Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.14 (2010)

EIJI YAMASUE, ISAO MURAHASHI and KEIICHI N. ISHIHARA

• Traditional Steelmaking in Southwestern Ethiopia: A Metallurgical Analysis

We documented the reconstruction by local blacksmiths of obsolete traditional steelmaking methods in Dime, southwestern Ethiopia, and metallurgically analyzed the materials and products associated with this technology. The steelmaking operation was successfully recreated in 2004, including mining, furnace construction, and charcoal production. The produced sponge iron had a yield ratio of about 40%, contained 0.31-0.48 mass percent carbon, and lacked impurities. The collected slag contained typical components {iron, silicon, aluminum, potassium, phosphorous, titanium, manganese}. The blacksmiths used three kinds of iron ore (balt, bullo, gachi) that consisted primarily of goethite [α-FeO(OH)] and kaolinite (A12O3・2SiO2・ 2H20); white inclusions in gachi contained calcium phosphate hydrate [Ca3(P04)2・xH2O]. The local blacksmiths specifically preferred gachi for steelmaking; the reasons for this selection were discussed from the viewpoint of slag-forming ability. Comparison of Dime steelmaking with other traditional steelmaking methods confirmed the independent development of geographically specialized knowledge and steelmaking techniques in Dime, as in Europe and Japan.

Key words: steelmaking, Ethiopia, metallurgy, iron ore, blacksmith

TORU SAGAWA

• War Experiences and Self-determination of the Daasanach in the Conflict-ridden Area of Northeastern Africa

The Daasanach have fought with four neighboring pastoral groups, viewed as “enemies” (kiz), for more than a half-century. The Daasanach claim that their primary motive for going to war is the demonstration of masculinity, allowing men to be recognized as “brave” by community members. Various cultural apparatuses praise the “brave man”who kills a member of a kiz group and who raids their livestock. Nevertheless, men do not homogeneously mobilize for war. In this paper, I examine (1) the ideology that motivates men to go to war, (2) individual experiences of the battlefield and how reflection on those experiences affect an individual’s choice of action when the next war arises, and (3) how people accept others’ decisions to go to or abstain from a war.

Key words: violence, subject, individuality, masculinity, East African pastoral society

MOMOKA MAKI

• The Gaz Raids and Reconstruction of the Ethiopian Empire: The Final Gaz in Tigray and Northern Wollo, 1941-1942

A type of raid known as the Gaz occurred in northeastern Ethiopia in 1941-1942. The raiders, from Wajirat and Raya Azebo in southern Tigray and northern Wollo, attacked the Mar, causing chaos in this region. The raiding coincided with the beginning of the British-supported reconstruction of the Ethiopian empire following five years of Italian occupation. Attempts to stop the raiding were marked by administrative, organizational, and financial difficulties. This analysis of the Gaz describes the internal difficulties and social disturbances faced by the Ethiopian government and British military and the reactions to the political and social changes resulting from the withdrawal of the Italians and the reconstruction of the empire.

Key words: Tigray, Wollo, raiding, Gaz, Wajirat, Raya Azebo, Mar, history

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.13 (2009)

BELLE ASANTE TARSITANI

• Merging Past and Present in the Museums ofHarar, Ethiopia

This research involves the fields of socio-cultural anthropology, material culture studies, andmuseology, and employs a multifaceted conceptual framework to view the nature of transactionsbetween people and the objects in their environment. Specifically, this research documents the interactions among community members pertaining to the cultural objects managed by the museums ofHarar, Ethiopia. In Harar, the multi-ethnic community has worked cooperatively and with limited resources to effectively manage tradition and modernity in the museum context. Based on case studies of four museums, the findings illustrate that the management of material culture in local Mrican museums need not be storehouse practices, without intended goals, at both the individual and communal levels. The objects in Harar’s collections are, in fact, catalysts through which people define and redefine themselves. The present analysis also demonstrates that not all Mrican museum collections have been initiated or maintained with Western models in mind. Instead, the present study reveals that the formal and informal activities that were initiated indigenously and integrated into the custodianship of local museums in Harar exemplify contemporary adaptations of cultivating practices that were built upon indigenous aesthetic preferences and local systems of alliances.

Keywords: museums, heritage, community participation, Harar, Ethiopia

YUKIO MIYAWAKI

• Constructing a New Imagined Space: Idioms of Alien Cultures in the Ayana Possession Cults of the Hor in South Omo

This paper explores how new possession cults in an agro-pastoral society have appropriated idioms from alien cultures and constructed a new identity based on a geographical image of state rule that had been repressed by their traditional ideology. The Hor is an agro-pastoralist group residing in the South Omo Zone. During the1960s, the ayana possession cult, originating in Borana, was introduced to the Hor and spread rapidly. Despite oppression during the Derg regime, this cult has steadily expanded its sphere of influence. Notable features of ayana cults include: 1) their adoption of the cultural idioms of Ethiopian highlanders in rituals, even though these are considered as abhorrent according to aada (tradition), and 2) the fact that their membership consists of more than 80% women. Although the cult has its own social organization constructed with idioms appropriated from the age system of the Hor, it violates such Hor patriarchal systems as lineage, clan, territorial group, and age. By holding seances, rituals, and divinations, influential female mediums and their followers can cross these traditional social boundaries. In the past, spirit possession had been interpreted as possession by ancestral spirits and treated with rituals intended to soothe ancestors, thus consolidating the patriarchy. However, most ayana spirits are reported to come from outside the Hor people. Indeed, reports of spirits of the Amhara (Sidaama) and of white men (Farenji) have been increasing recently. Thus, the ayana possession cult has offered an alternative interpretation of possession by introducing alien spirits and has restructured the imagined space that represents the foundation of the Hor patriarchy. These features are closely intertwined and give followers the basis for resisting tradition. The cult provides not only a social space in which they are liberated from patriarchal rule, but also a symbolic space in which they can imagine the vast world outside of the patriarchal community.

Key words: Southwestern Ethiopia, Arbore, Hor, ayana, spirit possession, resistance, space

YASUO MATSUN.AMI and MINAKO ISHIHARA

• Filming Pilgrimage to Ya’a: Toward a Participatory Filmmaking

Ya’a, an Oromo village located in Beni Shangul and Gumuz Regional State in Ethiopia, is one of the most significant Muslim pilgrimage centers in Ethiopia. Ya’a became a pilgrimage center when a Tijani shaykh,AI-Faki Ahmad Umar, died there in 1953. This article is about the process of making the film titled Pilgrimage to Ya’a. Matsunami, the filmmaker, participated in the pilgrimage ritual and involved the residents of Ya’a in making the film. We describe how Matsunami accompanied a group of pilgrims traveling on foot and how the festival performed at Ya’a was organized by the residents. The film was screened at Ya’a in October 2007, and we also detail how the viewers, the residents ofYa’a, reacted to the film. This study reconsiders the collaborative approach to making ethnographic films and examines the possibility of a participatory filmmaking.

Keywords: Oromo, participatory filmmaking, pilgrimage, Tijaniya, Ya’a

KEN MASUDA

• Situating the Banna: An Ethnographic Description of Ethnic Identification

Studies of interethnic warfare in the Lower Omo Valley have explored relationships between ethnic identity and culture and between society and ecology. This paper is the first to add ethnographic information about myth, clan classification, and interethnic warfare among the Banna to academic discourse. It also clarifies how Banna people construct their “ethnic” identity: they identify themselves as members of the Banna through a various forms of recognitipn and narratives, but these everyday activities do not guarantee a discrete Banna land, language, and culture. Research has revealed that, contrary to the group’s assertion, Banna identity has no discrete unity. Appadurai (1996) theorized that locality is a “phenomenological property of social life,” which might be discovered through description of neighborhoods as “the actually existing social forms in which locality, as a dimension or value, is variably realized.”

Keywords: Banna, clan distribution, identification, locality, warfare

TAKESHI FUJIMOTO

• Armed Herders, Unarmed Farmers, and the State: An Analysis of Violent Conflicts in the Middle Omo Valley with Reference to the Cases in Malo, Southwest Ethiopia

Peripheral mountain farmer groups in the middle Omo valley have met sporadic yet massive violent conflicts assumingly brought by lowland agro-pastoralists in the lower Omo valley since the 1970s. This paper focuses on conflicts in Malo, south of the middle Omo River. In March 1976, immediately after the collapse of the imperial regime, nearly half of the Malo land was invaded by unidentified armed attackers. The attacks were totally one-sided. Settlements were heavily devastated and cattle completely looted; more than 1,000 farmers were killed. Similar attacks have ensued over the years. Local farmers claim that the main perpetrators are golde, Surmic-speaking agro-pastoralists from the lower Omo valley, with whom they formerly had little connection. As a result of the attacks, numerous settlements and fields near the river have been permanently abandoned. Differential state rule over the lower and middle Omo valleys since the imperial conquest at the end of the 19th century have shaped a great imbalance of power in terms of modern arms possession between these peoples. Continuous state intervention is needed to prevent future conflicts.

Keywords: herder-farmer conflicts, Malo, golde, middle Omo valley, southwest Ethiopia

Book Reviews

Gen Tagawa
Mamo Hebo. Land, Local Custom, and State Policies: Land Tenure, Land Disputes and Disputes Settlement among the Arsii Oromo of Southern Ethiopia, Kyoto: Shoukadoh Book Sellers, 2006,
186 pp.

Takeshi Fujimoto
Ren’ya Sato and Shinichi Takeuchi, eds. The Story of Land and People: Africa I. (Asakura World Geography Series, Vol. 11) Kazunobu Ikeya, , Asakura Shoten, 2007,435 pp. (in Japanese)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.12 (2008)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

HIROKI ISHIKAWA

• Queima Cattle Tribute in the Christian Kingdom of Northern Ethiopia, with Special Reference to Its Historical Significance

The war discourse of the Hor, comprised of idioms that provide them with meanings related to waging war, diverges considerably from the Hor’s present interethnic relationships with their neighbors. Since the end of the 19th century, the Hor have lived under Ethiopian state rule but have tried to maintain their cultural and political autonomy by constructing and upholding a patriarchal “tradition” (aada). This “tradition” includes sets of discourses and rituals, among which the war discourse is one of the most important. This paper analyzes the war discourse and demonstrates how it functions to consolidate the Hor’s patriarchal tradition. As interethnic relationships have changed, new idioms have been added, even though the discourse appears authentic and unchanging. While deterioration of the Hor’s relationship with the neigh boring Borana animated the war discourse in the 1990s, changes to the discourse also reflect challenges
to Hor tradition from within.

Keywords: discourse, Ethiopia, Hor, tradition, warfare

MAKOTO NISHI

• Community-based Rural Development and the Politics of Redistribution: The Experience of the Gurage Road Construction Organization in Ethiopia

Since the 1990s, the idea of participation has become a popular norm in implementing development cooperation. Community-based organizations (CBOs) are widely thought to promote local democratic participation effectively in the development process. However, the potential relationship between CBOs and development agencies raises questions about the relationship between a CBO and the people whom it claims to represent. Determining whether the organization benefits only the local elite or provides a discussion forum among groups with different positions is critical.
The Gurage Road Construction Organization (GRCO), which has been operating since 1962, is one of the most successful CBOs in Ethiopia. It was established in Addis Ababa as an association of Gurage migrants from southern Ethiopia to raise funds for the construction of roads and schools in their homeland. GRCO acquired a wide support base through negotiations with members of urban and rural communities. GRCO leaders sought not only to construct massive public works in their villages but also to develop alternative social relationships for the fairer redistribution of development funds.

Key words: community-based organization, development, ethnicity, redistribution

TOMOHIRO SHITARA

• Construction Methods and Spatial Formations of Italian Colonial Residences and Divisional Formations of Italian Residential Areas in Gondar, Ethiopia

I have studied Italian colonial buildings in Gondar, Ethiopia, continuously since 2003. In my previous research, I clarified the total number of Italian colonial buildings, the concept of the Italian urban master plan, and the distribution, height, construction materials, construction methods, current conditions, and ownership status of Italian colonial buildings. Here, I focus on the spatial formations of and construction methods for Italian colonial residences and the divisional formation of Italian residential areas. During the colonial period, four Italian residential areas were constructed. These areas were distinguished clearly by dweller type in terms of profession:
high officials, officials, soldiers, and civilians. Italian colonial residences involved three types of construction methods, i.e., prefabrication, masonry, and reinforced concrete construction, which are subdivided into 10 types of principal structure. The use of each type of principal structure was distinguished by the dwellers’ profession. Italian colonial residences involved three types of building, i.e., detached house, row house, and dormitory, and contained various rooms, e.g., living and dining rooms (L&D), bedrooms, kitchens, toilet and bathrooms, corridors, and
verandas. Most residences had both verandas and corridors. Furthermore, Italian colonial residences involved seven types of layout; most were organized into three of the most common (“V→C→X, L&D”, “V→L&D→C→X,” and “V→L&D→X”. corridor (C); living and dining room (L&D); veranda (V); and bedroom, kitchen, toilet and bathroom, or other space (X)).

Key words: colonial architecture, construction method, Ethiopia, Gondar, Italy, spatial formation

SAYURI YOSHIDA

• Searching for a Way out of Social Discrimination: A Case Study of the Manjo through the 2002 Incident in Kafa

Under the present Ethiopian government, social discrimination is a human rights issue. Despite the national policy of the right to self-determination launched by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the Manjo, a socially discriminated minority who live in the western Kafa and eastern Sheka zones, feel that they are being deprived of this right. In 2002, the Manjo attacked the Kafa in an attempt to put an end to this discrimination. Knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the Manjo uprising is essential for understanding the conflict. This article describes these circumstances and the changes brought about by the incident.

Keywords: Kafa, Manjo, social discrimination, minorities, conflicts

YUKIO MIYAWAKI

• Purity and Heterogeneity: Warfare, Ethnic Identity, and Resistance against the State among the Hor of Southwestern Ethiopia

The war discourse of the Hor, comprised of idioms that provide them with meanings related to waging war, diverges considerably from the Hor’s present interethnic relationships with their neighbors. Since the end of the 19th century, the Hor have lived under Ethiopian state rule but have tried to maintain their cultural and political autonomy by constructing and upholding a patriarchal “tradition” (aada). This “tradition” includes sets of discourses and rituals, among which the war discourse is one of the most important. This paper analyzes the war discourse and demonstrates how it functions to consolidate the Hor’s patriarchal tradition. As interethnic relationships have changed, new idioms have been added, even though the discourse appears authentic and unchanging. While deterioration of the Hor’s relationship with the neighboring Borana animated the war discourse in the 1990s, changes to the discourse also reflect challenges
to Hor tradition from within.

Keywords: discourse, Ethiopia, Hor, tradition, warfare

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.11 (2007)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

MORIE KANEKO

• Variations in Pottery Making by Ari Potters in Southwestern Ethiopia: Analysis of the Finger Movement Patterns Used in Forming Pots

In this paper, I describe pottery making by examining fine finger movements, with a focus on both shared finger movements common among potters and on unique pot-forming procedures developed by each maker. I regard Ari pottery making as a community-based technology (CBT) that creates commodities necessary for people’s basic daily needs, and consider how pottery makers create new sizes and shapes of pots based on two-way relationships between users’ demands and makers’ trials and errors. I describe the pot-forming process by (1) analyzing the fine movement of potters’ hands and fingers, (2) identifying each maker’s pot-formation processes, and, (3) analyzing the process of creating new shapes by focusing on relationships between makers and users.
Observations and analysis revealed four main characteristics. First, I found that Ari pottery makers exhibit 20 patterns of common finger movements and follow four stages in making pots. Second, observations focused on finger movement patterns showed that each maker develops a different procedure to form pots. Variations in pottery making are related to the weight and thickness of each pot and the customer’s evaluation of the durability of the pots. Third, each potter follows her own procedure in forming pots. Fmally, potters may invent new finger movement patterns (FMPs) to create new sizes and shapes for pots to accommodate orders by preferred customers (jaala). Pottery making in the Ari area is one aspect of Ari society, and potters have developed their pottery making techniques on the basis of social relationships.

Keywords: Ari, Ethiopia, finger movement patterns, pottery making, unit of process

MAKIKO OGUSA

• Land Use Methodology for Settled Nomads in Djibouti: Slums and theN omadic Notion of the Living Environment

Since France colonized the Republic of Djibouti in the 19’11 century, nomads have formed settlements in the area, concentrated on the outskirts of Djibouti City. The Balbala District is one of the biggest such settlements, which today is largely made up of slum quarters. To stem the expansion of slums, the government has resorted mainly to “lotissement,” or the creation of land allotments for settled nomads. However, this strategy has had only limited success, because it was designed from the viewpoint of the administration and disregarded the nomadic notion of the living environment. Here, we assessed the adequacy of this method of land use and clarify its cw-rent status. We conclude that to better manage slums in this district, it is necessary to consider the settled nomads’ viewpoint of land use.

Key words: slum, land use, nomad settlement, Is sa, Afar

ITSUSHI KAWASE

• Filming Itinerant Musicians in Ethiopia: Azmari and Lalibalocc: The Camera as Evidence of Communication

The aim of this paper is to highlight and analyze my anthropological filmmaking practice based on long-term participant observation of two different itinerant musical groups in northern Ethiopia: Azmari and Lalibalocc. I produced two different films on both groups: Kids got a Song to Sing (2006) and Lalibalocc-Living in the Endless Blessing (2005). These films were shown at academic seminars, conferences, lectures, and film festivals. The films I have produced take a slightly different viewpoint from that of most ethnographic films, which do not engage the subjects and are filmed in a detached manner, as if from a distance. They also differ from problem-and-solution-oriented documentary films that advocate specific social change or convey strong messages to the audience. Rather, the films attempt to capture the lives of people as they communicate and collaborate with the researcher/filmmaker. This method questions the binary opposition of researcher and informant. I consider the interactions between myself as an anthropological researcher with a video camera and the people of my films to be the fundamental aspect of the reality in an anthropological filmmaking context. The first part of this paper introduces the Azmari and Lalibalocc people, including their geographical, social, and historical background. Then I argue and clarify my position on filmmaking regarding certain key concepts of how to approach subjects.

Keywords: Gondar, Azmari and La.libalocc, anthropological filmmaking dealing with intimacy

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.10 (2006)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

OSAMU HIEDA

• On Singulatives in Nilotic Languages

All three branches of the Nilotic language family use t.he ‘singulative’ formation in nominal morphology.
In the Proto-Western Nilotic language, singulative forms were derived from stems by attaching suffixes -0 or -nO; the suffix -nO was attached to st.ems ending in a voiced stop consonant. The alveolar nasal of the suffix nasalized the preceding voiced consonant.
In Eastern Nilotic languages, singulative forms are derived from stems by attaching a number suffix -l/-i, which is accompanied by a formative suffix -Ak/-ok; they can also be derived by attaching a number suffix -A/-o, which is sometimes accompanied by a formative suffix -(V) t. The velar voiceless stop consonant becomes an alveolar nasal intervocally.
In Southern Nilotic languages, singulative forms are derived from stems by attaching a suffix -(y )a:n.
Other examples, such as ‘cattle’, ‘animal’, and ‘people’ use suppletion to distinguish singular from plural forms. The singular forms of these nouns originated from archaic singulative forms in the Proto- Nilotic language. For example, in the Maasai language, En-kltEng’ ‘cow’: PN *(kwl)-r, Eg-Ak-l (singulative) > (kwJ)-r, Eg-An-I > (kwl)-r, Eg-n-I > (kwl)-r, Eng’-n-I > (kwl)-r, Eng’-l > (kwl)-r, Eng’

Key words: Historical linguisLics, ilotic, nominal morphology, Proto-Nilotic, siugulative

TOMOHIRO SHITARA

• Present Condition of Historical Italian Buildings in Gondar

Research on historical architecture is critical before structures are lost to demolition or decay, a risk that is particularly great in rapidly growing developing countries. The historic town of Gondar, Ethiopia, features a wealth of historical architecture, including a palace registered as a UNESCO World Heritage property, traditional houses, and Italian-style buildings constructed during the Italian occupation. However, while researchers have examined many of these structures, the Italian buildings have not been previously researched. Here, I focus on Italian buildings in Gondar and attempt to clarify their historical background, current condition, and important issue for protection.
I found that 352 Italian buildings still exist in Gondar. These buildings have helped form the urban core of the city, functioning as public. commercial. and residential spaces, and have also influenced later Ethiopian modern architecture through construction techniques passed on from Italian to Ethiopian engineers. Currently, 83% of the Italian buildings are owned by governmental sectors (i.e., the government, kebeles [wards], and the Rental Housing Administrative Authority). To preserve these historic structures, it is necessary to cooperate with governmental sectors. and further research will be necessary to devise cooperative protection strategies.

Key words: Architectural preservation, Ethiopia, Condar, Italian Buildings, Urban planning

TORU SOGA

• Changes in Knowledge of Time among Gabra Miigo Pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia

We examined representations of time among Gabra Miigo pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. Time was represented by changes in nature. cultural symbols, and social matters, although coherent knowledge of time representations was unequally distributed within Gabra Miigo society. We discuss how knowledge of time representation has changed and how modernization and Islam have affected this knowledge. Knowledge of time representations that regulate the age system has -faded as the influence of Islam has grown. However, time representations that serve to retain historical memories are gaining social value in the modern context. Those who are well informed in such time representations have become “experts” and have begun to act as leaders. Gabra Miigo society, which was traditionally acephalous, is becoming a more top-down and centralized
society.

Key words: Gabra, modernization, re-Islamization, change, knowledge, time

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.8&9 (2003)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

YOSHIKO KURITA
The Role of ‘Negroid but Detribalized’ People in Modern Sudanese History

KEIICHIRO MATSUMURA
Changes beyond the State Institution: Socialist Policies and Land Tenure in aCoffee-Growing Village, Southwestern Ethiopia

MINAKO ISHIHARA
The Cultural Logic of Civiculture in Ethiopia

YUKA KODAMA
The Sheepskin Marketing Channel in Ethiopia after Liberalization The Survival Strategies of the Participants

HIROKI ISHIKAWA
On the Functions of the B’_??_ht wäddäd and the Talallaq blattenoc gweta of the Solomonic Dynasty, 1607-1682

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.7 (2001)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

KATSUYOSHI FUKUI

• Socio-Political Characteristics of Pastoral Nomadism: Flexibility among the Bodi (Mela-Me’en) in Southwest Ethiopia

This paper intends to examine the characteristics of pastoral nomadism among the Bodi (Mela-Me’en) in southwest Ethiopia. Special attention will be paid into the interrelationship between their nomadic movement and socio-political factors. Their daily migrations, which are repeated very frequently, are closely related to the flexibility of their social networks while their yearly ones are related to inter-ethnic conflict.

Key words: Bodi, nomadism, herding camp, swidden, warfare.

HIROSHI NAWATA

• Coastal Resource Use by Camel Pastoralists: A Case Study of Gathering and Fishing Activities among the Beja in Eastern Sudan

This paper attempts to reconstruct subsistence activities among the Beja, camel pastoralists living along the Sudanese coast of the Red Sea, focusing on their coastal resource use.
I reveal, as a result of participant observation, that they target driftwood,
mangroves, gastropods, and fish in gathering and fishing activities. The principal types and purposes of resource use are as a resource for food; a resource as a means of subsistence; and a resource for daily life materials.
I also show how the one-humped camel plays an invaluable role in the process of appropriating and carrying these resources, because it has an outstanding ability to walk on both soft substrates (mud and sand) and coral-rich hard substrates in littoral and sublittoral zones.

Key words: Beja, camel pastoralism, subsistence, coastal ecosystems, resource use.

ITARU OHTA

• Motivations, Negotiations, and Animal Individuality: Livestock Exchange of the Turkana in Northwestern Kenya

As East African pastoral societies are incorporated into a global order of markets and money, they attract considerable attention as to how their systems of livestock exchange articulate with the new system of commodity exchange. This study describes and analyzes livestock exchanges of the Turkana of northwestern Kenya, and differentiates their exchanges from monetary exchanges. The points discussed are: (1) in most livestock exchanges among the Turkana, an individual asks only in need and takes an animal from the partner with whom he is on good terms, and his “debt” is cleared much later; (2) although a kind of livestock exchange rate is recognized, heated and delicate negotiations finally determine “debt” payment, and each agreement is local, transitory, and non-universal; (3) epistemological examination of Turkana verbs for livestock exchanges reveals specific and definite motivations behind the exchanges; ( 4) each animal is individually identified, and its singularity supports the uniqueness of each social transaction in which the animal is transferred.

SHINYA KONAKA

• The Samburu Livestock Trader in North-central Kenya

This paper examines the activities of the Samburu livestock trader who mediates between the market economy and the subsistence economy of this area. The trading activity of a Samburu livestock trader for two years was analyzed. The result indicates that the livestock trader ordinarily repeats a purchase and a sale at quite short intervals. Rich local knowledge on the climate, prices, and ethnic cultures is indispensable to his trades. The livestock trader integrates the activities as a trader with activities as a herder. For example, he purchases livestock at a drier period when the price falls. After fattening the livestock for some period at his homestead, he sells the livestock at a wetter period when the price rises. He makes his fortune by “livestock-rolling speculation”.
The livestock trader makes a profit on the mutual conversion of livestock and cash, as an investor. With the profit, he aims to reproduce the herd, the ultimate core of his social ambition. Therefore, activities of the Samburu livestock traders should not be regarded as an immature commerce, but rather as a unique combination of commerce and subsistence pastoralism.

Key words: Samburu, market economy, livestock trader, local network, laissez-faire
capitalism.

TORU SOGA

• Reorganization of the Ethnic Framework: The Impact of the 1997 Election on the Gabra Pastoralists in Northern Kenya

This study concerns social change in the Gabra, a peripheral pastoralist group in Kenya, brought about by the 1 99 7 general election. Supporters of an unsuccessful candidate in the nomination process tried to unite the Algana, one of the phratries of the Gabra, against the elected person, who belonged to another phratry, in the election. This paper analyzes the supporters’ attempts to mobilize people and unite the phratry, paying attention to their discourse and behavior. By participating in the election, Gabra society greatly changed. This paper also examines social change from two different points: in methods of manipulating others and the nature of the boundary of the phratry, which suggested the transition of Gabra society from ethnie to modern political-ethnic unit.

Key words: Gabra, ethnie, nation, election, social change.

Book Reviews

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.5&6 (2000)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

RICHARD PANKHURST

• A Visit to the Craftsmen’s Giidam, or Monastery, of Manteq, near Ankobar, Shawa

Tradition holds that the craftsmen’s giidam, or monastery, at Mantek, near Ankobiir, in Shiiwa, like others in the region, was established by craft workers. Like the Falasha, to whom they were probably once affiliated, they consisted of blacksmiths, weavers and potters, and formerly inhabited the Gondar region of north-west Ethiopia, but settled in Shiiwa after Abeto Nagassi (1607-1703) founded a dynasty, and needed tools to clear the land for agriculture.
Little of the monastery’s history is known until the early 19th century, when the establishment was visited by European travellers. They indicate that the craftsmen were deeply religious, and apparently much influenced by theJudaic Old Testament. They kept the Sabbath on Saturday, as well as on Sunday. The travellers concluded that the community, though outwardly Chritian, belonged to a heretical, possibly Judaic, sect.
Present investigation shows that the inhabitants today practice the same crafts as formerly. Their establishment consists of (l) a place of worship, with a central mekrab, i.e. pillar, or sanctuary; (2) huts, and caves, in which the monks and nuns live rigidly apart; (3) shacks for bread-baking and beer-brewing; (4) craftsmen’s workshops; (5) a guest-room; and (6) two isolated teketo, i.e. menstruation houses, reminiscent of the Falasha.

Key words: handicrafts, craftsmen, blacksmiths, monasteries, Christianity, J udaism.

TADASU TSURUTA

• The Development Process of Dance Bands in Urban Tanzania -In Connection with Changes in Socioeconomic and Political Circumstances from the Colonial Period to the 1980s-

Performances by dance bands (jazz bands as they are known in East Africa) have been an integral part of urban popular culture in Tanzania over the past five decades, though in an ever-changing socioeconomic environment. Amateur jazz clubs, which emerged in various urban centers from the 1940s under British colonial rule, developed in close-knit urban communities in the context of pre-existent traditions of competitive dance societies. This jazz-club movement culminated in the 1960s when Dar es Salaam, the capital, and some provincial towns produced a number of famous jazz bands which became popular throughout East Africa.
Post-independence changes in the economic and political system had a considerable impact upon the social character of urban musical activities. From the mid-1960s, chiefly in Dar es Salaam, a number of jazz bands were launched by various governmental organizations and public corporations, employing an increasing number of musicians on a regular salaried basis. Meanwhile, through the 1970s and 1980s, the commercialization of musical activities advanced in both the public and private sectors, undermining the existing jazz clubs. Along the way, jazz bands lost their communal character and were transformed into commercial enterprises, divorced from the urban communities from which they first emerged.

Key words: Tanzania, popular music, dance band, urban culture, socioeconomic change.

KEN MASUDA

• On the Paternity and Legitimacy of Children in an Agnatic Society: A Case from the Banna of Southern Ethiopia

This paper sets out to examine the paradox of matrilineal aspects among patrilineal societies in Africa, which was famously pointed out in the Nuer ethnography by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, and focuses on gender and sexual aspects of the indigenous theory of kinship among the Banna of southern Ethiopia. For this purpose, I describe some local strategies for securing descendants and children’s legitimacy. It follows that the concept of paternity must be analyzed by investigating the rules of marriage, sexuality, and the role of the baski, a term which could be translated ‘lover’ or ‘levir’ and denotes a man who lives with a widow in a relationship similar to marriage but not recognized as such. Paternity has ideological aspects which prescribe the legitimacy of children: in the case of the baski, he cannot give legitimacy to his lover’s children even though he is their biological father. Therefore we must distinguish paternity from two perspectives: (1) whether the father is a pater or genitor for the children, and (2) whether he is a legal or illegal marital partner for the children’s mother. This is a sort of local knowledge of reproduction technology: the Banna vary their interpretation of sperm and ovum, acquiring their descendants through a process of social manipulation.

Key words: Banna, Omotic, gender, sexuality, kinship study.

Nilo-Ethiopian Studies No.3&4 (1996)

Nilo-Ethiopian Studiesの1993年〜2003年の号については、JST（科学技術振興機構）のJournal@rchiveにても公開されています。
JST Journal@rchive

KATSUYOSHI FUKUI

• Conflict as a Leveling Mechanism Analysis of Cattle Composition and Raiding among the Narim in Southern Sudan-

The present paper intends to make an analysis on the cattle composltwn and raiding among the Narim, one of the Surmic peoples, in Southern Sudan, and to introduce a hypothesis that their repeated cattle raiding against their neighboring peoples brings an economic leveling to their soicety. The paper also describes in detail the management of cattle, their folk categories for conflict, the strategy and tactics of their cattle raiding, and their distribution of cattle after raiding.

Key words: cattle raiding, pastoral society, ethnic conflict, leveling mechanism, Narim, Sudan.

EISEI KURIMOTO

• New Year Hunting Ritual of the Pari: Elements of Hunting Culture among the Nilotes

In Nilotic studies, the image of cattle-obsessed Nilotes, in terms not only of their economy but also of their culture and religion, has been dominant. The Pari of southeastern Sudan offer us an interesting case to counter this dominant view. Pastoralism shares only a limited role in their subsistence economy, and goats, which are not considered substitutes for cattle, are usually victims in sacrifices. They have no “personal oxen” and hunting wild animals has a great significance in achieving and displaying manhood.
This paper will highlight the hunting culture among the Pari, with a special focus on Nyalam, a New Year hunting ritual, in which the first game is sacrificed. Then I will try to account for the ritual both in regional and Nil otic contexts. The aim of the paper is, instead of treating the Pari as being marginal or exceptional to the mainstream Nilotes such as the Nuer and Dinka, to set and evaluate their hunting culture among the Nilotes and to reconsider the dominant pastoral image of the Nilotes.

Key words: ritual hunt, sacrifice, multiple subsistence, Pari, Nilotes.

YUKIO MIYAWAKI

• Maintaining Continuity in a Dualistic World: Symbolism of the Age Grade Succession Rituals among the Hoor (Arbore) of South-Western Ethiopia

This paper illustrates age grade succession rituals of a society that has a dualistic world view. The Hoor are Cushitic agro-pastoralists who dwell along the Weito River in south-western Ethiopia. The Hoor have a developed age grade system, on which their political activities in local communities are founded. The age set is organized at an interval of 8 to 10 years, and four adjacent age sets are put together and organized into a generation set. The generation set is a unit which takes responsibility for administration of a territorial group. Once every 30 to 40 years, they have two successive rituals, in which a senior generation set transfers political authority to a junior generation set.
The society of the Hoor is saturated with a dualistic world view which consists of binary symbols. This dualistic world view is especially apparent in the arrangement of their settlement, where symbolic orientations permeate every corner of their social life. The age grade system has anomalous effects on the binary symbolism since the former is associated with the concept of continuity. Based on research on the Gandarab, one of the northern regional groups, this paper attempts to show how the rituals
transform dualistic symbols and introduce a concept of continuity into the dualistic world of the Hoor.

Key words: Hoor, Arbore, age grade system, succession ritual, symbolism.

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