Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T11:04:04.513Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Contemporary Significance of What Has Been. Three Approaches to Remembering the Past: Lineage, Gada, and Oral Tradition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Hermann Amborn
Hermann Amborn*
Affiliation:
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, Munich
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For current discourse in the southwest Ethiopian hill farming populations of the Burji, Konso, and D'iraaša, the present time constitutes a spatiotemporal system of coordinates in which modern attitudes to the past and tradition intersect or are knotted with group “memories.”

What do we mean by memory? Who remembers? And how? The word “memory” is used here to refer to the common memory of a local group of people, in other words the cultural processing of memory.

In the course of time such memories have manifested themselves in different ways. This paper examines why certain events are remembered and how their transmission is expressed. Linked to this is the question of the meaning (Sinngehalt) of memory. The question of the relationship between memory and so-called real historical events is thus only secondary. Three types of possible approach are discussed in this paper: mythical time, referring to mytho-historical traditions of origin; cyclical time, as seen in the Gada system (generation grading system); and linear time, as shown in the genealogical lines of specific lineages.

In their traditions, all three population groups refer to a common original settlement area in Liban, to the east of the areas they occupy today. References to Liban, with varying geographical locations, are also found in the oral traditions of many Oromo-speaking groups. Oromo nationalists claim Liban as the common original home of all Oromo. In this paper, however, Oromo-speaking groups are not discussed, since we are mainly concerned with the Burji, Konso, and D'iraaša, for whom, according to their Liban traditions, the exodus was the moment of their separation from the Oromo-speaking Borana, who lived in Liban together with them up to that point.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 33 , 2006 , pp. 53 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amborn, Hermann. 1988. “History of Events and Internal Development: the Example of the Burji-Konso Cluster.” In Beyenne, Tadesse, ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies 1:751–61.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1989. “Agricultural Intensification in the Burji-Konso Cluster.” Azania 24:71–83.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1990. Differenzierung und Integration, Vergleichende Untersuchungen zu Handwerkern und Spezialisten in südäthiopischen Agrargesellschaften. München.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1995. “Von der Stadt zur sakralen Landschaft: Bóohée Burji. Eine städtische Siedlung in Südäthiopien” Tribus 44:65–99.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1997a. “The Conceptionalization of Landscape in Southern Ethiopian Societies.” In Fukui, Katsuyoshiet al., eds. Ethiopia in Broader Perspective. Kyoto, 3:379–88.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1997b. “Hunde Gottes: Eisenhandwerker und Demiurgen.” In Klein-Ahrend, R., ed. Traditionelles Eisenhandwerk in Afrika. Köln, 146–73.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 1998. “Die zerfranste Ethnie. Zum analytischen Umgang mit komplexen Gesellschaften” Anthropos 93:349–61.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 2002. “Concepts in Wood and Stone. Socio-Religious Monuments of the Konso of Southern Ethiopia” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 127:77–101.Google Scholar
Amborn, Hermann. 2005. “Ausgehandeltes Ethos. Eine Form afrikanischer Diskursethik” Recht in Afrika 8:1–21.Google Scholar
Legesse, Asmarom. 1973. Gada: Three Approaches to the Study of African Society. New York.Google Scholar
Assmann, Jan. 1997. Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen. München.Google Scholar
Assmann, Jan. 2002. Moses der Ägypter. Entzifferung einer Gedächtnisspur. 3d ed. Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Beckingham, C. F. and Huntingford, G.W.B.. 1954. Some Records of Ethiopia 1503-1646. London.Google Scholar
Black, Paul. 1973. Gidole Dictionary. Murray Hill, N.J.Google Scholar
Braukämper, Ulrich. 1980. Geschichte der Hadiya Süd-Äthiopiens. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Diawara, Mamadou. 1997. “Ethnologie und Geschichte auf dem Prüfstand Afrikas” in Deutsch, Jan-Georg and Wirz, Albert, eds., Geschichte in Afrika. Einführung in Probleme und Debatten. Berlin, 17–34.Google Scholar
Donham, Donald L. and James, Wendy, eds. 2002. Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia. Oxford.Google Scholar
Finnegan, Ruth. 1988. Literacy and Orality: Studies in the Technology of Communication. Oxford.Google Scholar
Goody, Jack and Watt, Ian. 1968. “The Consequences of Literacy.” In Goody, Jack, ed. Literacy in Traditional Societies. Cambridge, 27–68.Google Scholar
Haberland, Eike. 1963. Galla Südäthiopiens. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Hallpike, Christopher R. 1972. The Konso of Ethiopia. Oxford.Google Scholar
Hamela, Hansemo. 1983. “Internal History of the D'irashe (Gidole),” B.A. thesis. Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Hamela, Hansemo. 1992. “D'irasha (Gidole): the Response to Social and Religious Change of a Community in Southwest Ethiopia,” M.A., University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Hazel, Robert. 2000. “Segregation and Timing Generations: Social Organization in Cushitic East Africa and Beyond.” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 125:1–37.Google Scholar
Henige, David. 1974. The Chronology of Oral Tradition. Quest for a Chimera. Oxford.Google Scholar
Henige, David. 1982. Oral Historiography. London.Google Scholar
Hornbacher, Annette. 2005. Zuschreiben und Befremden. Postmoderne Repräsentationskrise und verkörpertes Wissen im balinesischen Tanz. Berlin.Google Scholar
Hultin, Jan. 1982. “The Oromo Expansion Reconsidered.” Journal of Research on North East Africa 1:1–13.Google Scholar
Jensen, Adolf E. 1936. Im Lande des Gada. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Jensen, Adolf E. and Haberland, Eike. n.d. “Gato, Maschile, Gidole und Bussa.”Google Scholar
Kellner, Alexander. 2003. “The Burji's Practical Interest in the Past. The Liban Tradition as an Example.” Paper read at the 15th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Hamburg, 2003.Google Scholar
Kellner, Alexander. 2004. “Mit den Mythen denken. Die Mythen der Burji als Ausdrucksform ihres Habitus.” Ph.D. thesis, Universitat München, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Kellner, Alexander. 2005. “The Significance of the Oral Tradition of the Burji for Perceiving and Shaping Their Interethnic Relations.” in Schlee, G. and Watson, E. E., eds., Changing Identifications and Alliances in North-East Africa. Oxford.Google Scholar
Kimura, Birgitta. 2003. “Spatial Distribution of Historical Konso Settlements.” Paper read at the 15th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Hamburg.Google Scholar
Kuls, Wolfgang. 1958. Beiträge zur Kulturgeographie der südäthiopischen Seenregion. Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Lange, Werner J. 1982. History of the Southern Gonga (Southwestern Ethiopia). Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Bekele, Metasebia. 1997. “Notes on the Megalithic Sites of Southern Ethiopia, with Highlights on the Late Palaeolithic Occupation Sites.” In Fukui, Katsuyoshiet al., Ethiopia in Broader Perspective. Kyoto, 1:362–75.Google Scholar
Minker, Gunter. 1986. Burji-Konso-Gidole-Dullay. Materialien zu Demographie, Landwirtschaft und Siedlungsstruktur eines südäthiopischen Kulturareals. Bremen.Google Scholar
Münzel, Mark. 1986. “Indianische Oralkultur der Gegenwart.” In Scharlau, Birgit and Münzel, Mark, Qellqay. Mündliche Kultur und Schrifttradition bei Indianern Lateinamerikas. Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Neumann, O. 1902. “From the Somali Coast through Southern Ethiopia to the Sudan,” Geographical Journal 5/20:373–401.Google Scholar
Peel, J.D.Y. 1984. “Making History: the Past in the Ijesha Present,” Man ns 19:111–32.Google Scholar
Petermann, Werner. 1985. Regenkulte und Regenmacher bei bantu-spracbigen Ethnien Ost- und Südafrikas. Berlin.Google Scholar
Chotta, Salle. n.d. “The Gada System.”Google Scholar
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1986. “A Southwest Ethiopian Language Area and its Cultural Background.” In Fishman, J. A.et al., eds. The Fergusonian Impact. Berlin, 1:327–42.Google Scholar
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen and Straube, Helmut. 1977. “Kultur und Sprache der Burji in Südäthiopien: ein Abriss.” In Möhlig, W. J. G.et al., eds. Zur Sprachgeschichte und Ethnohistorie in Afrika. Berlin, 239–66.Google Scholar
Schlee, Günther. 1989. “The Oromo Expansion and its Impact on Ethnogenesis in Northern Kenya.” In Beyene, Tadesse, ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Addis Ababa, 711–23.Google Scholar
Schleicher, A. W. 1893. Geschichte der Galla. Bericht eines abessinischen Mönches über die Invasion der Galla im sechzehnten Jahrhundert. Berlin.Google Scholar
Otto, Shako. 1994. “The Nine Clans of the Konso.” Sociology Ethnology Bulletin 1:80–92.Google Scholar
Straube, Helmut, n.d. “Die Burdji.”Google Scholar
Tablino, Paolo. 1999. The Gabra. Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya. Marsabit.Google Scholar
Triulzi, Alessandro. 1994. “Oromo Traditions of Origin.” In Lepage, C., ed., Études Éthiopiennes. Paris, 593–601.Google Scholar
Vansina, Jan. 1985. Oral Tradition as History. Madison.Google Scholar
Watson, Elizabeth. 1998. “Ground Truths: Land and Power in Konso, Ethiopia.” Ph.D. thesis., Cambridge University.Google Scholar
Zitelmann, Thomas. 1990. “Verzeitlichung und Lebenslauf. Die Alters- und Generationsklassenordnung (Gada) der Borana-Oromo.” In Elwert, Georget al., eds. Im Lauf der Zeit. Saarbrücken, 50–68.Google Scholar