Previous Research projects
From process to procedure: Mediation by elders, formality and peace (Eastern Shewa, Ethiopia)
Description:
Ada'a, the research area of the dissertation project, is situated in
Eastern Shewa at the slopes of the Central Ethiopian Highlands. It is
inhabited by members of the Oromo and the Amhara ethnic groups. In this
setting of a peasant society, where ethnic 'borders' are regularly crossed
by intermarriage and the living in joint settlements, old men do possess a
high status, underlined by certain rules of addressing to them, and shown
by good manners of hospitaliy and respect in their regard. They have a
right to bless the younger generation, and are conferred on concrete
functions in their community - such as the conflict settlement among
disputants. Special procedures and rituals shall induce a reconciliation
of conflicting parties, most of them families clashing due to cases of
insult, brawl, disputes about property, bride-abduction or killing.
The prescriptive procedures differ in each of these cases and are suited
to the gravity and possible consequences of the concerned instance. It is
of special interest for the project to document such regulations or models
of acting and to show, how and why elders apply them. Thereby it turns out
that the rituals and courses of action already hold an appeasing potential
in their form and language. They are by far not as arbitrary as they might
appear at a first glance. In serious cases of quarrel and blood shed, for
instance, particular time intervals have to be kept in the course of the
continuing mediation activities by elders, thus leaving time for the
quarreling parties to calm. Also, the procedure stipulates that not the
perpetrators' side, but a third party - the group of elders - contact the
injureds' family and enter into negotiations with its representatives. This
can avoid acts of revenge and an immediate face-to-face confrontation of
the persons involved in the conflict. Certain formal speeches, promises and
confession of guilt by the perpetrators' elders shall induce the other side
to yield to the request for reconciliation, etc. A whole spectrum of
communicative strategies is used here in order to restore peace, since,
despite their respected role in society, success of the elders' endeavors
is not granted. The aim of mediation is not primarily to punish guilty
persons but to reconcile the involved families or groups. In serious cases
this would mean the reintegration of the perpetrator and his relatives into
local society.
The past long-term fieldwork in Ada'a has resulted in a rich
ethnographic data-base on the research area, and the analysis of the
material provides a promising base for theoretical and comparative
reflection. Above all, the obvious absence of ethnic conflict is noteworthy.
It stands in contrast both to the relatively high degree of ethnic
conciousness of the Oromo and Amhara in the area (which is partly due to
recent political developments in the framework of a new ethnic-federal
state of Ethiopia) and to the situation in other areas of the country where
tensions and even ethnic 'cleansings' have been reported for the same two
ethnic groups. This fact deserves a closer examination. Absence of ethnic
conflict is not identical with absence of conflict in general. Cases
reported during the fieldwork, far from being in a state of harmony,
included many serious incidents, including killings. These incidents,
however, were not expressed in terms of inter-ethnic but of inter-family
conflicts, whereby one family might belong to the one, and the other family
to the other, or both families to the same ethnic group, depending on the
specific case. This non-ethnic 'classification' of a given conflict keeps
conflicts on a lower scale, since it is obvious that an ethnic group
potentially can mobolize more members for its support than a single family.
The (here absent) case of an ethnic labelling might, otherwise, have led
to a 'bush fire' of inter-group violence following the same incident. It
seems surprising that the ethnic belonging of the conflicting parties is of
no or little importance to the (otherwise quite vivid) 'revenge activity'
in the Ada'a area. But a closer look on the legal and procedural setting
provides an explanation for this phenomenon. If Oromo and Amhara would each
have maintained their own, ethnically distinct, laws and procedures, ethnic
belonging would definitely matter, since this would determine which
procedure and which law had to followed in a case at hand. But the members
of both ethnic groups have - over a long historical period - developed a
joint or to a high degree shared legal sphere. People make use of the same
institutions, and the procedure to be applied in a case of crime or
accidental injury of another person is basically the same for everyone.
Ethnic belonging, thus, becomes a minor factor for the elders' problem of
solving the conflict. It seems, here, a worthwile task to explore how in
the course of time apparent 'enemy groups' are capable to build up such
central institutions as the elders' mediation.
While many anthropological efforts have been made to explain conflicts
and their 'roots' and causes, it seems similarly important to explain peace,
where it persists. There is no reason to believe that members of one group
would per se have more peaceful and harmonic predispositions than members
of any other group. So, what are the 'roots' of peace? The Ada'a material
shows that here as elsewhere, conflict is not absent, but it is kept on a
certain level and later on actively settled by representatives of the much
respected status group of the elders. The elders' readiness to invest time
and much effort into the goal of reconciliation of estranged families is
not fully unselfish, although they have no immediate advantage from their
involvement in a specific case. They have an interest in 'law and order'
in society in general, because it protects anyones, including their own,
home. By generalizing individual interests, the concept of a 'public good'
emerges. For the protection of this public interest, institutions and
procedures are introduced. Sometimes, the question of what would happen if
these institutions where not there may deliver a pretty good answer to the
question of what they are for. Elders' mediation in Ada'a maintains the
peace.
Bibliographical Reference:
Nicolas, Andrea (2011): From Process to Procedure: Elders’ Mediation
and Formality in Central Ethiopia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Press.
Seniority, Ethnic Diversity and the Art of Peace-making. Traditions of mediation by elders in the Eastern Shewa region of Ethiopia (African Rift Valley)
Short description:
The project Seniority, Ethnic Diversity and the Art of Peace-making is
a research project that is dedicated to the exploration of the different
traditions of mediation by elders of the diverse ethnic groups who inhabit
the Eastern Shewa area of the African Rift Valley Region in Ethiopia. It
aimed at preparing a substantial ethnographic description and analysis of
local mediation procedures that bases on direct observation and also
incorporates local views and conceptions on the topic. In the study, the
connections between different means of conflict settlement, ritual
practices and the use of holy objects and parts of the natural environment
will be of much concern. Furthermore, phenomena of cultural variability and
questions concerning the past and present relations between the different
local groups will be dealt with. The correlation of age with the person of
the mediator, being a prominent feature among all the groups of the wider
region, will be reviewed in terms of being a possible ‘equivalizing’ or
‘balance-keeping’ factor in the ethnically heterogenous environment. It is
intended to draw from the study conclusions of wider interest, particularly
regarding the present importance of these traditional techniques of
conflict management in the region and their potentials for a persistence
and innovative application in a changing environment of recent Ethiopian
state policy.
Description:
Eastern Shewa, situated on the slopes down to the river Awash in the
African Rift Valley, is inhabited by different ethnic groups, among which
Oromo and Amhara are most prominent. Large parts of the population
cultivate the endemic Tef plant, many of the former Oromo nomadic
cattle-herders having settled over time and taken over the cultivation
techniques of their Amhara neighbours. Other people, such as the Waata,
former hunter-gatherers, and some Gurage, have specialized in crafts like
pottery, carpentry and tannery, and constitute caste-like professional
groups, who usually do not intermarry with members of the other groups.
Once a year, after the beginning of the dry season, nomadic Karrayuu
herders leave their migration routes along the low and hot banks of the
Awash river and move upwards the slopes towards the Highlands, in order to
let their camels graze on the harvested fields of the Tef cultivators,
this being customarily tolerated by the latter.
The ethnic and cultural diversity of Eastern Shewa shows indications of
composing a system of complementary strategies of land use and professional
specialization that enriches the local production and facilitates a
non-concurrent co-existence of the different groups in the region. On the
other hand, their sometimes diverging concepts of social ranking, morality
and law need to be reconciled, and occuring conflicts between their members
regularly to be settled. This task is conferred to the diverse groups’
elders, who act as mediators in cases of disagreement or open conflict,
both within the group and between the groups, and try to reconcile the
opposing parties. Over time, they have developed a set of procedures for
peace-making that can be applied, in slight variance, to any of the groups
concerned, and that regularly involves the participation of members of
still other groups that are, themselves, not involved in the dispute. It
is the aim of the project to make these creative procedures known and
understood, to accentuate their importance for the people living in the
wider region, and to conclude about their potentials for a persistence and
innovative application in a changing environment of Ethiopian state policy.
The research project is aimed at producing an ethnographic study that
contributes to the stock of knowledge about an important part of the
inhabitants of the African Rift Valley region, and furthermore gives
theoretical and practical inputs to current debates in both the fields of
anthropology and the conservation science. In addition to the analysis of
interview material with local elders of different ethnic groups, data
gained through a collection of case studies, photographic documentation
and video recording will be used to prepare a comprehensive description
of different peace-making procedures, and to provide a realistic picture of
the relations and interactions between the different local groups and
societies. A particular focus, hereby, will lay on the cultural
appropriation of parts of the natural environment (such as holy mountains,
holy rivers, holy stones and trees, or gorges that are considered to be
connected with the supernatural world of the spirits) during the ritual
reconciliations between human beings. Similarly, the use of artistic and
other material objects (leather strips and bowls studded with cowry-mussels,
wooden and iron scepters, etc.), or of particular animals for ritual
slaughtering, which serves as an affirmation of peace-makings and other
agreements, is of special interest to the research project at hand.
Bibliographical References:
Nicolas, Andrea (2007): ‘Founded in Memory of the ‘Good Old Times’:
The Clan Assembly of Hiddii, in Eastern Shewa, Ethiopia.’ Journal of
Eastern African Studies 1 (3), pp. 484-497.
Nicolas, Andrea (2011): From Process to Procedure: Elders’ Mediation
and Formality in Central Ethiopia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Press.