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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Ethiopia and the Great Transformation |
| Author: | Pankhurst, Richard |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Periodical: | Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian Studies |
| Volume: | 7 |
| Pages: | 84-113 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
| Subjects: | subsistence economy economic history Economics and Trade History and Exploration Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Labor and Employment |
| External link: | https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/view/282/280 |
| Abstract: | Karl Polanyi (1944) declared that 19th-century Western capitalism was unique in basing itself on the principle of gain, as expressed by the self-regulating market system. The present article examines the economy and society of traditional, highland Ethiopia, i.e. the core of the medieval and post-medieval Christian State and its values, in the light of Polanyi's thesis; considers the validity of this hypothesis in relation to traditional Ethiopia; and asks how far the analysis under discussion provides a useful tool for Ethiopian historical study. The article shows that, in traditional Ethiopia, land and labour (agricultural and domestic, specifically slavery) were little related to the market; peasant families worked largely for themselves rather than for sale; production was in many areas subordinated to the dictates of religion; trade was subordinated to ethical considerations; officials and other travellers received free hospitality, the provision of which was a compulsory obligation on the peasantry; and market requirements were generally subordinated to traditional religious values. Although, at certain points in history, there was a limited degree of commercialization, Polanyi's analysis thus seems useful in focusing on, and contextualizing, numerous areas of Ethiopian life which were independent of the market mechanism. Notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |