Field and river

20th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES20)
Mekelle University, Ethiopia

"Regional and Global Ethiopia - Interconnections and Identities"
1-5 October, 2018

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MEKELLE: THE ROLE OF THE ELDERLY AND THEIR MEDIATION IN CONFLICTS [Abstract ID: 1215-02]

Silvia CIRILLO, The University of Urbino

This abstract is based on my ethnographic research carried out in the town of Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. The main intent is to examine the role of community elders in resolving family and neighborhood disputes as well as the mediation process and dispute resolving mechanisms in Mekelle. This will be done while considering ‘traditional’ practices, ‘customary law’ and legal institutions. Who exactly is the mediator? What is the mediation process and what is its aim? Does a mediator necessarily have to be an elder? In-depth interviews (basically open and free) are important to analyze the opinions, attitudes, and personalities of those interviewed. No less important are the ‘informal’ talks that allow us to penetrate deeper into the local context and to collect different viewpoints on the themes under investigation. The term 'shmagile'means both ‘elder’ and ‘mediator’, someone capable of intervening in a dispute and reconciling two parties. The process of mediation is a form of reconciliatory justice used within the family and the neighborhood which has/may have specific rules. A mediator must have particular skills: he/she has to be wise, impartial in making decisions and persuasive in speech. According to some local people interviewed, the ritual mediation process helps to protect local communities from family feuds. Mediators are willing to devote/dedicate their time to the good of the community on a voluntary basis. The concept of mediation is expanded into various forms of complexity: anybody can be chosen as a mediator in his or her family and neighborhood, but if the dispute becomes too serious, it might become necessary to go to a social court that handles civil and penal matters, especially when concerning family disputes. An important part of my research is the attempt to find out just how much and how the mediation process is meaningful in a community’s system of social values.