ethnicity comes from the

influential works of the Norwegian anthropologist, named Frederik Barth (1969).

Barth in an exceptionally brilliant ‘Introduction’ part of a collection of scholarly

work entitled “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries”(1969),where he was the

editor,provided nothing short of a Copernican revolution in the study of

ethnicity –in and outside anthropology. Hence, current anthropological

conventional wisdom about ethnicity for the larger part is stems from this

influential work of Barth. In his introduction to the collection of “ Ethnic Groups

and Boundaries”, Barth (1969), outlined in detail a model of ethnicity.

Barth began with what actors believe or think: ascriptions and self-ascriptions.

A categorical ascription is an ethnic ascription when it classifies a person in

terms of his basic, most general identity, presumptively determined by his origin

and background. To the extent that actors use ethnic identities to categorize

themselves and others for purposes of interaction, they form ethnic groups in

this organizational sense.

Barth focused not upon the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups but upon

relationships of cultural differentiation, and specifically upon contact between

80
collectivities thus differentiated, 'us' and 'them' (Eriksen, 2002). Barth's

emphasis was not so much upon the substance or content of ethnicity, what he

called the 'cultural stuff', as upon the social processes, which produce and

reproduce - which organize, if you like-boundaries of identification and

differentiation between ethnic collectivities. As illustrated by Barth, it is

important to recognize that although ethnic categories take cultural

differences into account:

we can assume no simple one-to-one relationship between ethnic units

and cultural similarities and differences. The features that are taken

into account are not the sum of 'objective' differences, but only those

which the actors themselves regard as significant…not only do ecological

variations mark and exaggerate differences; some cultural features are

used by the actors as signals and emblems of differences, others are

ignored, and in some relationships radical differences are played down

and denied (Barth, 1969: 14).

The cultural contents of ethnic dichotomies would seem analytically to be of two

orders: (i) overt signals or signs - the diacritical features that people look for

and exhibit to show identity, often such features as dress, language, house-

form, or general style of life, and (ii) basic value orientations: the standards of

morality and excellence by which performance is judged. Since belonging to an

ethnic category implies being a certain kind of person, having that basic

identity, it also implies a claim to be judged, and to judge oneself, by those

standards that are relevant to that identity. Neither of these kinds of cultural

'contents' follows from a descriptive list of cultural features or cultural

differences; one cannot predict from first principles which features will be

emphasized and made organizationally relevant by the actors.

81
 Indeed, ethnic categories provide an organizational vessel that may

be given varying amounts and forms of content in different socio-

cultural systems. They may be of great relevance to behavior, but they

need not be; they may pervade all social life, or they may be relevant

only in limited sectors of activity. There is thus an obvious scope for

ethnographic and comparative descriptions of different forms of

ethnic organization. In its most general notion, for Barth, ethnicity is

seen as a ‘social organization of culture difference’. But, the concept

of ‘culture’, in Barth’s model unless clearly explained found problematic

one. This very ambiguity in the designation of ethnic groups in terms of

cultural differences has been taken on as a challenge by

anthropologists.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 Does this imply that ethnic groups don’t necessarily

have a

distinctive culture?

 Can two groups be culturally identical and yet constitute two different

ethnic groups?

 What’s the relationship between culture and ethnicity, after all?

These are complicated questions, but need to be answered. Before Barth,

cultural difference was traditionally explained from the inside out – social

groups possess different cultural characteristics, which make them unique and

distinct (common language, lifestyle, descent, religion, physical markers, history,

eating habits, etc.). Culture was perceived as something relatively or firmly

stable, persistent and intact. Cultural difference was understood in terms of a

group’s property (i.e., to be Gamo is to be in possession of a distinct culture to

82
that of the Wolayita). According to Frederik Barth (1969), Cultural difference

per se does not create ethnic collectivities. It is the social contact with others

that leads to definition and categorization of an ‘us’ and a ‘them’; hence, cultural

difference between two groups is not the decisive feature of ethnicity. Indeed,

ethnicity is essentially an aspect of a relationship, not a property of a group.

Nonetheless, Barth turned the traditional understanding of cultural difference

on its head. He defined and explained ethnicity from the outside in: it is not the

‘possession’ of cultural characteristics that makes social groups distinct but

rather it is the social interaction with other groups that makes that difference

possible, visible and socially meaningful. Shared culture is, in this model, best

understood as generated in and by processes of ethnic boundary maintenance,

rather than the other way round : the production and reproduction of difference

vis-a-vis external others is what creates the image of similarity internally, vis-

avis each other. Barth and his collaborators ushered in an increasing awareness

on the part of many anthropologists that 'culture' is a changing, variable and

contingent property of interpersonal transactions, rather than a reified entity,

somehow 'above' the fray of daily life, which produces the behaviour of

individuals.

In Barth’s own words: ‘the critical focus of investigation from this point of
view becomes the ethnic boundary that defines the group, not the cultural
stuff that it encloses’ (1969: 15). The difference is created, developed and
maintained only through interaction with others (i.e., Frenchness is created and
becomes culturally and politically meaningful only through the encounter with
Englishness, Germaness, Danishness, etc.). Hence, the focus in the study of
ethnic difference has shifted from the study of its contents (i.e., the structure
of the language, the form of the particular costumes, the nature of eating
habits) to the study of cultural boundaries and social interaction. The
boundaries to which we must give our attention are of course social boundaries,
though they may have territorial counterparts. If a group maintains its identity
when members interact with others, this entails criteria for determining
83
membership and ways of signaling membership and exclusion. Ethnic groups are
not merely or necessarily based on the occupation of exclusive territories; and
the different ways in which they are maintained, not only by a once-and for-all
recruitment but by continual expression and validation, need to be analyzed.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What is an ethnic boundary?

 Is an ethnic boundary physical/territorial boundary per

se?

 Why, when and how do individuals and groups maintain

ethnic boundaries?
In other words, ethnic boundaries are explained first and foremost as a product

of social action. Cultural difference per se does not create ethnic collectivities:

it is the social contact with others that leads to definition and categorization of

an ‘us’ and a ‘them’. At this point, we should note that contrary to a widespread

commonsense view, cultural difference between two groups is not the decisive

feature of ethnicity. ‘Group identities must always be defined in relation to that

which they are not – in other words, in relation to nonmembers of the group’

(Eriksen, 1993: 10). Thus, in emphasizing boundaries between groups, and their

production and reproduction, Barth immediately shifted the analytical center of

gravity away from this or that settled, bounded group - or 'society' - and

towards complex universes of relationships between groups and their members.

In doing so, Barth emphasized that ethnic identity is generated, confirmed or

transformed in the course of interaction and transaction between decision-

making, strategizing individuals. Barth’s work has transformed and shifted the

study of ethnic difference from the study of cultural contents (language,

religion, and customs) to the study of the interaction processes in which

cultural characteristics are “picked up” as markers of differences in the

84
interaction process. Cultural differences per se do not create ethnic

collectivities: The social contact with others leads to the definition and

categorization of an “us” and “them”.

For instance, two distinctive, endogamous groups, say, somewhere in Ethiopia,

may well have widely different languages, religious beliefs and even

technologies, but that does not entail that there is an ethnic relationship

between them. For ethnicity to come about, the groups must have a minimum of

contact between them, and they must entertain ideas of each other as being

culturally different from themselves. If these conditions are not fulfilled,

there is no ethnicity, for ethnicity is essentially an aspect of a relationship, not

a property of a group. Conversely, some groups may seem culturally similar, yet

there can be a socially highly relevant (and even volatile) inter-ethnic

relationship between them. This would be the case of the relationship between

Serbs and Croats following the break-up of Yugoslavia, or of the tension

between coastal Sami and Norwegians. There may also be considerable cultural

variation within a group without ethnicity (Blom, 1969). Only in so far as cultural

differences are perceived as being important, and are made socially relevant, do

social relationships have an ethnic element. Ethnicity is an aspect of social

relationship between agents who consider themselves as being culturally

distinctive from members of other groups with whom they have a minimum of

regular interaction.

Furthermore, Barth’s research established a foundation for understanding

ethnicity in universalist rather than in particularist terms. Since culture and

social groups emerge only through interaction with others, then ethnicity cannot

be confined to minority groups only.

85
As Jenkins (1997) and Isajiw (2000) rightly argue, we cannot study minority

ethnic groups without at the same time studying the majority ethnicity.

Generally speaking, Barth understanding of ethnicity has been central to pretty

much all subsequent anthropologizing about ethnicity. Nevertheless, although his

was arguably the most systematic model in depth and detail, the most securely

grounded in wider theoretical arguments about social forms and social processes

(e.g. Barth 1959, 1966, 1981), and has certainly been the most influential, Barth

was not alone in establishing the current anthropological understanding of

ethnicity.

Reflecting, on the one hand, the practical ethnographic concern with the

everyday lives of real people, i.e., their ‘actually existing’ social relationships

(Radcliffe-Brown, 1952:190), and on the other, the pursuit of verstehen

(‘understanding’), advocated by Weber and Simmel, Clifford Geertz has

elegantly defined ethnicity as the 'world of personal identity collectively

ratified and publicly expressed' and 'socially ratified personal identity'

(1973:268, 309).

In spite of the difference in scholarly views of ethnicity among anthropologists,

the 'basic social anthropological model of ethnicity' can be summarized as

follows:

 Ethnicity is a matter of cultural differentiation - although, to reiterate

the main theme of social identity (Jenkins 2004), identification always

involves a dialectical interplay between similarity and difference.

 Ethnicity is centrally a matter of shared meanings - what we

conventionally call 'culture' - but is also produced and reproduced during

interaction.

86
  Ethnicity is no more fixed or unchanging than the way of life of which it

is an aspect, or the situations in which it is produced and reproduced.

 Ethnicity, as an identification, is collective and individual, externalized in

social interaction and the categorization of others, and internalized in

personal selfidentification.

Culture is conceived here partially in the traditional anthropological sense as

involving a total way of life. The total way of life, however, does not necessarily

mean simply a set of distinct everyday customs, although it may include these.

Rather, it refers to a unique historical group experience. Culture is in essence a

system of encoding such experience into a set of symbolic patterns. It does not

matter how different the elements of one culture are from another culture. A

distinct culture is a manifestation of a group's distinct historical

experience. Its product is a sense of unique peoplehood. Ethnicity is not a single

unified social phenomenon but a congeries, a “family,” of related but analytically

distinct phenomena. The foundations of ethnicity, the “markers” of ethnicity,

the history of ethnicity, the aims and goals of ethnicity—these vary from case

to case” (Eller, 1999).

The emphasis on culture as the point of departure for our understanding of the

nature of ethnicity is not intended to mean that members of an ethnic group

must always share one and the same culture to the exclusion of any other.

Rather, it is intended to mean that persons who include themselves in an

ethnicity would have a relation to a group who either now or at some point in the

past has shared a unique culture.

87
 5.3. Ethnic Groups and Ethnic Identity

Dear learners, this section will provide detail conceptual discussions about
ethnic groups and ethnic identity, supplemented by empirical cases and various
ethnographic examples. The concept of ethnic group is the most basic, from
which the others are derivative. It refers to ethnicity as the collective
phenomenon. Ethnic identity refers to ethnicity as an individually experienced
phenomenon. Ethnicity itself is an abstract concept, which includes an implicit
reference to both collective and individual aspects of the phenomenon.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

collectivity/community is the ‘Ethnic

group’?

cific rules/standards for a group to be an ‘ethnic group’?

oups a clearly demarcated and bounded, homogeneous collectivities or are they just
with only a shared sense or image of ‘groupness’?

 How do you differentiate ethnic group from other social

categories (like cultural group, racial group, nation etc)?

Ethnic Group

Notably, the term ‘ethnic group’ is also attached with various meanings as

ethnicity. Scholars have been trying to conceptualize it from different

perspectives and as a result, different definitions have been proposed to define

‘ethnic group’. In this regard, earlier conception of ethnic group once again

associated with Max Weber. According to Weber, an ‘ethnic group’ is based on

the belief in common descent shared by its members, extending beyond kinship,

political solidarity vis-a-vis other groups, and common customs, language,

88
religion, values, morality, and etiquette (Weber, 1978). Anderson (1983), in his

part described ethnic groups as “an imagined community” that possesses a

“character and quality” (Anderson, 1983). Schermerhorn (1996), on the other

hand, conceptualize ethnic group as a unit of population having unique

characteristics in relation with others, binding with common language, myth of

origin, and history of ethnic allegiance (1996).

Scholars mainly use it to explain contact and inter-relationship between groups.

Taking Bateson’s (1979) ideas, Eriksen states that since ethnic categories

created out of the very contact between groups, dealing with ethnic groups in

total isolation is as absurd as to speak of the sound from one hand clapping

(Eriksen, 2002). In this regard, other scholars including F. Barth (1969), define

ethnic groups as a self-defined group based on subjective factors and/or

fundamental cultural values chosen by members from their past history or

present existing conditions in which members are aware of-and-in contact with

other ethnic groups. Barth (1969) further illustrated that, in a context of inter-

ethnic interaction, group distinctiveness strongly depends on identification of

self and ascription by others and members of a certain ethnic group will be

evaluated in accordance with their ‘performance’ of the value standards and

‘possession’ of diacritical features designing the group against other. This

entailed that, ethnic group are defined out of group interaction in which

members of a group keep their social solidarity, identified themselves as

belonging to specific group based on their subjective communalities (language,

myth of origin, and shared cultural entities) that defined in reference with

others (Abbink, 2004).

Ethnic groups constitute an identity as defined by outsiders who do not belong

to the group but identify it as different from their own groups and by “insiders”

89
who belong to the same group. This generally becomes the basis of mobilizing

group’s consciousness and solidarity and which in certain situation result in

political activities (Kasfir, 1976).

By considering the various definitions provided to define ethnicity, Hutchinson

and Smith’s (1996) identified six main features that the definition of an ethnic

group, predominantly consists. This includes;

1. A common proper name, to identify and express the “essence” of the

community;

2. A myth of common ancestry that includes the idea of common origin in

time and place and that gives an ethnic group a sense of fictive kinship;

3. Shared historical memories, or better, shared memories of a common

past or pasts, including heroes, events, and their commemoration;

4. One or more elements of common culture, which need not be specified

but normally, include religion, customs, and language;

5. A link with a homeland, not necessarily its physical occupation by the

ethnic group, only its symbolic attachment to the ancestral land, as with
diaspora peoples; and

6. A sense of solidarity on the part of at least some sections of the ethnic’s

population (Hutchinson and Smith, 1996:6-7).

 Ethnic Identity

Definitions of ethnic identity vary according to the underlying theory embraced

by researchers’ and scholars’ intent on resolving its conceptual meanings. The
fact that there is no widely agreed upon definition of ethnic identity is
indicative of the confusion surrounding the topic.

90
 Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What is the basis of one’s ethnic identity?

 Can you distinguish between the external and internal

aspects

of ethnic identity?
 What is the relationship of the individual to the ethnic?

Typically, ethnic identity is an affiliative construct, where an individual is viewed

by themselves and by others as belonging to a particular ethnic or cultural

group. An individual can choose to associate with a group especially if other

choices are available (i.e., the person is of mixed ethnic or racial heritage).

Affiliation can be influenced by racial, natal, symbolic, and cultural factors

(Cheung, 1993). Racial factors involve the use of physiognomic and physical

characteristics, natal factors refer to "homeland" (ancestral home) or origins of

individuals, their parents and kin, and symbolic factors include those factors

that typify or exemplify an ethnic group (e.g., holidays, foods, clothing,

artifacts, etc.). Symbolic ethnic identity usually implies that individuals choose

their identity, however, to some extent the cultural elements of the ethnic or

racial group have a modest influence on their behavior (Kivisto & Nefzger,

1993).

On the individual level, ethnicity is a social-psychological process, which gives

an individual a sense of belonging and identity. It is, of course, one of a number

of social phenomena, which produce a sense of identity. Ethnic identity can be

defined as a manner in which persons, on account of their ethnic origin, locate

themselves psychologically in relation to one or more social systems, and in

which they perceive others as locating them in relation to those systems. By

91
ethnic origin is meant either that a person has been socialized in an ethnic group

or that his or her ancestors, real or symbolic, have been members of the group.

The social systems may be one's ethnic community or society at large, or other

ethnic communities and other societies or groups, or a combination of all these

(Isajiw, 1990).

Locating oneself in relation to a community and society is not only a

psychological phenomenon, but also a social phenomenon in the sense that the

internal psychological states express themselves objectively in external

behaviour patterns that come to be shared by others. Thus, individuals locate

themselves in one or another community internally by states of mind and

feelings, such as self-definitions or feelings of closeness, and externally by

behaviour appropriate to these states of mind and feelings. Behaviour according

to cultural patterns is thus, an expression of identity and can be studied as an

indication of its character.

We can thus distinguish external and internal aspects of ethnic identity.

External aspects refer to observable behaviour, both cultural and social, such as

(1), speaking an ethnic language, practicing ethnic traditions, (2), participation in

ethnic personal networks, such as family and friendships, (3), participation in

ethnic institutional organizations, such as churches, schools, enterprises, media

(4), participation in ethnic voluntary associations, such as clubs, 'societies,'

youth organizations and (5) participation in functions sponsored by ethnic

organizations such as picnics, concerts, public lectures, rallies, dances.

The internal aspects of ethnic identity refer to images, ideas, attitudes, and

feelings. These, of course, are interconnected with the external behaviour. But,

it should not be assumed that, empirically, the two types are always dependent

upon each other. Rather, they may vary independently, as for example, a third-

92
generation person may retain a higher degree of internal than of external

aspects. We can distinguish at least three types of internal aspects of identity:

(1) cognitive, (2) moral, and (3) affective.

5.4. Race –The Social Construction of Racial Identity

Race is an elusive concept like ethnicity –used in a variety of contexts and

meanings; sometimes interchangeably with ethnicity, where the relationship

between the two concept remain complex. When first appeared,

ethnicity/ethnic identity was used in synonym with race or racial identity, which

complicated their relation. Moreover, the boundary between the two concepts is

historically variable; what was 'racial' before 1945 may be more publicly

acceptable as 'ethnic' today. This sub-section will provide a discussion about

race/racial identity as a social construction of group categorization and

identification, and come up with the significant distinctions among the races and

the major difference between race/racial identity and ethnicity/ethnic

identity. But, few words should be said initially about ‘ race’ in order to stress

that it has dubious descriptive value.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 Do you think racial categorization and identification

have any

scientific validity and objective basis?

 How do you entertain the claims about the existence of

‘pure’ race?

 Do you think the claims of some people/groups about

superior & inferior racial groups have any scientific

93
 validity?

 What is a ‘racial group’, after all?

 Racial Classification: A Short Historical Overview

For some time, it was common to divide humanity into four main races, which

recognized both on the scientific and folk notions of the concept. In this

regard, race was used both as a system of human classification and social

stratification as follows:

 Europeaeus: White; muscular; hair – long, flowing; eyes blue – Acute,

inventive, gentle, and governed by laws.

 Americanus: Reddish; erect; hair – black, straight, thick; wide nostrils –

Obstinate, merry, free, and regulated by custom.

 Asiaticus: Sallow (yellow); hair black; eyes dark – Haughty, avaricious,

severe, and ruled by opinions.

 Africanus: Black; hair –black, frizzled; skin silky; nose flat; lips tumid –

Crafty, indolent, negligent, and governed by caprice or the will of their

masters.

(Source: Linneaus (1758), SystemaeNaturae).

The folk Notions of the concept on the other hand, perceived race as a non-

overlapping and distinguishable categories of people ; which is fixed and/or

natural (immutable) in its character. These, “folk” and “scientific” notions of

race however, begin to diverge in the early 20 th century. Modern genetics

abandon race as a variable in biomedical research and tends not to speak of

races, and this has two main reasons:

1. There has always been so much interbreeding between human populations

that it would be meaningless to talk of fixed boundaries between races.

94
 2. The distribution of hereditary physical traits does not follow clear

boundaries. In other words, there is often greater variation within a

"racial" group than there is systematic variation between two groups.

Genetic studies concerning human variation show that humans are > 99%
genetically alike.

Surprisingly, of the <1% variation [~85% is found within any human population or

group (such as town/village/tribal or ethnic group), ~10% is between any two

groups, even those that are geographically close and ~5% is between

geographically distant groups such as two towns/villages from different

continents] (J Marks, 1995). Thus, dramatic genetic discontinuities are not

found among modern human population and even the little variation, far more

within-group than between group. In other words, there lack a unifying genetic

essence for people of the same race ; people of the same race are not

necessarily “closely related” when compared to people of different races.

Biologically speaking, because of the blending of people from different parts of

the world, there is no such thing as a “pure” race (Shwartz, 2001). As a result,

use of race as system of human categorization lacks scientific validity (Haga &

Venter, Science, 2003).Dramatic genetic discontinuities are not found among

modern human population and even the little variation, far more within-group

than between group; there lack a unifying genetic essence for people of the

same race. Biologically speaking, there is no such thing as a “pure” race and race

has no scientific validity to be used as means of group

identification/categorization.

Nevertheless, when used as a social construction of human categorization ‘Race’

is human groups defined by itself or others as distinct by virtue of perceived

common physical characteristics that are held to be inherent . In this sense of

the concept, race is a group of human beings socially defined on the basis of

95
physical traits. At this level, concept of race would be important to the extent

that it will inform people's actions ; where it exists as a cultural construct ,

whether it has a "biological" reality or not. Racism, obviously, builds on the

assumption that personality is somehow linked with hereditary characteristics,

which differ systematically between "races", and in this way race may assume

sociological importance even if it has no "objective" existence. Social scientists

who study race relations need not themselves believe in the existence of race,

since their object of study is the social and cultural relevance of the notion

that race exists. Hence, in societies, where they are important, ideas of race

may therefore, be studied as part of local discourses on ethnicity.

As a social construction of human categorization ‘Racial group’ is a group of

people, defined by itself or others as distinct by virtue of perceived common

physical characteristics that are held to be inherent.

In such contexts however, the question remains do race/racial relation or

identity distinguishable from ethnicity/ethnic relations or identity? Different
anthropologists and other scholars have different views on this.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What is the difference between ethnicity and

race / ethnic

identification and racial identification?

 Under what societal conditions do race and ethnic prejudice and

discrimination develop & conflicts occur?
Scholars like Pierre van den Berghe (1983) other than differentiating the two

concepts, regard "race" relations as a special case of ethnicity. He describes

race as “a special marker of ethnicity ” that uses biological characteristics as an

ethnic marker. In other words ‘race’ is a social construct, where phenotypic

attributes are popularly used to denote in-groups from out-groups. Since there

96
is no sound biological or sociological foundation for its use in an analytical sense,

one should treat ‘race’ as no more than a special case of ethnicity. Hence, when

the term ‘race’ is used in popular discourse, it cannot refer to a ‘ sub-species of

Homo sapiens’ (van den Berghe, 1978) but is applied only as a social attribute. It

is viewed as a ‘socially defined group which sees itself and is seen by others as

being phenotypically different from other such groups’ .

Contrary to this, other scholars (e.g., Georges Vacher de la Pouge 1896, Max

Weber 1992, John Rex 1973, Michael Banton 1967, and Gerald Berreman 1972 &

1981) argued that while there is much overlap between race and ethnicity, they

are distinct concepts and so that they need to be distinguished. In this regard,

Max Weber (1922), differentiated between racial and ethnic identity by

proposing that a blood relationship was necessary for racial identification but

not for ethnic identification.

John Rex in his part explained that “a far wider set of situations are based

upon cultural differentiation of groups (in the form ethnic groups) than those

which are commonly called racial and . . . few of them have anything like the

same conflictual consequences that racial situations do ” (Rex 1973: 184). For

Rex, ethnicity is still a wider classificatory or organizational principle than

'race', and it remains true that few ethnic conflicts are as bloody as 'racial'

ones (the comparison between the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda) in this regard

is depressingly instructive here.

In more specific terms, Gerald Berreman (1972, 1981) provides his own

distinctions between ethnicity and race. As per to Berreman, ethnicity is linked

in a dichotic relationship with race. It is differentiated from race in that racial

stratification is associated with birthascribed status based on physical and

cultural characteristics defined by outside groups . Ethnicity is also ascribed at

97
birth, but the ethnic group normally defines its cultural characteristics itself .

Thus, racial categorizations, which are defined by the outsider, are normally

laced with inaccuracies and stereotypes, while ethnic classification is normally

more accurate of a cultural group because it is defined by the group itself. Yet,

ethnic classifications can also be defined and used by outside groups to

stereotype an ethnic community in ways that are often oversimplified and that

view ethnicity as a static cultural process.

Despite this however, some scholars claims that the external ethnic boundaries

are the source of racial distinctions and of race as a group phenomenon. As a

social phenomenon, race is a response to external categorization and exclusion

and whatever internal dynamics race generates, it is always a response to

external exclusion rather than to internal identitygenerating forces.

To return briefly to the quotation from John Rex, it appears that ethnicity is a

more general social phenomenon than racism or 'racial' categorization. It is

equally clear that ethnicity, although its emphasis may conventionally be thought

to fall upon group identification, is routinely implicated, through the

signification of cultural or ethnic markers, in processes of categorization. Race

or skin colour as such is not the decisive variable in every society.

5.5. Theories of Ethnicity: Primordialism, Instrumentalism and Social

Constructivism

Introduction

Since the middle of twentieth century, when ethnicity as an analytical concept

entered the academic arena, a lot has been written and debated on its
conceptual definitions, its manifestations in social or group interaction, the role
it plays in group mobilization for ‘common ends’, and so forth. Over the years,
this has turned into a perennial and argumentative debate about the nature of
ethnicity/ethnic identity. This argument takes its place alongside a range of

98
theoretical controversies about the capacity of humans to intervene in their
own lives, to determine or to be determined. In general, the Primordialist,
Instrumentalist and Constructivist are the dominant theoretical approaches in
anthropology envisaged to understand the nature and characteristics of
ethnicity, ethnic identity and ethnic interaction. Thus, this section will provide a
brief theoretical debates and discussions on the fundamentals of ethnicity.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 Is ethnicity a fundamental aspect of human nature &

selfconsciousness, essentially unchanging and

unchangeable?

 Is ethnicity an irresistible aspect of human nature?

 Is it, to whatever extent, socially constructed,

strategically or tactically manipulatable, and capable of

change at both the individual and collective levels?

 Is it socially constructed?

Table 1 - Three Basic Anthropological Approaches for Understanding Ethnicity

Perspective Description

Primordialist Approach Ethnicity is fixed at birth. Ethnic identification is based

on deep,
‘primordial’ attachments to a group or culture
Instrumentalist Ethnicity, based on people’s “historical” and “symbolic”
Approach memory,
is something created and used and exploited by leaders
and others in the pragmatic pursuit of their own
interests.

99
Constructivist Ethnic identity is not something people “possess” but
Approach something they “construct” in specific social and
historical contexts to further their own interests. It is
therefore fluid and subjective.

These theories broadly reflect changes of approach in anthropology over the

past 20 years, i.e. the shift from cultural evolution theories, to structural-

functionalist theories, to conflict theories, and finally to postmodern theories.

These changes are related to the twin forces of modernity and globalization.

Globalization started as an economic phenomenon and end up as a phenomenon of

identity. Traditional ways people defined who they were have been undermined.

Modernity has, remade life in such a way that “ the past is stripped away, place

loses its significance, community loses its hold, objective moral norms vanish,

and what remains is simply the self.” The result of this process has been a loss

of identity resulting in fragmentation and rootlessness (anomie) at the personal

level and the blurring of identities at the collective level.

Some scholars claim that there have been irreconcilable and unbreakable

barriers between the above divergently contending, but dominant approaches of

ethnicity. For instance, Banks (1996) portrayed the divergences between the

leading theories of ethnicity as follows:

...the contents of ethnic identity versus its boundary, the primordial gut

feeling of an identity versus its instrumental expression, the individuals

versus the group, ethnicity as an all-inclusive general theory versus

ethnicity as a limited approach to particular problems are the polar

extremes central in theories of ethnicity…. (Banks, 1996: 47).

These divergently contending models of ethnicity are discussed briefly as

follows.

100
5.5.1. The Primordial Model of Ethnicity

The Primordialist approach is the oldest in anthropological literature. It was

popular until the mid-1970s. The roots of Primordialist thinking can be traced

back to the German Romantic philosophers, especially J.G. Herder. Johann

Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803), proclaimed the primacy of emotions and

language, and defined society a deep-seated, mythical community. Herder

envisaged that every Volk (people) had its own values, customs, language and

‘spirit’ (Volksgeist) and argued for the “atavistic power” of the blood and soil

(Blut und Boden) that bound one closely with one’s people ( das Volk). Indeed,

Primordialism is an “objectivist or essentialist theory” which argues, that

“ultimately there is some real, tangible, foundation for ethnic identification .”

The anthropologist, Clifford Geertz (1973: 255-310), who systematized the

primordial model articulated ethnicity as a natural phenomenon with its

foundations in primordial ties - deriving mainly from kinship, locality and culture

(Geertz 1963). Geertz explicitly recognizes not only the role of culture in

defining the primordial 'givens', but also that strength of such primordial

bonds, and the types of them that are important, differ from person to person,

from society to society, and from time to time (Geertz 1973: 259). Further,

Geertz is perfectly clear that what matters analytically is that ties of blood,

language and culture are seen by actors to be ineffable and obligatory; that

they are seen as natural. He is also concerned with the terms in which

attachments are understood and mobilized locally; with what people believe.

Geertz further argues that in some respects these putative 'primordial

attachments' are actually likely to be stimulated and quickened by the political

modernization of nation-building. In its general sense then, it can be said that

ethnicity is something given, ascribed at birth, deriving from the kin-and-clan-

101
structure of human society, and hence something more or less fixed and

permanent (Geertz, 1963; Isaacs, 1975; Stack, 1986).

A model by Isaacs (1974) further illustrated the concept of primordial ties as a

means of explaining the power and persistence of ethnic identity, which he

called ‘basic group identity’ (Jones 1997:65–66). Isaacs’s basic group identity

was linked to ethnic identity, which was argued to be assigned at birth and more

fundamental and natural than other social links.

Primordialist theories view human society as a conglomeration of distinct

social groups. At birth a person “becomes” a member of a particular group.

Ethnic identification is based on deep, ‘primordial’ attachments to that group,

established by kinship and descent. One’s ethnicity is thus “fixed” and an

unchangeable part of one’s identity.

Anthony D. Smith (1986), one of the articulators of this perspective, in his part,

theorized the defining elements of ethnic identification as psychological and

emotional, emerging from a person’s historical and cultural backgrounds. He

illustrated that the ‘core’ of ethnicity resides in the myths, memories, values,

symbols and the characteristic styles of particular historic configurations, i.e.,

what he calls ‘a myth-symbol complex’. The durability of the ethnie (ethnic

group) resides in the forms and content of the myth-symbol complex. Of pivotal

importance for the survival of the ethnie is the diffusion and transmission of

the myth-symbol complex to its unit of population and its future generations.

Smith emphasizes the “extraordinary persistence and resilience of ethnic ties

and sentiments, once formed” and argues that they are essentially primordial

since they are received through ethnic socialization into one’s ethnie and are

more or less fixed. And, regards primordial ties as the basic organizing

principles and bonds of human association throughout history.

102
To sum, Smith concluded that, ‘primordialism’ makes two distinct claims. Firstly,

ethnicity and ethnic attachment is “natural and innate”, which would never

change over time, and secondly, it is “ ancient and perennial” (Smith, 1986). By

this, ethnicity is an ascribed status and ethnic membership is fixed, permanent

and primarily ascribed through birth.

5.5.2. Instrumentalist (Situational) Theory of Ethnicity

The instrumentalist theorists view ethnicity as situationally defined, depending

on rational calculations of advantage and stimulated by political mobilization

under the leadership of actors whose primary motives are non-ethnic (Eidheim,

1971, Cohen, 1974a, and Esman, 1994). Given this, Banks (1996) explained the

instrumentalist understandings of ethnicity as an instrument of group

mobilization for political and economic ends (Banks, 1996: 40). By this, ethnicity

is something that can be changed, constructed or even manipulated to gain

specific political and/or economic ends.

Proponents of this perspective (e.g., Abner Cohen, Paul Brass and Ted Gurr)

advocate that in the contexts of modern states, leaders (political elites) use

and manipulate perceptions of ethnic identity to further their own ends and

stay in power. In this regard, ethnicity is created in the dynamics of elite

competition within the boundaries determined by political and economic

realities” and ethnic groups are to be seen as a product of political myths,

created and manipulated by culture elites in their pursuit of advantages and

power.

Abner Cohen (1974), one of the leading advocator of this perspective, in

contrast to Barth, “placed [a] greater emphasis on the ethnic group as a

collectively organized strategy for the protection of economic and political

103
interests” (Jones 1997:74). Ethnic groups share common interests, and in
pursuit of these interests they develop “ basic organizational functions: such as

distinctiveness or boundaries (ethnic identity); communication; authority

structure; decision making procedure; ideology; and socialization ” (Cohen 1974:
xvi–xvii).

Accordingly, Daniel Bell (1975) and Jeffrey Ross (1982) emphasize the political

advantage of ethnic membership choice. Hence, ethnicity is " a group option in

which resources are mobilized for the purpose of pressuring the political

system to allocate public goods for the benefit of the members of a self-

differentiating collectivity" (Ross, 1982). In more general terms, it refers to

the actor's pliant ascription of ethnic identity to organize the meaning of his

social relationships within the requirements of variously structured social

situations (Okamura, 1981). In his anthropological research on New York

Chinatown, Enoch Wan has found that the “Chinese ethnicity” of this immigrant

community is circumstantial, flexible, fluid and instrumental.

Taken to its extreme this would suggest that the ethnic group should be

regarded not as a community at all but as a rational and purposive association . A

more moderate view is that there is indeed a cultural content in an ethnic

community, but that the boundaries of the group, which has that culture,

depend upon the purpose in hand. The pursuit of political advantage and/or

material self-interest is the calculus, which is typically, held to inform such

behaviour.

5.5.3. Social Constructivist Theory of Ethnicity

The basic notion in this approach is that ethnicity is something that is being

negotiated and constructed in everyday living. It regards ethnicity as a process,

which continues to unfold. It has much to do with the exigencies of everyday

104
survival (ethnicity is constructed in the process of feeding, clothing, sending to

school and conversing with children and others ). Perhaps the most interesting

aspect of this approach is its subjectivist stance, which sees ethnicity as

basically a social-psychological reality or a matter of perception of "us" and

"them" in contradistinction to looking at it as something given, which exists

objectively as it were "out there". By this, ethnicity is more dependent on the

socio-psychological experience of individuals, where it focuses on the

interpersonal and behavioral aspects of ethnicity. However, this does not mean

that all “subjectivists” reject all objective aspects of ethnicity. Some, in fact

give them significant attention. But, they all tend to make it dependent on the

socio-psychological experience.

F. Barth is the leading figure of this approach. Barth viewed ethnic identity as

an “individualistic strategy” in which individuals move from one identity to

another to “advance their personal economic and political interests, or to

minimize their losses” (Jones 1997:74). Following Barth, ethnic identity forms

through boundary maintenance and interaction between individuals. Depending

on each social interaction, a person’s ethnic identity can be perceived or

presented in various ways.

In fact, Barth himself took a rather extreme position. For practical purposes,

he jettisoned culture from the concept of ethnicity. For him, ethnic boundaries

were psychological boundaries; ethnic culture and its content were irrelevant.

Overall, interaction between individuals does not lead to an assimilation or

homogenization of culture. Instead, cultural diversity and ethnic identity are

still maintained, but in a non-static form. Cultural traits and even individuals can

cross over ethnic boundaries, which in turn can transform an ethnic group over

time. Ethnic group is hence a result of group relations in which the boundaries

105
are established through mutual perceptions and not by means of any objectively

distinct culture.

In general, constructivists conceive ethnicity as situational, flexible and variable

dealing with inter-personal ethnicity without initially reifying a concept of

culture. Jenkins (1997) further noted that, as far as the flow of individuals

from one ethnic group to another is possible, it is possible to argue that the

boundaries of ethnicity are permeable and osmotic (Jenkins, 1997: 53). This

provoked that ethnicity is dynamic that changes through time and space; and

ethnic identities are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 Can you draw a clear line between the major arguments

of primordialism, instrumentalism and social

constructivism about
the nature and characteristics of ethnicity?

 Is it wrong to assume instrumentalism as another

version of constructivism? Why?

5.6. Unit Summary

In this chapter we have tried to explain the concepts of identity, ethnicity as

identity categorization. Ethnicity has got a widespread mainstream use in end of

20th c. It is employed to describe an expanding range of social and political

concerns. As we have seen as the term has gained popularity, so have its

meanings shifted. Most social scientists from Weber to Barth agreed today

that ethnicity is a constructed, artificial category the characteristics and

boundaries of which have been renegotiated, redefined over the years to suit

different contexts and objectives. There also seems a confusion between race

106
and ethnicity. Most people seem to consider race as a biological construct

fundamentally explained in terms of phenotypical expressions. However, as it

has been already elucidated race itself is human construct. We have also seen

the three prominent theories of ethnicity. Primordialism holds that ethnicity

has existed at all times of human history and that modern ethnic groups have

historical roots far into the past with an understanding of humanity as being

divided into primordially existing groups rooted by kinship and biological

heritage. Constructivism sees the primordialist views as basically flawed, and

holds that ethnic groups are only products of human social interaction,

maintained only in so far as they are maintained as valid social constructs in

societies. We have also seen that Instrumentalism isa perspective towards

ethnicity that sees ethnic classification as a mechanism of social stratification

or as the basis for a social hierarchy.

5.7. Assessment techniques

The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group assignment,

individual assignments, administering different examinations and mandatory

reading assignments.

5.8. Facilities Required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers .… etc

Suggested Reading Materials

Max Weber, Economy and Society v1, Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, eds.

(New York: Bedminster Press, 1968)

George DeVos and Lola Romanucci-Ross, eds. Ethnic Identity: Cultural

Continuities and Change, (Palo Alto: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1975).

107
M. Elaine Burgess, "The Resurgence of Ethnicity: Myth or Reality?" in Ethnic

and Racial Studies, 1, 1978.

David Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California

Press, 1985).

Paul Brass, Ethnic Groups and the State (Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble Books,
1985)

Pierre van den Berghe, The Ethnic Phenomenon (New York: Praeger, 1987).

Milton Yinger, Ethnicity: Source of Strength? Source of Conflict? (Albany:

State University of

New York Press, 1994)

Abner Cohen, Customs and Politics in Urban Africa: A Study of Migrants in

Yoruba Towns

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969)

Anthony Smith, National Identity (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1991).

Fredrik Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.,
1969).

Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological

Perspectives (London:
Pluto Press, 1993).

Unit Six

6. Customary and Local Governance Systems and Peace Making

Study Hours: 8 Face to Face Hours

Dear Students!

 You have discussed theories related to inter-ethnic relations and

multiculturalism in unit 5.

108
 In this unit, you will discuss issues related to customary and local governance

and peacemaking in the Ethiopian setting.

 The chapter also discusses the role of customary institutions in settling intra

and inter-ethnic conflicts; the role of women and women’s institutions in

conflict resolution and peacemaking; and the major features of legal pluralism

in Ethiopia.

 Remember: your participation is very important as the modular course

employs a student-centered approach.

Content of the Unit:

 Indigenous and local governance

 Institutions of intra and inter-ethnic conflict resolution

 Structures of indigenous justice systems

 Strengths and limitations of indigenous conflict resolution institutions

 Women’s role in conflict resolution and peacemaking

 Legal pluralism: interaction between customary and state legal systems

Unit Learning Outcomes:

Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 Identify customary systems of governance and conflict resolution

institutions of the various peoples of Ethiopia;

 Compare similarities and difference among indigenous institutions conflict

resolution in a cross-cultural perspective;

 Analyze the strengths and limitations of indigenous institutions conflict

resolution

109
  Explain the role of women and women’s institutions in settling disputes

and making peace in different cultural settings

6.1 Indigenous and local governance

 Indigenous systems of governance have been used to maintain social order

across Ethiopian regions.

 The role of indigenous governance was indispensable before the advent of the

modern state system.

 Anthropologists have been studying indigenous systems of governance in

Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.

 Some of the indigenous systems of governance have been well- studied while

many other are not adequately studied.

 Understanding of indigenous systems of governance helps us know our

cultures.

 We do not have space to take examples from every region and culture.

 We have outlined some examples of indigenous systems of governance to

start discussions.

The Oromo Gadaa

 The Gaada of the Oromo is one of the well-studies indigenous systems of

governance.
 Scholars have been studying the Oromo Gaada since the 1950s.

 Scholars studied the Oromo Gaada include Paul Baxter, Eike Haberland and

Asmerom Legesse. Asmerom, a famous anthropologist, is widely known for his

ethnographic studies on the Oromo political system. He published a lot on the

Gaada system, particularly focusing on the Borena Oromo.

110
 The following are two of his books: Gadaa: Three Approaches to the Study of

African Society, published in 1973; and Oromo Democracy: An Indigenous

Political System, printed in 2000.

 The Gadaa system is ‘an age grading institution of the Oromo that has a

complex system of administration, law making and dispute settlement’

(Pankhurst and Getachew 2008, xiv).

 The Gadaa is a highly celebrated institution of governance and dispute

settlement among the Oromo people.

 Gadaa is widely mentioned as an egalitarian (democratic) system of

governance.

 In the Gadaa system, political power is transferred from one generation set

(Luuba) to another every eight years. Gaada officials such as the Abba Gaada

and Abba Seera(father of law) serve for eight years and leave their position to

the new generation of Gadaa officials.

 The Gaada system involves a continuous process of law making and revision.

 The law making process has rooms for wider participation of the people.

 Gumi gaayo, a law making assembly of the Borana Oromo, is a good example.

 Gumi gaayo is held every eight years to revising, adapting, making and

publicizing the customary law (seera) and custom (aadaa) of the Oromo.

 The Waliso Oromo have a law making assembly known as yaa’iiharaa, an

equivalent of gumigaayo, held every eight years.

 The Gaada is an indigenous system of governance, conflict resolution, and

peacemaking.

 The indigenous system of governance among the Oromo also include

institutions of conflict resolution such as the Jaarsa Biyyaa (literally: elders

of the soil/land) institution. We will discuss the role of the Jaarsa Buyyaa in

settling conflicts and restoring peace in the next section of this chapter.

111
The Gedeo Baalle

The Gedeo of southern Ethiopia have an indigenous system of governance called

Baalle. The Baalle and the Gaada system of the Oromo have some similarities.

For example, both have grading system and exercise periodic transfer of power

(i.e., every eight years). The role of religion is high in the two indigenous

systems of governance. Moreover, the customary law of the Gedeo is called

Seera. The Ya’a, the general assembly, is the highest body of the Gedeo

indigenous system of governance. The Baalle is a complex system which has

three administrative hierarchies: Abba Gada, Roga (traditional leader next the

Abba Gada), and two levels of council of elders known as Hulla Hayyicha and

Songo Hayyicha. The Abba Gada is the leader of the Baalle. The Baalle system

has a body of laws called Seera. Conflicts are resolved by the Songo hayyicha at

village level. When disputes are not settled at the village level, cases can be

referred to first to the Hulla Hayyicha and finally to the Abba Gada. In general,

the Gedeo system of governance has the following major institutions: the ya’a

(general assembly), the Seera (customary law), the Abba Gada, and council of
elders. 2

Reading

We have seen some similarities between the Oromo Gaada and the
Gedeo

Baalle system. This is a good example of cross-cultural similarities in

Ethiopia.

Similarities are also observed in the naming of indigenous institutions.

Several
ethnic groups use a similar term with slight variations to refer to
their respective customary law: Seera (Oromo), Sera (Sidama),
Serra (Siltie),
Gorden asera (Soddo Gurage), Senago sera (Mesqan Gurage), and Seera

(Gedeo).

2 Getachew Senishaw. (2014).

112
 Read more on these issues and share your findings in class discussions.

Reflect your views on the following questions.

 What does the similarities between Gaada and the Gedeo

Baalle system indicate?

 Why do we have such cross-cultural similarities?

 Does it indicate long-term interactions among different

cultural/ethnic groups?

Dere Woga of the Gamo

The Gamo are among Omotic peoples of southern Ethiopia. Unlike their

neighboring people such as Wolayta and Dawro, the Gamo did not have a

centralized political system. The Gamo people were organized into several local

administrations locally known as deres. According to anthropological findings,

there were more than 40 deres across the Gamo highlands. Each dere had its

own ka’o (king) and halaqa (elected leader). The indigenous system of governance

embraces the dere woga (customary law) and the dubusha assemblies. The

highest body of the indigenous governance is the dere dubusha, a general

assembly that is responsible to make and revise customary laws, resolve major

disputes that cannot be solved at the lower levels. The dubushas assembly has

three hierarchies: 1) the dere dubusha (at the top), sub-dere dubusha (at the

middle), and guta/neighborhood dubusha (at the village level). Minor cases and

disputes are resolved by the dere cima, council of elders. Like the Oromo Gada

and the Gedeo Baalle, the indigenous governance of the Gamo is embedded in

the Gamo belief system. It is believed that telling a lie and hiding the truth are

considered as violation of taboo, which would lead to spiritual pollution and then

113
misfortunes including lack of fertility, illness, and death of human beings and

livestock.

Now, let us shift to indigenous institutions of conflict resolution and peace

making. Now let us shift to indigenous institutions of conflict resolution.

6.2 Intra and inter-ethnic conflict resolution institutions

Conflicts and disputes exist in every society and community. Conflicts may arise

between individuals, groups and communities within the same ethnic group. In

some cases conflicts may involve groups from different ethnic background.

Peoples across Ethiopian regions have indigenous institutions and mechanisms of

conflict resolution and peacemaking. These institutions are parts of indigenous

systems of governance. Major features of customary justice systems,

institutions, and practices are discussed in this section. As Ethiopia is a big

multicultural country, we need to discuss these issues taking some examples.

You, as a student, are expected to read different materials and discuss issues

with your classmates to expand your knowledge.

There are different indigenous institutions of conflict resolution and

peacemaking across regions and cultures in Ethiopia. Authors use different

terms to discuss these indigenous institutions. The following are some of them:

customary dispute resolution mechanisms; traditional mechanisms of conflict

resolution; grassroots justice systems; and customary justice institutions. To

get more information, see books edited by Alula Pankhurst and Getache Assefa

(2008) and Gebre Y., Fekade A. and Assefa F. (2011). In this module, we use

indigenous institutions of conflict resolution and customary/indigenous justice

systems interchangeably.

114
Study findings reveal variations and similarities among indigenous institutions of

conflict resolution in Ethiopia. Indigenous justice institutions and mechanisms

share several common aspects including the following:

 High involvement of elders at different stages of conflict resolution and

peacemaking process.

 Preference and respect for elders known for their qualities including

experience in dispute resolution; knowledge of customary laws,

procedures, norms and values of

the society; impartiality, respect for rules and people; the ability of

listening and speaking politely; honesty and tolerance.

 Indigenous dispute resolution practices focus on restoring social

relationships, harmony, and peaceful coexistence.

Indigenous justice systems also have differences in terms of hierarchies,

procedures and level of complexities. For example,

 In some cultural settings, conflict resolution mechanisms involve several

hierarchies and complicated procedures;

 The compositions and responsibilities of council of elders also vary from

society to society. For example, different types of elders address
different forms of disputes in some cultural settings; whereas the same
body of elders deal with various types of disputes in other settings.

Reading

Getachew Assefa and Alula Pankhurst (2008) have outlined ten major

characteristics of indigenous dispute resolution

in Ethiopia. Public
participation, voluntary and consensual proceedings, and
forgiveness and compensation are among the major features listed
by the authors. Read the last chapter Grassroots Justice in
Ethiopia (2008) edited by Alula Pankhurst and GetachewAssefa
take note on major characteristics of indigenous dispute resolution;

115
 their advantages and limitations in Ethiopia.

Indigenous/customary justice institutions have been widely used across

Ethiopian regions and cultures. With some exceptions, customary justice

institutions include three major components. The three components are 1)

customary laws, 2) council of elders, and 3) customary courts or assemblies.

Customary law: it refers to a body of rules, norms, and a set of moral values

that serve as a wider framework for human conduct and social interactions. The

Sera of the Sidama, the dere woga of the Gamo, the Seera Addaa of the

Oromo; Gordena Sera of Kestane Gurage are examples of customary laws. In

most cases, customary laws are available orally. Some customary laws are

published in recent years. For example, the Sebat Bet Gurage published their

customary law named Kitcha: The Gurage Customary Law in 1998. Similarly,

Kistane/Sodo Gurage have a written version of customary law known as Gordena

Shengo.

Council of elders: It is the second important institution of customary justice

systems. The council of elders embraces highly respected and well-experienced
community members who have a detail knowledge of the customary laws.
Members of the elder’s council are also known for their personal qualities such
as truthfulness and experience in settling conflicts. Elders often serve their
communities on voluntary basis without any payment. The number of the elders
varies based on the nature of the case. The institution of council of elders has
different names in various ethnic groups: Yehager Shimagile (Amhara), Jaarsaa
Biyyaa (Oromo), Hayyicha (Gedeo), Guurtii (Somali), Dere Cima (Gamo), Deira
Cimma (Wolayita), and Cimuma (Burji).

116
 Reflect your view on the following questions

The last three ethnic groups use similar terms to refer to

council of elders: Dere Cima (Gamo), Deria Cimma (Wolayita),

and Cimuma

(Burji).

 How do you explain this similarity?

 Do you think that it is due to similarities in culture and language?

Customary courts are public assemblies that serve two major purposes: (a)

hearing, discussing and settling disputes, and (b) revising, adapting, and making

laws.

As noted above, in most cases, indigenous justice systems in Ethiopia embrace

three major structures: customary laws, customary courts, and council of

elders. Let us summarize the Gamo customary justice system to portray the

three major structures. The customary justice system of the Gamo people of

Southern Ethiopia has the following branches: 1) Dere Woga, customary laws, 2)

Dere Cima, council of elders, and 3) Dubusha, customary courts or assemblies.

The three structures of Gamo customary justice system

The Dere Woga: It is a comprehensive body of rules and procedures that govern

a wide range of issues including inheritance, property ownership, marriage and

divorce, conflict resolution and gender division of labour.

The Dere Cima: Literally, dere cima means elders of the land/country. It

includes notable and respected elders experienced in resolving disputes. Elders

117
serving in dispute resolution are expected to have a sound knowledge of the

customary laws, norms and values of the community.

Dubusha: it is customary courts . Dere dubusha, the biggest customary court in a

given Gamo community, has two major functions: (a) hearing, discussing and

resolving disputes, and (b) revising and making laws. In most Gamo communities,

the structure of the customary courts has three levels : Guta dubusha, at the

village level; sub-dere dubusha, at the kebele level; and dere dubusha at the

higher level. Cases would be heard at the guta dubusha level, if not settled,

referred to the second and third level of the structure. According to the

indigenous belief, dere dubusha is a sacred place where supernatural power

exists. It is a place where curses are uttered in its name; justice is delivered;

and important assemblies are held. Dubushas are places where truth prevails.

Misconducts such as telling a lie during dubusha assemblies are considered as

transgression of taboos, which in turn would bring misfortunes to individuals and

communities. Customary courts are easily accessible as each Gamo community

has several customary courts [Sources: Temesgen Minwagaw 2011; Getaneh

Mehari 2016].

Strengths and limitations of customary justice systems/institutions

Study findings indicate that indigenous institutions of dispute resolution have

strengths and limitations. Some of their strengths and limitations are outlined

below.

Strengths of customary justice institutions

 Incur limited cost in terms of time and resources/money; elders do not

request payment for their services; fines and compensation are relatively

small;

118
  Conflict resolution process are held in public spaces in the community;

different parties (victims, offenders and community members)

participate in the process; decisions are communicated in public;

 Decisions are easily enforced through community-based sanctions

including social exclusion; compliance ensured through blessings and the

threat of curses;

 Customary systems aimed at restoring community cohesion, social

relations, collective spirit and social solidarity

 Rely on respect for elders, the tradition of forgiveness, transferring

compensations, embedded in indigenous beliefs

Limitations of customary justice institutions

• Limitations related to protecting and safeguarding women’s rights.

Indigenous justice institutions are dominated by men. For example, the

council of elders are not open to elderly women. Women are excluded

from participation at customary courts and assemblies with a few

exceptions.

• Indigenous institutions of dispute resolution and peacemaking are

effective to resolve dispute and restore peace within the same ethnic
group. Their potential in resolving inter-ethnic conflicts and restoring
long-lasting peace is very limited.

Elders of neighboring ethnic groups work together in times of

inter-ethnic conflicts and settle disputes. However, indigenous

institutions of conflict resolution have limitations in restoring

long-lasting peace when conflicts occur between parties from two

or more ethnic groups.

 How do you explain this problem?

119
  Is there a possibility of crafting hybrid institutions to resolve

disputes occurring between different ethnic groups? Discuss this

issue among your classmates.

6.3 Inter-ethnic conflict resolution

As noted above, one of the weaknesses of indigenous institution of peacemaking

is their limitation in resolving inter-ethnic conflicts. However, there are some

example of interethnic conflict resolution institutions in some parts of Ethiopia.

Abbo Gereb is one of the indigenous institutions that address inter-ethnic

conflicts. It is a dispute resolution institution in Rayya and Wajirat district,

Southern Tigray. Abbo Gereb, literally means the father of the river Gerewo.

Abbo Gereb serves to settle disputes between individuals or groups from

highland Tigray and lowland Afar. Conflict between the two groups often arise

because of dispute over grazing land or water resources, particularly in dry

season. When conflict arises between parties from two ethnic groups, notable

elders from Tigray and Afar come together to resolve the dispute and restore

peaceful relations. Most of the elders involved in inter-ethnic conflict

resolutions are bilingual: speaking Tigrigna and Afar. 3

Ethnographic findings also reveal the existence of inter-ethnic conflict

resolution mechanisms when conflicts arise between Afar, Issa, Tigrayans and

Argobba. The mechanisms of inter-ethnic disputes have different names. It is

called Xinto among the Afar,

Edible among the Issa, Gereb among the Tigrayans, and Aboroge among the
Amhara.4

3 Shimeles Gizaw and Taddese Gessese. (2008).

4 Alula Pankhurst and Getachew Assefa. (2008).

120
 Although we have some studies on indigenous institutions of inter-

ethnic conflict resolution, this area is not well-studied.

 Do you know institutions/mechanisms of conflict resolution that

address inter-ethnic conflicts? Bring your experience and

knowledge to class discussion!

6.4 Women’s role in conflict resolution and peacemaking

Ethiopian women participate in the process of dispute settlement in exceptional

cases. For example, in some cultures, women participate in dispute settlement

processes when cases are related to marriage and women’s issues. Despite this

weaknesses, women are not completely excluded for indigenous systems of

governance, conflict resolution, and peacemaking activities. In some societies,

women use their own institutions to exercise power, protect their rights, and

actively participate in peacemaking activities. The next section discusses the

role of women in conflict resolution and peacemaking.

The elderly have been playing an important role in settling

disputes and restoring peace. Their words and

instructions were highly respected across cultures in

Ethiopia. Intra and inter-ethnic

conflicts have become common in our country in recent years.

- What do you think are the causes of these conflicts?

- Is it related to the decline of respect for the elderly in recent times?

- Or has the culture of peaceful coexistence deteriorated?

121
One of the limitations of customary justice systems, as noted above, is the

marginalization of women. In most cases, indigenous institution of conflict

resolution are dominated by men. This does not mean that women are completely

excluded from conflict resolution and peacemaking activities. Three examples

that illustrate the role of women in conflict resolution and peacemaking are

outlined below. Read them and discuss issues related to women’s role in

peacemaking in Ethiopia.

Women’s peacemaking sticks5

Sidama women have two instruments of power: the Yakka and the Siqqo. The Yakka is
women’s association or unity group. The Siqqo is a stick that symbolizes peace and
women honor. The Siqqoand the Yakka are closely associated. Mobilizing the Yakka and
holding the Siqqo, Sidama women stand for their customary rights. They do this, for
example, when a woman is beaten up by her husband or a pregnant woman is mistreated.
For example, if a man prohibits his wife from Yakka participation, the women group
impose a fine on him. The fine could be an ox. If a woman is illtreated by her husband,
the Yakka leader (known as Qaritte) mobilizes the Yakka and leads them to the house
of the man. The husband would not have a choice when he is surrounded by the Yakka
holding their Siqqo shouting and singing. If he is found guilty, the man would be forced
to slaughter a sheep and give part of it to the Yakka. Sidama women also use their
Siqqo to make peace between quarrelling parties. Oromo women also have a peace stick
called Sinqee. Sinqee serves the purpose of protecting women’s rights and making
peace. Quarrelling men stop fighting when a woman stands between them holding her
Sinqee.

5 International Institute of Rural Reconciliation (IIRR). 2009.

122
 The function of women’s peacemaking institutions such as Siqqo has

been declining. There are attempts to renew these institutions. The

Walda Sinqee Association was established to promote the use of

the Sinqee as a means of conflict resolution. The Association

provide other services to women: refugee

centers for abused women, legal and financial support, and capacity

building trainings. Sinqee associations are now recognized and

supported by women’s affairs and culture and tourism offices in

Oromia.

 Is strengthening women’s institutions important to foster peacemaking in

Ethiopia?

 Do you know other women’s peacemaking institutions in other parts of Ethiopia?

Discuss this issue in some detail

Don Kachel: Agnuak women peacemaking institution

Women in many regions of Ethiopia play an important role in peacemaking. Agnuak
women have a peacemaking institution known as Don Kachel (IIRR, 2009, p. 28) 6.
Literally, DonKachel means ‘let us all live in peace’. It involves a peace-making movement
initiated by Jaye, a group of wise and elderly Agnuak women. The Jaye start a peace-
making movement based on information gathered through women’s networking. The
Jaye gather information about potential conflicts from different sources, including
gossips spread in the community. The Jaye quickly act upon receiving information about,
for example, a heated argument that could lead to conflict and fighting. The Jaye call
the disputing parties for a meeting to settle the dispute. A few neutral observers will
also be invited to monitor the process of the meeting. After examining the arguments
of the two parties, the Jaye give their verdict. The party that caused the conflict
request for forgiveness in public and pay some compensation. A sheep or goat is
slaughtered after the conflict resolved; the meat is cooked and shared by participants

6 International Institute of Rural Reconciliation (IIRR). 2009.

123
of the meeting. Finally the Jaye would announce the meeting is over, the problem
resolved, using these words ‘Now let us all live in peace together!’ The practice of Don
Kachel is currently being adopted by other ethnic groups including the Nuer, Mejenger,
Opo, and Komo.

The role of women as mothers has been highly respected in Ethiopia.

At times of potential conflict, women, bearing their breast, would

say the following to stop conflicts: ‘please stop quarreling for the

sake of my breast that feeds you!’ Women use powerful words such
as ‘batebahuh tutie’ in Amharic speaking areas to influence

quarrelling individuals. Younger people used to respect the words of

mothers and the elderly.

 What do you observe in today’s Ethiopia?

 How far the youth respect words of mothers and parents?

 How do younger people respond to advice of the elderly?

 Where are we heading in this regard?

Women’s institution of reconciliation: Raya-Azebo, Tigray

Elderly and highly respected women in a village in Raya-Azebo, Tigray established a
reconciliation institution called the Debarte. The Debarte plays an important role in
avoiding harms associated with the culture of revenge. A man may kill another man in a
fight. The incident would trigger the feeling of revenge among male relatives of the
murdered man. In such a tense situation, the wife of the killer requests for the
Debarte intervention. The Debarte quickly start their intervention to stop the act of
revenge. The Debarte instruct the murderer’s wife to gathering her female relatives
together. The wife and her female relatives get ready wearing their netela upside down
and covering their hair with black cloths to show their grief and regret. After these
preparations, the Debarte lead the female relatives of the killer to the home of the
murdered man. The women cry loudly while walking to their destination. As they come

124
near to the home of the killed person, they utter the following words: ‘Abyetye ezgio!
Abyetye ezgio!’ ‘Oh God help us! God help us! Upon their arrival at the compound of the
victim, the Debarte kneel down and cover theirheads with the dust of the compound.
They beg the relatives/family of the murdered man to give uprevenge and consider
forgiveness. Initially, the relatives may not respond to the request; however, they will
change their mind and open the door to show their consent for reconciliation. After
persuading the victim’s relatives to give up revenge, the Debarte give the way for
elders who start the peace-making process.

Reflect your views on the following questions

 What do you think about the contribution of the Debarte

in
avoiding revenge and making peace?

 Do you know other women’s institutions involved in making

peace?

 Do you think that women could play an important role in

peacemaking in the current situation of Ethiopia?

6.5 Legal pluralism: interrelations between customary, religious

and state legal systems

Legal pluralism is an important concept in disciplines that study legal issues. It

refers to the existence of two or more legal or justice systems in a given

society or country. Legal pluralism indicates the co-existence of multiple legal

systems working side-by-side in the same society. Legal pluralism is evident in

the Ethiopian context. Multiple legal institutions, including customary laws and

courts, state laws and courts, and religious laws and courts (e.g., the Sharia Law)

work side-by-side in most parts of the country. The FDRE Constitution provides

125
ample space for religious and customary laws and courts to address personal and

family cases. The following two Articles show this reality.

 In accordance with provisions to be specified by law, a law

giving recognition to marriage concluded under systems of

religious or customary laws may be enacted (Article 34(4).

 Religious and customary courts that had state recognition

and functioning prior to the adoption of the Constitution

shall be organized on the basis of recognition accorded to

them by the Constitution. (Article 78(5))

Legal pluralism is a pervasive phenomenon in Ethiopia. This is because a single

legal system does not have a capability to address all legal cases and maintaining

peace and order.

Hence, the following justice institutions work side-by-side in most parts of the

country, especially in remote and rural areas: state/formal justice institutions,

customary justice institutions, and religious courts. The following figure shows

the formal and customary justice institutions working side-by-side in one of the

districts in Gamo zone.

126
Three elements are portrayed in the figure above: 1) state justice institutions:

state law, districts court, and the police; 2) customary institutions: dere

woga/customary law, dubusha/customary court, and dere cima/council of elders;

and 3) social court attached to each kebele administration. The picture will be

more complex if we add religious courts such as the Sharia court which is very

important in regions such as Afar, Somali, and Harari.

Reflect your views on the following questions

 What are the advantages and disadvantages of legal

pluralism

(having multiple justice/legal systems/institutions)?

 Do you think that state justice institutions and customary justice

127
 institutions support each other to maintain peace and order?

Discuss these and related issues among your classmates.

6.6 Unit Summary

Dear students, this unit discusses issues related to institutions of

indigenous/local governance, conflict resolution and peace making. We cannot

completely avoid conflicts in the social world. Societies have devised different

institutions and mechanisms to control, manage and resolve conflicts in order to

maintain peace and social order. In this unit, you have also discussed the role of

women and women’s institutions in calming quarrelling parties and making peace

is also presented and discussed. You will have more discussion on indigenous

knowledge systems in the next unit.

6.7 Assessment Techniques:

The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group assignment,

individual assignments, administering different examinations and mandatory

reading assignments.

6.8 Facilities Required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers.… etc.

Suggested Reading Materials

Alula Pankhurst and Getachew Assefa (Eds.). 2008. Grassroots Justice in

Ethiopia: The contribution of customary dispute resolution. Addis Ababa:

French Center of Ethiopian Studies.

128
Alula Pankhurst and GetachewAssefa. 2008. Understanding Customary Dispute

Resolution in Ethiopia. In Grassroots Justice in Ethiopia edited by Alula

Pankhurst and GetachewAssefa.

Dejene Gemechu. 2007. Conflict and conflict resolution among Waliso Oromo of
Eastern

Macha, the case of the Guma. Addis Ababa University: Department of Sociology

and Social Anthropology

Gebre Yintso, Fekade Azeze, and Assefa Fiseha (Eds.). 2011. Customary dispute

resolution mechanisms in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and

Conciliation

Center.

Getaneh Mehari. 2014. Betwixt and Between? Culture and women’s rights in the

context of multiple legal and institutional settings, the Dorze case, south-

western Ethiopia. PhD Dissertation, Addis Ababa University.

Getachew Senishaw. 2014. The Nexus of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge,

Livelihood Strategies, and Social Institutions in Midland Gedeo Human-

Environment Relations. PHD dissertation, Department of Social Anthropology,

Addis Ababa University.

International Institute of Rural Reconciliation (IIRR). 2009. Culture at

Crossroads: Ethiopian women in peace-making. Nairobi, Kenya.

Shimeles Gizaw and Taddese Gessese (2008). Customary Dispute Resolution in

Tigray

Region: Case Studies from Three Districts. In Grassroots Justice in Ethiopia

edited by Alula Pankhurst and GetachewAssefa.

129
Tarekegn Adebo and Hannah Tsadik (Eds.) Making peace in Ethiopia: Five cases

of traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution. Addis Ababa: Master

Printing Press.

Unit Seven

7. Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and

Practices

Study Hours: 8 Face to Face Hours

Dear Students!

You have discussed customary and local governance systems and peacemaking in

Chapter 6. In this chapter, you will discuss issues related to indigenous

knowledge systems and practices. The chapter discusses who indigenous peoples

are and their knowledge; special features of indigenous peoples; significances of

indigenous knowledge; indigenous knowledge and development; preservation,

challenges and limitations of indigenous knowledge; and the erosion of indigenous

knowledge systems. Dear students, as this is modular course, your active

participation is of vital importance.

Contents of the Unit:

130
In this part of this module, we will explore more about indigenous knowledge

systems (IKS). The conceptualizations of IKSs starting from definitional

concerns to scholarly agreed up on features and the development, significance

and preservation of indigenous knowledge will be highlighted.Finally, analysis is

made on the challenges associated with the decline and erosion of indigenous

knowledge.

Unit Learning Outcomes:

Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 Identify who indigenous people are, and their knowledge

 Describe the significances of indigenous knowledge

 State the challenges facing indigenous knowledge

 Suggest viable ways of promoting and protecting IK

7.1. Definition of concepts

7.1.1. Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)

IKS is defined as technical insight of wisdom gained and developed by people in

a particular locality through years of careful observation and experimentation

with the phenomena around them. IKS is not just a set of information that is in

the minds of the people, which can be simply taped and applied. It is accessible

by recall and practice (Mangetane, 2001). IKS is embodied in culture and is

described as an integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs and behavior. It

consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools,

techniques, artifacts, rituals, ceremonies, folklores and gender. This culture is

131
passed down from one generation to the next generation and generally it

provides a holistic view of how to use natural resources based on traditional

ethical perspectives (Atteh,1991). Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) refer to

a body of empirical knowledge and beliefs handed down through generations of

long-time inhabitants of a specific locale, by cultural transmission, about the

relationship of living beings with each other and their environment (Warren

1991).

In sum, IKS refers to “ a total of knowledge and practices, whether explicit or

implicit, used in the management of socioeconomic, ecological and spiritual

facets of life (Hoppers, 2005: 2), stored in the collective memory and

communicated orally among members of the community and to the future

generations [through, stories, myth, songs, etc].

7.1.2. Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous peoples

In international context, while the term ‘indigenous’ is understood (mostly by

Europeans) as being similar or synonym to ‘traditional’, ‘aboriginal’, ‘vernacular’,

‘African’, ‘Black’, and ‘native American’, the phrase ‘indigenous people' refers to

a specific group of people occupying a certain geographic area for many

generations (Loubser, 2005). Indigenous people possess, practice and protect a

total sum of knowledge and skills constitutive of their meaning, belief systems,

livelihood constructions and expression that distinguish them from other

groups (Dondolo, 2005; Nel, 2005).

However, the concept “indigenous” is a social and historical construct with high

political, social, and economic stakes. Definitions of indigenous in international

governing organizations (IGOs), in indigenous communities, and in the academic

132
literature are highly contested. The World Bank's definition of indigenous

peoples includes close attachment to ancestral territories and the natural

resources in them; presence of customary social and political institutions;

economic systems primarily oriented to subsistence production; an indigenous

language, often different from the predominant language; and self-

identification and identification by others as members of a distinct cultural

group (The world Bank in Corntassel, 2003:86).

Indigenousness, as defined by indigenous peoples, focuses on the relationship

with the community in which they live. In each definition the distinction

between the communities is cited. Both definitions also highlight the

relationship of indigenous peoples to the power structure within the state,

noting that indigenous groups are disadvantaged or lack control. Territory is

also essential in the definitions. Being indigenous is about “continuity of

habitation, aboriginality, and often a ‘natural’ connection to the land” (Clifford

1997[1994]:287). For example, in the cosmology of Native Hawaiians the land is

an ancestor who gave birth to Hawaiians (Trask 1999). Thus, the relationship to

the land is a form of kinship. There is a sense of stewardship and of duty to not

only use the resources that the land gives for sustenance, but to do what each

generation can to perpetuate the health and fertility of the land.

Academic definitions focus on the following elements of indigenous identity:

living in tradition-based cultures, having political autonomy prior to colonialism,

and seeking to preserve cultural integrity in the present (Corntassel, 2003).

They also recognize the role of land to indigenous peoples—noting that they are

descended from inhabitants of the land they occupy (ibid).

In 1986, however, a working definition of Indigenous peoples was offered by the

UN

133
Working Group on Indigenous Issues, developed within the comprehensive Study
by
Martinez Cobo J. on the problem of discrimination against indigenous
populations.
According to this definition:

Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a

historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that

developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from

other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or

parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society

and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future

generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as

the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with

their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems

(MartinezCobo, 1982).

In sum, despite the lack of an authoritative / formal universal definition for the

concept of indigenous peoples, the United Nations Permanent Forum on

Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) sets outs distinguishing features as a guide for the

identification of indigenous peoples across the globe. This includes the:

• Self- identification as Indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by

the community as their member;

• Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies;

• Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources;

• Distinct social, economic or political systems;

• Distinct language, culture and beliefs;

• Formation of non-dominant groups of society; and

134
 • Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as

distinctive peoples and communities (UNPFII, n.d. Available from:

https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf.).

Regarding their number, it is estimated that there are approximately 370

million indigenous peoples live in some 90 countries across the world (Bartlett,

2007). While they constitute 5 per cent of the world’s population, they make up

15 per cent of the world’s disadvantaged. Of the 7,000 languages in the world

today, it is estimated that more than 4,000 are spoken by the indigenous

peoples (Edmund Jan Osmanczyk ed., 1990). Practicing their respective unique

traditions, indigenous people retain social, cultural, economic and political

characteristics which are distinct and different from those of the larger

societies in which they live (Bahar , 2010).

Spread across the world from the Arctic to the South Pacific, they are the
descendants -- of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the
time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. The new
arrivals later became dominant through conquest, occupation, settlement or
other means (UNPFII fact sheet, n.d.).

Reflect on the following questions

 Can you list some of the distinguishing features Indigenous

peoples?

 Where and how do you think IK is stored and transmitted from

one generation to the next?

 How do the term ‘indigenous’ is understood by the western world?

Indigenous Knowledge (IK)

135
Literatures on indigenous knowledge does not provide a single definition of the

concept. This is in part due to the differences in background and perspectives

of the authors, ranging from social anthropology to agricultural engineering

According to Warren, indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge – knowledge

that is unique to a given culture or society. Since every population is unique in

terms of its environment, its resources, and its tools (both physical and

conceptual), IK will also be unique. IK contrasts with the international knowledge

system generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. It is

the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health care, food

preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other

activities in rural communities .

(Warren, 1991). For Kwaku and Morena (2010), IK is a unique local knowledge to

a given culture or society. IK exists in rural and urban societies as part of life

that their livelihood depends on specific skills and knowledge for survival.

The World Bank refers IK as a large body of knowledge and skills which is

developed outside the formal system including development planning,

environmental assessment, resource management, local conservation of biological

resources, and conflict resolution (World Bank, 1998).

IK has different but closely related names such as 'folk knowledge', 'local

knowledge or wisdom', 'non-formal knowledge', 'culture', 'indigenous technical

knowledge', 'traditional ecological knowledge', 'traditional knowledge', and

others. All these terms have similar concepts and refer to how members of a

community perceive and understand their environment and resources,

particularly the way they convert those resources through labor(Akabogu,

2002).

136
In sum, indigenous knowledge is the knowledge that people in a given community

have developed over time, and that continues to develop. It is based on

experience, often tested over centuries of use, adapted to local culture and

environment, dynamic and changing (International Institute of Rural

Reconstruction, IIRR, 1996).

Reflect on the following questions

 Who are indigenous people?

What is indigenous Knowledge?

7.1.3. Special Features of Indigenous Knowledge

Ellen and Harris (1996) identified the following special features of indigenous

knowledge that distinguish it broadly from other knowledge. As to them IK is:

1. Local, in that it is rooted in a particular community and situated within

broader cultural traditions; it is a set of experiences generated by people

living in those communities. Separating the technical from the non-technical,

the rational from the non-rational could be problematic. Therefore, when

transferred to other places, there is a potential risk of dislocating IK.

2. Tacit knowledge and, therefore, not easily codifiable.

3. Transmitted orally, or through imitation and demonstration. Codifying it may

lead to the loss of some of its properties.

4. Experiential rather than theoretical knowledge. Experience and trial and

error, tested in the rigorous laboratory of survival of local communities

constantly reinforce IK.

137
5. Learned through repetition, which is a defining characteristic of tradition

even when new knowledge is added. Repetition aids in the retention and

reinforcement of IK.

6. Constantly changing, being produced as well as reproduced, discovered as well

as lost; though it is often perceived by external observers as being somewhat

static

Reflect on the following questions

 Can you list some of the distinguishing features Indigenous peoples?

 Where and how do to you think IK is stored and transmitted from one generation to
the next?

7.2 Significance of indigenous knowledge

Until relatively recently, the development of a community’s conception of

knowledge was influenced primarily by the philosophy and methods of western

science. “Few, outside of some anthropologists and historians recognized that

there are numerous sciences embedded in cultures of other peoples and

civilizations throughout the world (Davies, S. and Ebbe, K., editors, 1995).

Today, however, both scholars and public policy makers are recognizing the

importance of various local or culture-based knowledge systems in addressing

the pressing problems of development and the environment” (ibid).

Indigenous knowledge is important in that people in a community value whatever

resource they get from the environment through sustainable production

systems. These communities are conscious of the need to self-reliant in capital

stocks and management skills ( Mangetane et al, 2001).

138
The knowledge of local people is an enabling component of development. In this

regard; a large percentage of the earth's genetic diversity has been maintained

and managed through farmer's IKS ( Dewes,1993).

Indigenous knowledge system enable people to develop strategies for handling

household and communal activities (Mangetane et al., 2001). For example in

Ethiopia Debo and Jige are an important uniting forces in communal activities.

Members of the community unite to provide essential inputs, including direct

labor to operations. ''This deployment of manpower is strongly supported by

IKS, which is composed of technologies, rules, information, approaches, and

relationships that are vital to sustainable development'' (Kalawole, 2001).

Over the years, IKS authorities (elders) make local rules to protect important

resources such as useful plants, water bodies, stone terracing, agro-forestry,

watersheds and rivers, food preservations, conflict management, calendar,

fallowing as a soil regeneration practice, etc. According to Paula Puffer Paula

(1995), indigenous / local knowledge can help find the best solution to a

development challenges. For example, familiarity with local knowledge can help

extensionists and researchers understand and communicate better with local

people.

In general, indigenous knowledge is an important part of the lives of the poor.

IK is a key element of the “social capital” of the poor; their main asset to invest

in the struggle for survival, to produce food, to provide for shelter or to

achieve control of their own lives. Furthermore, one cannot overlook indigenous

knowledge’s ability to provide effective alternatives to Western know-how. IK

offers local people and their development workers further options in designing

new projects or addressing specific problems and wider disasters. Instead of

relying on imported Western technologies, people in the developing nations can

139
choose from readily available indigenous knowledge or, where appropriate,

combine indigenous and Western technology.

However, it is important to note that not all indigenous practices are beneficial

to the sustainable development of a local community; and not all IK can a priori

provide the right solution for a given problem. Typical examples are slash and

burn agriculture and female circumcision. Hence, before adopting IK,

integrating it into development programs, or even disseminating it, practices

need to be scrutinized for their appropriateness just as any other technology.

(A frame work for action, 1998).

Reflect on the following questions

 Why do we study indigenous knowledge?

 Do you think indigenous knowledge is an important part of the lives of the

indigenous people?
How?

7.3. Indigenous knowledge and development

Needless to mention again, indigenous knowledge refers to what indigenous

people know and do, and what they have known and done for generations –

practices that evolved through trial and error and proved flexible enough to

cope with change (Melchias, 2001).

Indigenous knowledge passes from one generation to the next and enable

indigenous people to survive, manage their natural resources and the ecosystems

surrounding them like animals, plants, rivers, seas, natural environment,

economic, cultural and political organization. Knowledge of these elements form

a set of interacting units known as indigenous coping systems. In other words,

140
''IK is relevant to development process such as agriculture, animal husbandry,

traditional medicine, saving and credit, community development, poverty

alleviation, and peaceful coexistence'' ( Boven and Morohashi, 2002).

Indigenous knowledge may help identify cost-effective and sustainable

mechanisms for poverty alleviation that are locally manageable and meaningful.

It increases and enhances livelihood options, revitalize agriculture, increase

food security, improve health and promote a sense of cultural pride within the

community (Kudzayi et al, 2013). Many plants currently growing wild in the

ancestral domain produce natural dye, fiber, detergent and natural oil. Several

plants in the ancestral domain have medicinal uses. Chemical compounds of these

plants could be identified for the production of organic medicine

(ibid).''Indigenous knowledge is used at the local level by communities as the

basis for decisions pertaining to food security, human and animal health,

education, natural resources management, and other vital activities'' (Nicolas,

2000).

Nicolas further states that indigenous institutions, indigenous technology, and

low-cost approaches can increase the efficiency of development programs

because IK is a locally owned and managed resource. Utilizing IK helps to

increase the sustainability of development efforts because the IK integration

process provides for mutual learning and adaptation, which in turn contributes

to the empowerment of local communities.

Since efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability are key determinants of the

quality of development work, harnessing indigenous knowledge has a clear

development business case. Early indications point to significant improvements in

development project quality, if IK is leveraged with modern technologies.

141
Building on IK systems also empowers local communities. Empowerment,

especially of the poor, is a core objective of most development efforts( ibid ).

According to the 1998/99 World Development Report, knowledge, not capital, is

the key to sustainable social and economic development. Building on local

knowledge, the basic component of any country’s knowledge system, is the first

step to mobilize such capital.

As to the same report, the challenge for the development community is to find

better ways to learn about indigenous institutions and practices and where

necessary adapt modern techniques (i.e., “global best practices”) to the local

practices. Only then will global knowledge be rendered relevant to the local

community needs. The key factor in the adaptation process is the involvement of

those who possess indigenous knowledge. A study of 121 rural water projects in

49 countries found that 70 percent succeeded when the intended beneficiaries

participated in project design, compared to a 10 percent success rate among

programs where they did not.7

In sum, indigenous knowledge is the knowledge that helps a society make

decisions about activities, such as agriculture and education, that are

acceptable to their life ways. Indigenous knowledge, along with western- based

knowledge, helps create development solutions that are culturally acceptable by

the community. In the past, such knowledge has been ignored and development

solutions have been created that were not economically feasible or culturally

acceptable by the local community. When western scientific ideas are paired

with indigenous knowledge systems, researchers going overseas or working with

local communities can prepare an initial development plan that has a complete

picture (Puffer, 1995).

7 1998/99 World development Report: Knowledge for Development.

142
 Reflect on the following questions

Can you list some of the major features of IK?

List the different but closely related names of IK.

7.4. Preservation, Challenges and Limitations of IK

Indigenous knowledge, which has generally been passed from generation to

generation by word of mouth, is in danger of being lost unless it is formally

documented and preserved (Amare, 2009). The future of IK, that reflects many

generations of experience and problem solving by thousands of indigenous people

across the globe, is uncertain (Warren, 2004).

The loss of IK would impoverish society because, just as the world needs

genetic diversity of species, it needs diversity of knowledge systems (Labelle,

1997). The rapid change in the way of life of local communities has largely

accounted for the loss of IK. Younger generations underestimate the utility of

IK systems because of the influence of modem technology and education

(Ulluwishewa, 1999).

If IK is not recorded and preserved, it may be lost and remain inaccessible to

other indigenous systems as well as to development workers. Development

projects cannot offer sustainable solutions to local problems without integrating

local knowledge (Warren, 1991).

"Since IK is essential to development, it must be gathered, organized and

disseminated, just like Western knowledge''(Agrawal, 1995 in Amare, 2009). As

IK is the key to local-level development, ignoring people’s knowledge leads

possibly to failure. Similarly, ''one should not expect all the expertise for third

143
world development to come from developed nations, academic institutions,

multinational corporations or NGOs'' (Amare, 2009). In the face of dwindling

resources available to African countries, and noting that even the industrialized

nation governments cannot provide for all the needs of the people, it has been

suggested that IK, and the technical expertise developed there from become

vital tools for rural development(Atte, 1989).

Regarding the challenges and limitations of IK, Amare (2009) states the
following :

Although the knowledge of indigenous communities has been found to be very useful,

the, exploitation of natural resources, and increased competition for

employment, has set off a problematic chain of events. This modernization has

influenced indigenous traditional spread of industrialization threatens the

preservation and continued development of IK systems (Sherpa, 2005).

Industrialization, along with its attendant processes of urbanization African

which generate IK and practices can break down. Added to this is the

commercial society in many ways and Ethiopia is no exception.

IK can also be eroded by wider economic and social forces. Pressure on

indigenous peoples to integrate with larger societies is often great and, as they

become more integrated, the social structures pressure by multinational

agrochemical companies eager to break into new markets (Thrupp, 1989). As

Grenier (1998) puts it: “the growth of national and international markets, the

imposition o f educational and religious systems and the impact o f various

development processes are leading more and more to the “homogenization” o f

the world’s cultures. Consequently, indigenous beliefs, values, customs, know-how

and practices may be altered and the resulting knowledge base incomplete.

As with scientific knowledge, ( Amare, 2009), IK has the following limitations

and drawbacks and these must be recognized as well:

144
 IK is sometimes accepted uncritically because of naive notions that whatever

indigenous people do is naturally in harmony with the environment. Thrupp

(1989) argues that we should reject “romanticized and idealistic views of local

knowledge and traditional societies”. There is historical and contemporary

evidence that indigenous peoples have also committed environmental sins’

through over-grazing, over-hunting, or over-cultivation of the land. It is

misleading to think of IK as always being ‘good’, ‘right or ‘sustainable’.

Quite often the overlooked feature of IK, which needs to be taken into
account, is that, like

scientific knowledge, sometimes the knowledge which local people rely on is

wrong or even harmful. Practices based on, for example, mistaken beliefs,

faulty experimentation, or inaccurate information can be dangerous and may

even be a barrier to improving the wellbeing of indigenous people.

Doubleday (2003) pointed out that knowledge is power, so individuals are not
always willing

to share knowledge among themselves, or with outsiders. Knowledge is a source

of status and income (as is the case, for example, with a herbalist) and is often

jealously guarded. A related issue is that some indigenous peoples fear that

their IK will be misused, and lacking the power to prevent such abuses, they

choose to keep quiet.

Reflectyour viewson the following questions

How can we preserve IK?

Why IK is considered as an important part of the lives of the

indigenous peoples?

Do you think as with scientific knowledge, IK has limitations? How?

145
7.5. The Erosion of Indigenous Knowledge
Systems(IKS)

Despite the fact that some IK is lost naturally as techniques and tools are

modified or fall out of use, the recent and current rate of loss is accelerating

because of rapid population growth, growth of international markets,

educational systems, environmental degradation, and development processes —

pressures related to rapid modernization and cultural homogenization (Louise

Grenier, 1998). Below, some examples are given by Grenier to illustrate these

mechanisms:

• With rapid population growth—often due to in-migration or government

relocation schemes in the case of large development projects, such as dams —

standards of living may be compromised. With poverty, opportunities for short-

term gain are selected over environmentally sound local practices. With

increasing levels of poverty, farmers, for example, may also have less time and

fewer resources to sustain the dynamic nature of IK systems through their local

experiments and innovations.

• The introduction of market-oriented agricultural and forestry practices focused

on monocropping is associated with losses in IK and IK practices, through losses

in biodiversity and cultural diversity. For instance, policies promoting generic

rice and wheat varieties devalue locally adapted species. With the ready

availability of many commercial foods, some biodiversity seems to become less

relevant, such as seed and crop varieties selected over the years for their long-

term storage attributes.

• In the short term, chemical inputs seem to reduce the need to tailor varieties to

difficult growing conditions, contributing to the demise of local varieties.

• With deforestation, certain medicinal plants become more difficult to find (and

the knowledge or culture associated with the plants also declines).

146
 • More and more knowledge is being lost as a result of the disruption of

traditional channels of oral communication. Neither children nor adults spend as

much time in their communities anymore (for example, some people travel to the

city on a daily basis to go to school, to look for work, or to sell farm produce;

many young people are no longer interested in, or do not have the opportunity

for, learning traditional methods). It is harder for the older generation to

transmit their knowledge to young people.

• As IK is transmitted orally, it is vulnerable to rapid change — especially when

people are displaced or when young people acquire values and lifestyles different

from those of their ancestors.

• Farmers traditionally maintained their indigenous crop varieties by keeping

household seed stocks and by obtaining seed through traditional family and

community networks and through exchanges with nearby communities. Some of

these traditional networks have been disrupted or no longer exist.

• In the past, outsiders (for example, social, physical, and agricultural scientists,

biologists, colonial powers) ignored or maligned IK, depicting it as primitive,

simple, static, “not knowledge,” or folklore. This historic neglect (regardless of

its cause — racism, ethnocentrism, or modernism, with its complete faith in the

scientific method) has contributed to the decline of IK systems, through lack of

use and application. This legacy is still continued, as a result of which many

professionals are still skeptical (Louise Grenier, 1998).

Also, in some countries, official propaganda depicts indigenous cultures and

methodologies as backward or out of date and simultaneously promotes one

national culture and one language at the expense of minority cultures. Often,

formal schooling reinforces this negative attitude. Local people’s perceptions (or

misperceptions) of local species and of their own traditional systems may need

to be rebuilt. Some local people and communities have lost confidence in their

ability to help themselves and have become dependent on external solutions to

their local problems (ibid).

147
In sum, indigenous peoples often have much in common with other neglected
segments of societies, i.e. lack of political representation and participation,
economic marginalization and poverty, lack of access to social services and
discrimination. Despite their cultural differences, the diverse indigenous
peoples share common problems also related to the protection of their rights.

Reflect on the following summary questions

What are the factors that contribute to the loss of

IK?

 Why do the recent and current rate of loss of IK is

accelerating?

 Why do we preserve IK?

 Do you think all indigenous practices are beneficial to the sustainable

development of a local community? How?

7.6. Unit summary

Dear Students!

In this unit we have addressed the most important concepts, aspects and

dimensions of indigenous knowledge as system of knowledge. We have seen that

Indigenous knowledge is defined as technical insight of wisdom gained and

developed by people in a particular locality through years of careful observation

and experimentation with the phenomena around them. IKS is embodied in

culture and is described as an integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs

and behavior. the concept “indigenous” is a social and historical construct with

high political, social, and economic stakes… indigenous is about pre-invasion, pre-

colonial continuity of habitation, aboriginality, and often a ‘natural’ connection to

the land. IK as a large body of knowledge and skills which is developed outside

the formal system including development planning, environmental assessment,

148
resource management, local conservation of biological resources, and conflict

resolution characterized usually by being locally distributed and owned by

communities (groups or individuals) as a tacit, repetitive, oral, usually practical

and experiential and always in some form of flux. The significance of IK has

been being recognized by development actors and practitioners of sustainable

development across all levels. Hence, since IK is essential to development, it

must be preserved as in being gathered, recorded, organized and disseminated

knowledge. Recently, however, IK is facing real multifaceted challenges related

to modernization schemes and cultural homogenization attempts including but

not exclusively of fast-tracked population growth, economic and market

globalization, advances in educational systems, environmental degradation, and

top-down development plans and programs.

7.7. Assessment Techniques:

The assessment methods to be used in this unit include; quiz, group assignment,

individual assignments, administering different examinations and mandatory

reading assignments.

7.8. Facilities Required:

White/Blackboard, LCD/Power Point Presentations, Whiteboard Markers .…

etc.

149
Suggested Reading Materials

Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific

knowledge.

Development and Change 26(3): 413-39.

Amare Desta. (2009). Comprehending Indigenous Knowledge: An Ethnographic

Study of Knowledge Processes within Natural Resource Management .

Information Systems and Innovation Group. Submitted for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Management. London School of

Economics. Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. USA

Atteh OD (1991). Indigenous local knowledge as key to local–level development:

possibilities,
constrains and planning issues in the context of Africa . Seminar on Reviving
local Self-reliance: Challenges for rural/regional development in Eastern

and Southern Africa, Arusha. Tanzania, 21-24 February.

Bahar Abdi (2010). The Emerging International Law on Indigenous Peoples’

Rights: A Look at the Ethiopian Perspective . Master's thesis submitted to

the faculty of law, Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment of the

requirements of the degree LLM in Public International Law.

Brokensha, D., Warren, D. and Werner. O. (1997) Indigenous knowledge systems

and

development. Lanham: University Press o f America.

Christopher. TafaraGadzirayi, Edward Mutandwa , Jordan Chihiya, And Chikosha

Mary. (2006). Indigenous knowledge systems in sustainable utilization

of wetlands in communal areas of Zimbabwe: case of Hwedza district.

African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 1 (4), pp. 131-137.

150
 Bindura, Zimbabwe, Africa (Available online at

http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR).

ChiwanzalKudzayi Maxwell C.C. Musingafi PaulMupa. (2013). Challenges in

Preserving
Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Learning From Past Experiences .

Information and Knowledge Management www.iiste.org. Vol.3, No.2, 2013

Clifford, James. 1997 [1994]. “Diasporas.” Pp. 283-90 in The Ethnicity Reader:

Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Migration, edited by M. Guibernau and

J. Rex. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Corntassel, Jeff J. (2003). “Who is Indigenous? ‘People hood’ and Ethno nationalist
Approaches
to Rearticulating Indigenous Identity.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 9:75-100.
Dondolo, L. (2005). Intangible Heritage: The production of indigenous knowledge in
various

aspects of social life. In Indilinga: African Journal of Indigenous

Knowledge Systems. Volume 4 Number 6. pp. 110 -126.

Davies, S. and Ebbe, K. (1995) Traditional knowledge and sustainable

development; proceedings of a conference, held at the World Bank in

September 1993, World Bank, environmentally sustainable development

proceedings Series No. 4, Washington D.C.

Dewes W (1993). Traditional Knowledge and sustainable development in

Southern Africa.

Proceedings of a Conference held at the World Bank, Washington D.C,

Sept 27-28, Environmentally Sustainable Proceedings, Series No 4

Doubleday, N.C. (2003). Finding common ground: natural law and collective wisdom . In

Inglis, J., ed., Traditional ecological Knowledge: concepts and cases.

International Program on

151
 Traditional Ecological Knowledge; International Development Research Centre ,

Ottawa, ON, Canada, pp. 41-53

Edmund Jan Osmanczyk (ed ): Inter-American Charter of Social Guaranties, at

Art. 39 (1948),
reprinted in Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International

Relations, (1990), pp.432-433

Ellen Carm (2014). Inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) – A

Precondition for Sustainable Development and an Integral Part of

Environmental Studies. Journal of Education and Research March 2014,
Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 58-76

Ellen, R. and Harris, H (1996). Concepts of indigenous environmental knowledge

in scientific

and development studies literature - A critical assessment; draft paper

East-West Environmental Linkages Network Workshop 3, Canterbury

Flavier JM (1995).The regional program for the promotion of indigenous

knowledge in Asia,
in Warren, D.M., L.J. Slikkerveer and D. Brokensha (eds.) The cultural

dimension of development: Indigenous knowledge systems. London:

Intermediate Technology Publications. pp. 479-487.

Geusau, L.A. Wongprasert, S. Trakansupakon, P. (2002) Regional development in

northern

Thailand: its impact on highlanders. In Johnson, M., ed., Lore: capturing traditional

environmental knowledge. Dene Cultural Institute; International Development

Research Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada, pp. 143-163.

Grenier, L. (1998) Working with Indigenous Knowledge: A Guide for Researchers.

IDRC, Ottawa, Canada

152
Hoppers, C.O. (2005).Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Development: The role

of the university. Centre for Education Policy Development. Occasional paper

No. 5

International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. (1996) . Recording and using

indigenous
knowledge: A manual. Philippines: Author.

Judith G. Bartlett et al, (2007). Identifying Indigenous Peoples for Health

Research in A
Global Context: A Review of Perspectives and Challenges . International

Journal of Circumpolar Health, vol. 66, No.4, (2007), p.288

Kalinda Griffiths (2018). Statistics, rights and recognition: the identification

of Indigenous peoples . A paper prepared for the 16 th Conference of

IAOS OECD Headquarters, Paris, France, 19-21 September 2018

KudzayiChiwanza, Maxwell C.C. Musingafi, and PaulMupa (2013 ). Challenges in

Preserving Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Learning From Past

Experiences. Information and Knowledge Management . Vol.3, No.2, 2013

Labelle, H. (1997) Presidential address. Canadian International Development

Agency at the

plenary session on global knowledge and local culture o f the

International Global

Knowledge 1997 Conference in Toronto. http://www.kivu.com/

[Accessed on line: 15/04/07]

Louise Grenier (1998). Working with indigenous knowledge. A Guide for

researchers. Ottawa : the International Development Research Centre.

Canada

Mangetane GK, Asibey EAO (2001). An Overview of African Indigenous

Knowledge for

153
 sustainable Development. Scandinavian Seminar College: African

Perspectives of Policies Supporting Sustainable Development.

Melchias, G. (2001). Biodiversity and Conservation. Enfield: Science Publishers,

Inc.

Nel, P. (2005).Indigenous Knowledge: Contestation, Rhetoric and Space. In Indilinga:

African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Volume 4 Number 1. pp.

2 – 14.

Nicolas Gorjestani (2000). Indigenous Knowledge for Development: Opportunities

andChallenges. A paper presented at the UNCTAD Conference on

Traditional Knowledge in Geneva, The World Bank, November 1, 2000.

Pamela Jacquelin-Andersen ed. (2018). The Indigenous World 2018. Copenhagen:

International work Group For Indigenous Affairs. Denmark

Puffer Paula, C (1995). The Value of Indigenous knowledge in Development

Programs Concerning Somali Pastoralists and Their Camels . Iowa State

University.

Schoenhoff, D.M. (1999) The barefoot expert: The interface of computerised

knowledge

systems and indigenous knowledge systems. Westport, Connecticut:

Greenwood Press.

Stephanie M. Teixeira and Keri E. Iyall Smith. (2008). Core and Periphery
Relations: A case
study Core Maya. Journal of World-Systems Research, Volume XIV,

Number 1, Pages 22-49

TasewTafese. (2016). Conflict Management through African Indigenous

Institutions: A Study of the Anyuaa Community . Institute for Peace and
Security Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

154
Thrupp, L.A. (1999) Legitimizing local knowledge: from displacement to empowerment

for Third World people. Agriculture and Human Values, 6(3), 13-24.

Trask, Haunani-Kay.(1999). From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty

in Hawai’i.
Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.

Ulluwishewa, R. (1999) National Knowledge, National IK Resource Centres and

Sustainable

Development. Development Administration and Management, University

of USAID Guinea

United Nations (2013). Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Human Rights
System.
Fact Sheet No 9 / Rev 2. New York and Geneva, 2013

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Social
Policy and

Development. Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

(2009). State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. New York,
ST/ESA/328

Warren, DM. (1991). Using Indigenous Knowledge in Agricultural Development ;

Discussion Paper 127, Washington, World Bank

155