1st Edition

Ethiopia in Transit Millennial Quest for Stability and Continuity

Edited By Pietro Toggia, Abebe Zegeye Copyright 2011

    The writings in this edition explore historical and contemporary issues in Ethiopia as the country underwent change and celebrated its new millennium. However, despite the recognizance of socio-economic and political changes, Ethiopia still faces enduring problems and challenges to its stability and continuity. The political past haunts the country while it is facing the future with optimism and hope. The contributors in this edition examine historical and contemporaneous issues with different lenses; they investigate the multiplicity and complexity of the contradictions that define traditional and modern Ethiopia. The contributions highlight the significance of the instability, dislocation, conflict and transformation inherent in any society. None of these writings, however, celebrate the forces that create the conflict; they are cautious not to glorify the present and romanticize the past. On the contrary, they seek to contextualize the challenges which the country faces with a view to open a dialogue, not exclusively among Ethiopians, but with scholars and social activists in the rest of Africa, as well as the international community. The contributions cover and examine such important topics as historiography, political power and legitimacy, ideology and radical views, knowledge transmission and modernity, emigration and the Ethiopian Diaspora, ethnic and linguistic identity, patriarchy and feminist discourses in a traditional society, public policies and economic development, traditional and modern art and culture, and neo-liberalism and globalization. This book was published as a special issue of African Identities. 

    1. Editorial note - Pietro Toggia, Melakou Tegegn and Abebe Zegeye

    2. History writing as a state ideological project in Ethiopia - Pietro Toggia

    3. Modernity, Eurocentrism, and radical politics in Ethiopia, 1961-1991 - Teshale Tibebu

    4. The Beta Israel and the impossible return - Abebe Zegeye

    5. Who is Amhara? - Mackonen Michael

    6. A new discourse on ‘gender’ in Ethiopia - Indrawatie Biseswar

    7. An investigation into the maintenance of the Maale language in Ethiopia - Lawrie Barnes and Kobus van Aswegen

    8. The EPRDF vis-a`-vis Ethiopia’s development challenges - Melakou Tegegn

    9. A retrospective observation of Elias Sime - Meskerem Assegued

    10. Situated neoliberalism and urban crisis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Fassil Demissie

    Biography

    Pietro Toggia, Ph. D., Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

    Melakou Tegegn, Ph. D., Independent Researcher.

    Abebe Zegeye, Ph. D., Director/Professor, Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia.