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[PANEL] 1215 SOCIOPOLITICAL SYSTEMS BEYOND THE STATE IN THE PAST AND PRESENT
Organizers:
Felix GIRKE, University of Konstanz, Germany
Paper presenters:
LENIN Kuto Hamado; AYEHU Bacha Teso; Silvia CIRILLO; Ramy Magdy AHMED; Felix GIRKE;
FIREW Tesfaye Odayte; SAGAL Djama Hassan
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INDIGENOUS INTER-ETHNIC PEACE BUILDING AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION INSTITUTION: THE CASE OF GURRAACHA AMONG THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH CENTRAL ETHIOPIA [Abstract ID: 1215-06]
This article deals with Gurraacha institution, which is very important in inter-ethnic peace building and conflict resolving mechanism among the people of South Central Ethiopia. This institution was named after the Oromo term ‘Gurraacha’ (literally meaning black) to indicate its power in inter-ethnic peace building and conflict resolution. It is one elements of Oromo Gadaa system which was established time immemorial to sustain peace between Oromo and non-Oromo neighbouring ethnic groups. The data for this study was collected through interviews, observation and focus group discussions in 2014 and 2015. This study revealed that Gurraacha institution is a guarantee for sustaining peace among people of South Central Ethiopia by managing conflict over boundary, grazing land, looting cattle and water points. Overall, the study concluded that Gurraacha institution has real significance in inter-ethnic peace-building and sustaining social harmony and inter-ethnic conflict resolution. Therefore, using this indigenous institution for future policy formulation in the country as inter-ethnic peace building and conflict resolution model is important for the realization of sustainable peace and development.
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MEKELLE: THE ROLE OF THE ELDERLY AND THEIR MEDIATION IN CONFLICTS [Abstract ID: 1215-02]
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.
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OTHER POLITICAL THEORIES: THE CONCEPTIONS OF AUTHORITY IN THE ETHNOPHILOSOPHY OF OROMO AND ZULU AND THEIR POTENTIALS FOR UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY POLITICS [Abstract ID: 1215-04]
How can we understand African politics? Two routes are available: the first is to study Africa as ‘an object of study’, by analyzing the different political phenomena and events detached from African(s) subjectivities in order to reach some results. The second is to study Africa as ‘consciousness(es), worldview(s) and subjectivity(ies). Though the first might seem ‘objective’, the second seems more representative, more close and more in touch. But how can one explore these ‘consciousness u(es) and worldview(s)? one ‘among many’ Important socio-political units to study is the ‘ethnicities’, since they have a heritage of experiences, political organization, religion and philosophy, and by exploring their philosophy or worldview, one can draw lessons and insights that guides African scholarship in political theory and the different quests for understanding African politics. The paper focuses primarily on two (demographically) major ethnicities, namely: Oromo and Zulu, and will try to understand their vision of authority and political organization through their historical and philosophical rich heritage and how such vision(s) can help understand politics in contemporary Africa. Depending mainly on ‘ethno-philosophical’ analysis the paper will explain the philosophy of the ethnicity with regard to society and politics from the diverse sources of their religion, ontology and their experience of political organization.
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POLITICS AND POLITIES IN SOUTH OMO: DYNAMICS OF RECOGNITION [Abstract ID: 1215-03]
This paper explores the complex cultural and political dynamics of the South Omo region. Rather than presuming the existence of distinct 'ethnic groups', I argue that we can get a better understanding of the cultural neighborhood (encompassing Mursi, Hamar, Nyangatom, Kara, Dassanech, Arbore and others) by attending to the way the different populations communicate with each other, and how each engage in political struggles to achieve recognition - in the sense of an acknowledged right to exist as an autonomous actor in their interactions with the other polities. Material culture, conflict, exchange, intermarriage, education and several other arenas allow these polities to assert their distinctiveness, which – while ostensibly directed outward – is also a central mechanism in providing one’s own population with a sense of coherence and collective belonging. Ethnicity here is an outcome of these dynamics, rather than its basis.
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THE COLLAPSE OF INDIGENOUS SOCIO-POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: THE CASE D’IRASHA COMMUNITY IN SOUTH WESTERN ETHIOPIA [Abstract ID: 1215-01]
The central goal of this study is to describe the indigenous governance system of the D’irasha in the context of local self-governance. The study seeks to explore the D’irasha governance system as an African ideal of democracy and indigenous socio-political value. The system is also observed as a core component of D’irasha ethnic identity. The study suggests possible ways of integrating the system into the existing structure of local self-governance. In methodological terms the research pursued qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis. Ethical considerations and triangulation techniques were employed to achieve an objective analysis, derive robust findings findings and draw valid conclusions. These tools used to collect data were interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. During the analysis of the data, the nature and function of the indigenous D’irasha governance system is described in detail. The system is also viewed within the context of the socio-political changes it has faced since the Abyssinian conquest in1890s. Here the impacts of Abyssinian cultural hegemony, the outcome of the brief Italian occupation (1936-1941), the influence of the protestant missionaries since the 1950s, the effect of the socialist socio-political system that followed the 1974 revolution, and the consequences of the post-1991 ethnic based political discourse, are examined from the perspective of the indigenous governance system of the people under study. The study finds that the people in question have lost many aspects of their indigenous system of governance because of interventions from state and non-state actors since the 1890s. The loss of these traditional mechanisms of social control, together with the existing inefficient system of local governance and poor conflict management policies, have resulted in repeated intera-ethnic conflict among the D’irasha, especially since the 1990s. It has also affected traditional forest management practices and led to environmental deterioration. Overall, the study calls for the re-empowerment of the indigenous D’irasha system of governance.
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THE UGASS AND HIS ATTRIBUTES: ROLE AND FONCTION OF A TRADITIONAL CHIEF IN THE SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD OF THE SOMALI-ISSA [Abstract ID: 1215-05]
The coronation of the 19th ugass of the Issa-Somali (Ciise) in the year 2010 was the occasion for us to document the long process of nomination and inthronisation of a traditional chief in the territory of the community. The Issa live in the eastern areas of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The process of nomination started on 3 September 2009 and was finalized on 1 March 2010, during which we were able to document unknown details which help to understand this under-documented topic.