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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Rebounding Nationalism: State and Ethnicity in Wollega, 1968-1976
Author:Hultin, JanISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:73
Issue:3
Pages:402-426
Language:English
Geographic term:Ethiopia
Subjects:Oromo
ethnicity
political repression
land reform
History and Exploration
nationalism
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556910
Abstract:This article deals with the interrelationship of ethnic and national processes in a rural district in Wollega at the time of the Ethiopian revolution of 1974. It describes how the State policy of 'official nationalism' and Amharization on the one hand, and the policy of land confiscation and land grants on the other, affected two different categories of Oromo: the small, educated elite, and the peasants. The government promoted Amharic as the language of State, whilst the Oromo language was banned from public contexts and not allowed in print. All political parties and organizations were banned. University students voiced demands for modernization and land reform whilst the war in Eritrea raised the 'question of nationalities', but there was not yet any Oromo nationalist claim for statehood. Among the farmers, opposition to the State centred on land tenure and taxes and on the abuse of authority by the government. The last part of the article describes how educated elite and farmers met in a political meeting that was organized by the local authorities in 1976 to celebrate the revolution and its land reform. The occasion turned into an intense celebration of local values and, at least to some of the participants, this was a moment of new ethnic awareness and a call to revive 'gada', the Oromo ritual system. Threatened by ethnic identification, the State responded with brutal repression, and several people were murdered. Shortly after, some activists joined the Oromo Liberation Front to wage guerrilla war against the State. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited]
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