Irma Taddia: Autobiografie Africane. Il Colonialismo nelle Memorie Orali

Review   

Causes and Trajectories of Local Conflict among Pastoral Peoples in North East Africa

Pastorilaist (herding) societies in Africa are claimed to be prone to violence due to structural conditions of environmental vulnerability, scarcity of resources and decentralized socio-political organization. Their contact with expanding state structures, and with neighboring groups in different socio-economic conditions, are seen to add to instability, due to the underlying hegemonic project of national states, while major economic and demographic changes also play a role. This paper presents a comparative overview of general factors that come into play in the ‘production of conflict’ in and between pastoral societies, focusing on Northeast Africa. It is contended that while conflict was a regular feature of life in traditional pastoral societies, its nature and frequency have notably changed in the confrontation with state forces, whereby unresolved tensions between traditional and ‘modern’ judicial conflict regulation mechanisms play a role. External agencies approach these pastoral societies in conflict without paying proper attention to the larger political-economic context in which they operate and which constrains them in a political and ideological sense. Some case examples are adduced to make this point. These and other case studies reveal that structural instability in contemporary pastoral societies is usually not properly interpreted by outside agencies and is not easily ‘resolved’. The paper concludes with a general model or checklist of conditions and factors of conflict production in pastoral societies

Muslim Monasteries? Some Aspects of Religious Culture in Northern Ethiopia

This paper presents some preliminary observations on Sufi Muslim shrines or retreats in the Ethiopian Wällo region, places where local Muslim holy men or ‘saints’ lead the faithful and act as religious mediators and advisors. Some of these retreats of Sufi Muslims have a ‘monastic’ character, and allow males and females a life of reflection and devotion to God. An obvious parallel with Christian monasteries presents itself, referring to a partly shared religious culture. Some reflections on the extent and nature of this similarity are made, and the need for a fresh approach to the study of religion in Ethiopia/Africa, in the context of contemporary debates about religious identity and the hardening of communal boundaries, is underlined

Hermann Amborn: Flexibel aus Tradition: Burji in Äthiopien und Kenia

 Review  

In memoriam Ulrich Braukämper (1944–2018)

Obituar

Menstrual Synchrony Claims among Suri Girls (Southwest Ethiopia)

Among the Suri agro-pastoralists, a relatively self-sufficient and independent people of ca. 34 thousand in the extreme southwest of Ethiopia, young adolescent girls often assert that they menstruate together and regulate their own menstrual cycle, relating it to the phases of the moon.  “Menstrual synchrony” is a much debated and still unresolved phenomenon in the scientific literature.  Rather than giving immediate credence to its existence, I claim that the young, unmarried Suri girls—well aware of all biological facts around procreation, the fertility cycle and pregnancy prevention—follow a cultural script of sexuality and aim to fit physiological facts into a preferred socio-cultural mould.  They use the synchrony assertion to change behaviour and thereby to maintain sexual independence and choice of partners in a society that is marked by significant gender equality but also by individual competition.After a brief presentation of key issues in the (inter-disciplinary) debate on menstrual synchrony and its possible existence and causes, I describe Suri sexual culture and menstrual customs, using field data gathered in two villages.  I then tentatively assess the plausibility of the Suri girls’ claims to menstrual synchrony, and elaborate an interpretation of Suri female sexual/reproductive strategies as enhancing women’s agency in a society marred by growing internal instability, conflict, and an uncertain future.Chez les agro-pasteurs suri, une ethnie relativement autonome de 34 000 personnes environ, vivant dans l’extrême sud-ouest éthiopien, les jeunes adolescentes prétendent souvent qu’elles ont leurs règles ensemble, et régulent leurs cycles selon les phases de la lune. La “synchronie menstruelle”, malgré un manque de preuves, est un phénomène contesté et souvent débattu dans la littérature scientifique. Plutôt que d’accepter l’existence de ce phénomène, nous soutenons que les jeunes filles suri (célibataires), qui connaissent bien la sexualité, la fécondation, la procréation et la prévention des grossesses, adoptent un scénario culturel visant à modifier et à intégrer ces faits physiologiques dans une forme socio-culturelle. Elles utilisent la prétendue synchronie pour changer, avec succès, les comportements sexuels, maintenir une indépendance sexuelle et choisir leurs partenaires dans une société marquée par l’égalité des sexes, mais aussi par la compétition individuelle.Après une brève présentation du débat interdisciplinaire portant sur le phénomène de la synchronie menstruelle, son (in)existence et ses causes éventuelles, nous décrirons la culture sexuelle et les coutumes de menstruation des Suri, en utilisant des données recueillies chez des jeunes filles vivant dans deux villages différents. Nous proposons ainsi une interprétation des stratégies sexuelles et de reproduction des femmes suri comme un moyen d’accroître leur agency dans une société instable et au futur incertain

Remembering Kassahun Berhanu Alemu (1955-2022) – the Man and his Work

Obituary: Remembering Kassahun Berhanu Alemu (1955-2022) – the Man and his Wor

Taddesse Adera - Ali Jimale Ahmed (eds.): Silence is not Golden. A Critical Anthology of Ethiopian Literature

  Review  

Rethinking the Anthropology of Ethiopia through Culture and Ritual: From Ethnography to Explanation

This text is a reprise of the question of what African, specifically Ethiopian, studies has contributed to ‘the disciplines’ (see Bates et al. 1993), and how Ethiopian empirical studies can be used to enlarge that wider impact. The question is relevant in the light of a) Ethiopia’s ongoing integration into global political economies as well as academic discourses notably since the regime change in 1991; b) the emergence since 1990 of a well-trained, productive generation of Ethiopian anthropo..

Religion and violence in the Horn of Africa: trajectories of mimetic rivalry and escalation between ‘political Islam’ and the state

Religiously inspired violence is a global phenomenon and connects to transnational narratives, necessitating comparative analysis of socio-historical context and patterns of ideological mobilization. Northeast Africa hosts several radical-extremist and terrorist groups, mostly of Muslim persuasion, tuned in to these global narratives while connecting to local interests. Christian radicalism and violence also occur but are less ideologically consistent and less widespread. I examine key aspects of the current role and ideological self-positioning of Islamist radicalism in state contexts, comparing Somalia, affected by Islamist violence since the late 1990s, and Ethiopia, where Islam’s mobilization followed a different path and where the state so far contained politicization and open radicalism of Muslim groups. A brief contrastive case from Nigeria is also provided. It is observed that Islam, while of course not ‘equalling’ violence, easily provides a militant political theology, frequently instrumentalized in conflicts and situations of (perceived) grievance, and via mimetic rivalry then becomes radically ideological. Securitized response patterns of state authorities toward militancy play a role in furthering violent radicalization. I follow a sociological-anthropological approach but also refer to key aspects of national-legal frameworks regarding state and religion, next to societal and political bases of Muslim militant mobilization for collective aims and self-presentation