Glossary

Aba Gadaa

– the political leader of the gadaa;

Awraja

– an administrative unit in the Imperial era, roughly equivalent to a county;

Bao-jia

– a system of local organisation and control in Imperial China and Taiwan;

Birr

– the Ethiopian currency;

Chat

– known as khat in Arabic, a mild stimulant and a major cash crop in Ethiopia;

Chika shum

– a village headman who acted as intermediary between the landlord and peasants;

Derg

– literally a committee (Amharic), the name given to the committee of junior military officers that overthrew Haile Selassie in 1974;

Gadaa

– the customary age-grade system of social and political organisation in Oromo society;

Garee

– development team (Afaan Oromo);

Gebbar

– a tribute-paying peasant;

Gim Gema

– a system of evaluation used by the TPLF and then extended to the civil service;

Gott

– a sub-kebele administrative unit;

Gult

– non-hereditary land held as a fief;

Kebele

– a sub-wereda administrative unit;

Kushet

– a sub-tabiya administrative unit;

Neftegna

– literally a rifleman (Amharic), the name given to military leaders rewarded with land grants in southern Ethiopia as part of the Shewan-Amhara conquest;

Qarree

– an Afaan Oromo term meaning an unmarried young woman, approximately 20–36;

Qeerroo

– an Afaan Oromo term meaning an unmarried young man, approximately 20–36;

Qubee

– the Afaan Oromo alphabet;

Rist

– a descent-based land tenure system common in much of northern Ethiopia prior to the 1974 revolution;

Tabiya

– a sub-wereda administration in Tigray, equivalent to the kebele in the rest of Ethiopia;

Tehadso

– literally renewal, the purge of opposing factions and reorganisation of the EPRDF undertaken under Meles’ leadership in the early 2000s;

Were

– a cell, a unit of party-state organisation;

Wereda

– an administrative district;

Weyane

– a revolt, refers to the revolt in south and east Tigray in 1943 sparked by tax reforms. The TPLF’s insurrection against the Derg was framed as a second Weyane.