SOUTHERN NATIONS, NATIONALITIES AND

PEOPLES REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

INSTITUTE OF NATIONALITIES LANGUAGE,

CULTURE AND HISTORY STUDY

The Ethno-history of Baske Nationality

Report

By: Zerihun D. Doffana, Assistant Professor (B.A., Sociology

and Social Administration; M.A., Social Anthropology)

August 2010

Hawassa

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am incalculably indebted to the following individuals whose contributions have enabled this

project to come to fruition:

Ato Gebrekristos Nuriye for his patient, wise and courteous cooperation and facilitation of the work;

Ato Tadese Legese, for his humble and dedicated efforts in making administrative and financial matters smooth to the point of going down at the lowest level possible;

Ato Benyiam Worku for his obedient spirit and committed and respectful stance as

my field / research assistant during the Baske Fieldwork; Ato Hailemariam Tekle, my able, committed and patient field guide, key informant

and interpreter for the Baske fieldwork Ato Mesele Getachew, Basketo Special Woreda Administrator for his help and

understanding when we faced some administrative and financial hurdles during the

fieldwork; and

Ato Husen, the Institutes driver who made it possible for us to go deep into the community, enduring the dangerous, slippery and muddy roads.

I say thank you very much! I also want to thank the finance department people at the

Institute for their kind and cordial approaches and facilitations.

Zerihun Doda, Assistant Professor (B.A., Sociology and Social Administration; M.A., Social

Anthropology)

August 2009

Hawassa, Ethiopia

PREFACE The Department of History and Heritages of the Institute of Nationalities Language, Culture and History Studies, SNNPR won a fund to enable it to carry out its project on the

development of ethno-history on two ethnic groups in the Region, namely, Baske and Meenit. This ethno-history study project on the Baske nationality was initiated by the Institutes noble aim of filling some disturbing gaps in the ethno-historical literature and documentation on the peoples of southern Ethiopia by conducting sound and systematic

research. The Baske ethno-history study project was thus commenced with this general goal of rectifying the ethno-historical and historiographical gaps and shortcomings.

The Project thus began the work aiming at producing research- based document on the

Nationality, which hitherto has not been duly considered for such noble task. The Project

entailed critical assessment and evaluation of the existing ethnographic and historiographical

works on the ethnic group, if any, and in-depth collection and analysis of field data to come

up with a balanced ethno-history.

The Department has sought eligible researchers who would take up this challenge and

conduct scientifically sound ethno-historical and historiographical research both in the field

and in the libraries and documentation centers in the bid to come up with a balanced,

systematically worked- out document on the ethnic group. The History and Heritages

Department contacted the Anthropology and Sociology Departments of the Social Sciences

Faculty, Hawassa University wherein it has identified one eligible researcher-consultant. The

principal researcher/ consultant undertook all responsibility for the design, data collection,

analysis and report write-up task for the project. He worked in close collaboration with the

Institute and the Department.

The expected outcomes of the project included:

Making critical assessment of the existing ethnography and historiographical

literature on the peoples of South Ethiopia in general and on the Baske Nationality in particular;

Conducting field-based research to generate data on the ethno-history and related issues of the ethnic group; and

Coming up with a systematically written book on the Nationality;

The Institute believes that the present document that is produced on the ethnic group in

question will play crucial role in filling some gaps in the historiography and ethnography of

the peoples of South Ethiopia in general and the Baske people in particular.

Gebrekristos Nuriye, Director General

Introduction Writing ethno-history of a traditional society whose tradition has never enjoyed a written

form of communication has been indeed proven to be very challenging if not totally

impossible. The task of producing scientifically valid ethno-history work on such peoples

was generally disregarded for so long by the historical scholars. The extreme dependence

on written source of documents for history writing has helped generate this sense of

disregard. However, in the past recent decades, this tendency has a bit been in decline and

it has now become very important tool and methodology among the scholars to use the

peoples own unwritten sources of information, those orally handed down to the present generation in the form of folktales, mythologies and oral accounts.

This ethnohistory study project on the Baske has thus utilized the ethno-historical approaches and theoretical frameworks when conducting this study. We are obliged to call

this work an Ethno-history study rather than a purely history or ethnography study in that if

we take it in its conventional, purely historical study and approach it might not satisfy the

demands of some groups of people who have tended to depend too much on written source of documents for their history study. We call this work an ethno-history work for

another even more salient reason that the work has of necessity treated the history of

Baske in light of the ethnographic present as well as the ethno-graphic present in light of the historical past. We obviously understand that whatever traditional socio-cultural forms

of life, whatever material and non-material heritages of a people that exist today are the

imprints of the past people passed down to the progeny. Whatever historical aspect we

examine in a society cannot be well dealt without looking at its present day manifestations.

So in this study, the culture in the ethnographic present is inextricably tied to the historic past.

In fact, it becomes very difficult to draw a line between the culture and the history

component and content if we do not treat the two phenomena in a linked and

interdependent manner. So we call our method and approach the ethno-historical approach

and in line with this we have utilized the ethno-graphic methodological techniques when

collecting data on the historical past. This was supplemented with the analyses of archival

materials however scanty they were. Our approach also involved the empirical observation

and photographic and video-graphic documentation of historically important heritages; and

natural, topographic, and socio-cultural aspects of the society.

Out principal approach when we worked in the field to gather information thus involved

talking to the key, knowledgeable community members both as individuals and in group discussion formats. Apart from interviewing respected older persons, clan and traditional

religious leaders and local intellectuals, we have also interviewed younger community

members, both females and males, to ensure fair community participation. Our treatment of

ethno-historical issues was in such a way that a particular topic was raised and information

was sought by focusing on the origins and changes over time. For example, when we

treated the history of marriage in Baske, we focused on the origins of such an institution, how it worked and looked like in the past and how it changed over the centuries and its

present state of affairs. We did not thus discuss an issue for the purpose of understanding

its dynamics, contents and salient features as it stands today.

Reviews of literature work were conducted at AAU libraries in June 2008. The fieldwork

began by making reconnaissance, orientation and rapport building visit to the Special

Woreda in the second week of August 2008. This visit was meant for setting up a committee

of representatives from the Woreda Administration to own and facilitate process of the

fieldwork. Principles and criteria for community members participation in data generation was discussed and facilitating local agents (interpreters, field guides, cameramen etc were

also recruited at this stage. Actual data collection was conducted first and second weeks of

October 2008.

This report is structured and organized into eight chapters. The first chapter deals with the

critical evaluation of the theoretical and methodological approaches utilized in the

ethnohistory and historiography of the peoples of Ethiopia and south western Ethiopia in

general and Baske in particular. Chapter Two discusses the general profile and background of Baske: the people, the Woreda, its location, topography, demography, social amenities, etc. In Chapter Three, we describe the origins and pre-history of Baske. We discuss the various legends of ethno-genesis that tell us the whence of Baske people. Chapter Four focuses on the social and cultural history of Baske. We treat here such topics as mate selection, marriage, family, and wedding; costumes and beatification; house making and

household utensils; origins of naming, pregnancy, child birth; origins of music, dancing,

musical instruments, games and sport activities; origins and development of social amenities

In Chapter Five, we discuss the history of religious beliefs and traditions in Baske, with focus on how the ancestral religion developed, changed and was affected over time; and the

introduction of alien religious forms; the link of religion to economy and politics in the past.

In Chapter Six, economic and livelihood history of Baske is discussed. Issues covered include: origins of economic activity; indigenous food crops cultivated from the beginning;

the introduction of alien crop items; agricultural implements used in the past and how they

are modified; introduction of the plowshare agriculture and the weakening of hoe-based

horticultural mode of production; history of trade and market system, etc

Chapters Seven and Eight deal with political history of Baske and the historically important sacred natural and cultural heritages, respectively. The political history covers such topics as

origins of concepts, ideologies, practices and institutions of traditional political system; the

katiship as a divine ordained, clan based system of politics; the politico-religious offices of

the traditional rulers; the katiship and its resilience over the centuries and across the various

central government regimes; the introduction of the central government and its impact on

the people; the Italian war and occupation of Basketo; etc.

The book ends with providing conclusion and recommendation.

Note to the reader: Determining exact (or even rough) time frame for some aspects and events in the

ethno-history of Baske was very difficult for us due to the lack of documented historical

sources and the fact that Baske legends did not give us a specific clue to time reference. Due to this, a reader with purely historical science training or inclination might find some

aspects contained in the material as lacking historical validity. We hereby urge our readers

to provide us with any useful comment to rectify any gaps in terms of time frameworks and

chronological order of events. Other comments are also welcome.

Unless and otherwise indicated, calendars used in this document are in Ethiopian format.

Comments on this work may be sent to the author via the Institutes address or directly using the following:

Zerihun Doda Doffana, Assistant Professor,

Hawassa University, Department of Sociology,

P. O Box 1401, Hawassa, Ethiopia

Email: zerihun_doda@yahoo.com or doffanaz@gmail.com

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. 2 PREFACE ............................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 Note to the reader: ................................................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER ONE:BASKE NATIONALITY IN ETHIOPIAN ETHOGRPAHY AND HISTORY

1.1. Background Issues: Methodology Employed ......................................................... 11 1.1.1 Ethno-history as a General Methodological Approach ..................................... 11

1.1.2. Ethno-genesis: The Problematique of Writing Ethno-history ......................... 11

1.1.3. Theoretical Model adopted in Writing about the Identity of Baske ............... 11 1.2. Problems of the Historiography of Ethiopia: Some Misconceptions and

Preconceptions ............................................................................................................... 13

1.2.1. Critique on the Historiography of Ethiopia ..................................................... 13 1.2.2. Do Ethnic Minorities Have and Make Their Own History? ............................ 15

1.2.3. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches in Studying and

Writing about the Peoples of Ethiopia ....................................................................... 15 1.2.4. The Image of Ethiopia as Ethnic Museum: Problems of ................................. 16

Ethnohistory of the Southwest ................................................................................... 16 1.2.5. Neglecting the Local and Small Social Units: Another ................................... 18

Problem in Methodological and Theoretical Approaches ......................................... 18 1. 3. General Background History Of Ethiopia .............................................................. 18

1. 3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 18 1.3.2. The History of Ethno-historical Study of Ethiopia: Various ........................... 18

Images and Portrayals of Ethiopia and Its Peoples .................................................... 18 1.3.3. The Prehistory of Ethiopia in General and the Southwest in ........................... 20 Particular .................................................................................................................... 20

1.3.4. Classifying the Peoples of Ethiopia ................................................................. 21 1.3.5. The Importance of Inter-ethnic Relegations .................................................... 21

1.4. The Peoples of Southwest Ethiopia In the History of Ethiopia .............................. 21

1.4.1. Ethnohistorical Scholarship on Southern Peoples ........................................... 21 1.4.2. Flaws of the Existing Scanty Accounts on These People ................................ 21 1.4.3. The Omotic People and the Beginnings of Southwest..................................... 22 Ethiopia History ......................................................................................................... 22

1.4.4. How the Peoples` Ethnic Identity is Shaped and Affected by ......................... 23 Incorporation into the Central Rule ........................................................................... 23

1.5. The Baske In Ethiopian Ethnography ................................................................... 23 1.6. Issues Of Ethnic Identity Across The Various Regimes Of ................................... 24 Ethiopia: Policies Of The Governments ........................................................................ 24

1.6.1. The Making of Imperial Ethiopia and the Incorporation of the ....................... 24 South-Western Peoples .............................................................................................. 24 1.6.2. Ethnic Identity Consciousness in Post-Dergue Era(1991 to the present) ........ 24 1.6.3. Nation Building or Nation Destroying? ........................................................... 25 1.6.4. The Context for and the Making of Southern History ..................................... 26

1.6.5. Abyssinanization of the Southern Peoples ....................................................... 26 1.6.6. Becoming Ethiopians Vs, Being a Particular Ethnic Group ............................ 26

CHAPTER TWO: GENERAL BACKGROUND OF BASKETO

2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 28 2.2 Basketo Special Woreda .......................................................................................... 29

2.2.1 Location, Topography, Agro-ecology and Social Amenities ........................... 30 2.2.2 Traditional Weather And Annual Calendars..................................................... 31

2.2.3 Natural Resources ............................................................................................. 31 2.2.4 Demographics ................................................................................................... 34 2.2.5 Social Services .................................................................................................. 36

CHAPTER THREE: .......................................................................................................... 39 ETHNO-GENESIS OF BASKE ...................................................................................... 39 3.1. Origins of the Various Nomenclatures ................................................................... 39

3.1.1. Baske versus Basketo ..................................................................................... 39 3.1.2. How the Derivatives, Basketo and Masketo Came to be Used ........................ 40

3.1.3. The Concept of Shanquilla .............................................................................. 41

3.2. The Origins of the Baske: Views on Ethno-genesis .......................................... 42 3.2.1. The Gamo Origin of the Baske........................................................................... 42

3.2.2. The Endak-Gamonde Myth.............................................................................. 44

3.3. The Major Clans, Other Marginalized Clans and Their Inter-relations .................. 46 3.3.1. Marginalized Clans and Their Origins ............................................................. 47 3.3.2. Inter-clan Wars and the Origin of Laska .......................................................... 48

3.3.3. The Latter-day Comer Groups ......................................................................... 49

3.4. Perceptions of Baske Identity ................................................................................ 49

CHAPTER FOUR:A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE BASKETO

4.1. The Baske and Their Neighbors ............................................................................ 51 4.1.1 The Baske and the Boddi................................................................................. 52 4.1.2 Basketo's Other Ethnic Neighbors .................................................................... 54

4.1.3 Baske War Instruments ................................................................................... 56 4.2 Childbirth and Indigenous Person Naming and Origins .......................................... 56

4.2.1 Childbirth .......................................................................................................... 56

4.2.2 Origins of and Changes in Personal Names ...................................................... 57

4.3 The Origins of Costumes and Historical Trends in Introduction

of Modern Costumes ................................................................................................... 59 4.4 Household Utensils .................................................................................................. 60 4.5. Dwelling Houses: Structure and Architecture ........................................................ 61 4.6 Mate Selection, Marriage, Wedding and the Family ............................................... 63

4.7.1 Mate Selection and Engagement: the Su Tukire Institution ............................ 63 4.8. Diseases, Death, Mourning and Funeral Rituals ..................................................... 67

4.8.1 A History of Diseases and the Medical System ................................................ 67

4.8.2 Baske Bereavement and Mourning Rituals ..................................................... 69 4.8.3 Burials, Funeral Songs and Dances .................................................................. 70

4.9. Music, Musical Instruments, Dances, Sports, and Games ...................................... 71 4.9.1 Music, Musical Instruments and Dances .......................................................... 71 4.9.2 Traditional Sports and Games ........................................................................... 72

4.10. Urban Development, Social Amenities and Infra-structure .................................. 72

CHAPTER FIVE: A BRIEF ETHNOHISTORY OF RELIGION

5.1. The Origins and Concept of ossa .......................................................................... 75 5.3. Religion, Natural Resources and the Religious Leaders as Stewards of Forests .... 79

5.4. The Origins of the Dadda Worship and the Rain-making Ritual............................ 83 5.5. Women and Traditional Religion............................................................................ 84 5.5. The Introduction of New Religious Forms and Impact on the

Traditional Religion ...................................................................................................... 85 5.6. Religion and Public Festivals.................................................................................. 88 5.7. Basketo Traditional Religion and the Central Government .................................... 89

CHAPTER SIX LIVELIHOOD AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF BASKE

6.1. Origins of Agricultural Activities: from Horticulturlaism to

Oxen-Drawn Agriculture .............................................................................................. 90

6.2. Origins of Various Crops ........................................................................................ 92 6.3. Indigenous and Imported Varieties of Seed Crops ................................................. 94

6.4. Basketo as a Cash Crop Area .................................................................................. 96 6.5. Origins of and Changes in Farming Tools .............................................................. 97

6.6. History of Livestock Domestication ....................................................................... 98 6.7. Indigenous Religion and Production Practices ....................................................... 98

6.8. Natural Resources and Their Conservation ............................................................ 98 6.8.1. Wild Animals ................................................................................................... 99 6.8.2. Forests and Trends in Deforestation ................................................................ 99

6.8.3. Traditional Religion and the Religious Leaders as the Stewards of Forest ... 102 6.8.4 Introduction of Alien Trees and the Future of Forests .................................... 104

6.9. History of Famine ................................................................................................. 105 6.10. History of Resettlement ...................................................................................... 106

6.11 History of Markets and Commerce ...................................................................... 106

CHAPTER SEVEN: BASKE POLITICAL HISTORY AND THE INTRODUCTION OF MODERN SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT

7.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 109 7.2. The Katiship: Its Origins and Basic Elements and Changes over Time ............... 110

7.2.1. A Genealogy of Baske Katis ........................................................................ 111 7.2.2. Hallmarks of Baske Katiship ........................................................................ 114 7.2.3. The Hierarchical Ranks in the Traditional Political System and Key

Roles of the Various Political Offices .................................................................... 115

7.2.4. Criterion of Eligibility, Appointment and Power Transfer ............................ 116 7.2.5. The Special Lifestyles and Privileges of Kati ................................................ 119

7.3. The Status of Women in Baske Politics and across the Various Rgimes .......... 121 7.4. The Baske and Their Kattiship across Various Political Rgimes ...................... 122 7.5. Origins of Feudal System and Conditions of Life in Pre-EPRDF Baske ............ 125 7.6. Trends in Socio-political and Economic Changes ................................................ 127

7.7. History of Administrative Structure of Baske ..................................................... 129 7.7.1. The Basketo Special Woreda Question and Improvements since the Special

Woreda Status .......................................................................................................... 130

7.8. Contributions of the Baske to the Making of the Ethiopia .................................. 131 7.9. The Baske during the Italian War and Occupation (1936-1941) ....................... 131

CHAPTER EIGHT: A NOTE ON BASKE NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERIATGES

8.1. Introudcution ......................................................................................................... 134

8.2. Soina Gawee ......................................................................................................... 134 8.3. The Enda- Gamonde Sacred Site .......................................................................... 135 8.4. Tikil Dingay .......................................................................................................... 136

8.5. The Historical Heritage of Laska .......................................................................... 137 8.6. The Sacred Site of the Dhoko Kati Spiritual Forest ............................................. 137 8.7. Godarsa kea (Lit. the House of Hyena) ............................................................... 137 8.8. Gawee Galla (the Galla cave) ............................................................................... 138 8.9. Sirso Waterfall ...................................................................................................... 138

CHAPTER NINE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

8.1. Summary ............................................................................................................... 139 8.2. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 139

8.3 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 141 REFERENCES................................................................................................................. 142

CHAPTER ONE:

BASKE NATIONALITY IN ETHIOPIAN ETHOGRPAHY AND HISTORY

1.1. Background Issues: Methodology Employed

1.1.1 Ethno-history as a General Methodological Approach The phrase "ethno-history" is roughly and diffusely used in this work. The title of the

present work may be referred to as Ethno-history of the Basketo.

Here, we want to make it clear that the term ethno-history is used in its sense of

methodological approach or tool employed in studying the history, identity, ethnicity and culture of the ethnic group in question. Ethno-history in its more general and technical

sense is a field of methodological and theoretical approach combining history and

anthropology. Historical anthropology, as it is sometimes called, combines a cultural anthropological theoretical framework with historiographic research procedures for the

study of culture and cultural process (Spores, 1980: 575).

Here, to accomplish the task of writing a history of the peoples of Baske, I have used the ethno-historical approach in a loose sense, not in its more technical sense. Here, the

methodology involved critical use of written documents, conventional ethnographic tools

and oral history.

1.1.2. Ethno-genesis: The Problematique of Writing Ethno-history One of the methodological hurdles facing social anthropologists and ethno-historians in

writing on the ethno-history of an ethnic group is presenting a proper picture of the group

studied. The question of ethno-genesis ad ethno-historical reconstruction is proved to be

very challenging (Turton, 1977). The methodological problem particularly becomes even

more formidable when writing on peoples of non-western ethnic groups where the culture

of written form of historical documentation is non-existent.

1.1.3. Theoretical Model adopted in Writing about the Identity of Baske The dynamic of being and becoming a certain ethic group member has assumed important

significance in ethno-history and writing about the ethnic identity of people. The question of

ethnic identity and how individuals wish to view and identify their ethno-historic identity is affected by multiple internal and external factors. It is not a fixed thing. It is often fluid. As

the transactionalist model shows, it is determined by the dynamic socio-cultural and

politico-economic transactions between members of the interacting groups of people over

time.

The peoples of southwest Ethiopia used to hold, it may be argued, a more or less fixed

image and view of their ethnic identity before their encounters with the central Ethiopian

government. Following their encounters and transactions with the ruling class and their

incorporation into the Empire, the local peoples image of their identity became diffused and intermingled with various confusing elements. They were made neither to boldly proclaim

their original identity, nor claim to become the proper citizens of the central government.

Their identity was made to hang in the air. Few members of the local people through

patronage and marriage ties could claim to have become members of the dominant ethnic

group. The people were confiscated their original identity and were given derogatory names

such as the Shanqillas, Wollamos, Tishana, Janjero, etc (Donham, 1986).

From their incorporation into the Abyssinian Empire in the turn of the 20th c to the demise

of the Imperial Rgime in 1974, the peoples of the south were made to be subjected to

derogatory ethnic identities- not fully treated as equal citiznes. On the one hand, the people

were not allowed to express their ethnic identity and on the other, they were not accepted as full members of the larger Abyssinian Empire, as equal citizens with the ruling group. Their identity was further crushed to the ground even in the post - 1974 era, although the

Dergue Rgime fared better in terms of fighting against the derogatory ethnic identities. In

the name of creating a unified all-encompassing single national identity the ethno-linguistic

and cultural mosaics of the south and southwest were not allowed to proclaim and develop

their ethnic identity.

With regard to the post-Dergue era, one may argue that a most favorable atmosphere has

ushered in. The here-to-fore stifled voices of the ethno-linguistic mosaics begun to be

heard, making use of the new era of ethnic consciousness. The peoples of south-west

Ethiopia began to rise out of the ashes and to hang up their heads which were made to bow

down under the plethora of derogatory treatments. People began to reclaim and proclaim

their crushed identity, history, culture and ideologies. There is now no need to squabble for

patronization to become like one of the members of the dominant class.

An ethno-history on a southern Ethiopian people group such as Baske should show how the dynamics of the transactions between the various ethnic groups on the one hand and

the minority- dominant relations on the other have affected the shaping and making of the

ethnic identity of the south-western peoples.

The ethno-history of the peoples of southwest Ethiopia may be divided it into three distinct

epochs: (1) the pre- Abyssinian contact era, when the people have enjoyed their pristine

identity and history; (2) the period of domination notably from 1880s to 1974- when the

ruled, peripheral groups were brought under intense subjugation and derogation; (3) from

1974 to the demise of the Dergue era (1991)- when a relative respite was offered to the

marginalized peoples, at least in terms of deleting some explicit elements of derogation; (4)

post-Dergue era, the era of resurrection for the buried cultural, linguistic identities of the

peoples of south and south west.

1.2. Problems of the Historiography of Ethiopia: Some Misconceptions and Preconceptions

1.2.1. Critique on the Historiography of Ethiopia Since time immemorial, Ethiopia had been known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, Indians,

Chinese, Arabs, Armenians and Europeans. The documentation of the history of Ethiopia by various foreign writers has had different problems. According to Pankhurst (1990), Ethiopia

was known to the outside world often imprecisely. The historical accounts of Europeans on

Ethiopian began in the middle ages, during which time Christian missionaries learnt of

Ethiopia and came to the country. As Pankhurst points, The coming of Portuguese Jesuits towards the end of the sixteenth century and the resultant expansion in travel literature

was a land-mark in the growth of European knowledge and historiography of Ethiopia. (p.80)

From the early medieval times down to the 19thc, the historiography of Ethiopia by

European scholars mainly focused on the Semitic ethno-linguistic groups. Of a legion of

foreign scholars who came to and wrote on Ethiopia, only very few visited beyond the

central region to the southwest parts and peoples. Most of the notable European historians

and other scholars of worldwide fame, such as Contti Rossini, Ignazio Guidi, James Bruce,

etc, generally tilted towards the study of the prehistory and history of the Semitic ruling

class. A limited shift of interest began to be manifested in the late 19thc and early 20thc by

some European scholars, such as Enrico Cerulli who wrote on the peoples and cultures of

southwest Ethiopia.

Bahru Zewdie (1990: 89) criticizing the Ethiopian historiography the historical works on Ethiopia by Ethiopians notes on the shortcoming of the traditional historiographers: i.e., their ``excessive adulation of the kings and their proclivity to supernatural explanations. Bahru evaluates the contributions of Ethiopian historiographers beginning from the medieval

times: including notable chroniclers of the emperors and individual historians. Some of these

national historiographers such as Alaqa Taye, attempted to combine ethnography and

history. Although his attempt was praised, Bahru noted ``the excessive reliance of Taye on

the scriptures to describe the different nationalities of Ethiopia has made it some what

suspect to the not so credulous readers of today. `` (P.90)

The historical wittings of Ethiopia by such well-known national historians such as Tekle

Tsadic Mekuria are generally biased to the history, genesis, and traditional achievements of the Semitic Ethiopia. Even after the foreign dominated Ethiopia historical scholarship began

to be replaced by what Bahru calls a nucleus of national historians in the 1960s, the Semitic bias in Ethiopian historiography and ethno-history continued. In Bahru`s (1990:93)

evaluation of the Ethiopian historiography, one obvious weakness of the historiography has

been the Semitic bias. This bias continued even after the ``Ethiopianization of historical

research. The Ethiopian historiography has had suffered from very narrow scope and hence some attempts seem to have been made to broaden the scope of Ethiopia historiography, taking it out of the Semitic mould within which it had stuck for so long in

the past.

According to Bahru (ibid.) There is now greater understanding of the historical process in the areas of Ethiopia outside the Semitic core which had previously been the subject of so

many investigators. In other words, Ethiopian history has become truly Ethiopian, including

the southern as well as the northern peoples of present day Ethiopia. But one still may ask to what extent the historiography of Ethiopian has attained truly Ethiopian nature. To

date, the paucity of balanced, truly scientific historiographical and ethno-historic works on

the southern peoples of Ethiopia is clearly known and the often piecemeal such woks on

various ethnic groups by expatiates and persons of the ethnic group often do not satiate the

question of fully scientific and detailed historical accounts.

The undermining of oral literature and folktales as historiographical methodology and the

heavy dependence on written literature has itself created a near- total focus on the Semitic

group which has the written culture. The hosts of non-Semitic groups of south Ethiopia

which lack written literature have been ignored. According to Bahru, the inclusion of oral

historical sources as a historiographical methodology since 1970s and 1980`s has made a

broadening in the scope of Ethiopian historiography.

Bahru rightly calls for the de-Semiticization of Ethiopian historiography, noting that the

future of Ethiopian historical scholarship should be brought in tune with historical research on non-Semitic peoples and their cultures. This process of de-Semiticization and Africanization of Ethiopian historiography calls for bold Ethiopian scholars who should not

cling to the old shell and broaden their interests.

A similar problem of Semitic bias prevails in the studies of the languages of Ethiopian

peoples. According to Habtemariam (1990:103), `The most studied Ethiopian language is

perhaps Amharic, followed by Tegerea, Oromo and some of the Gurage languages. The

other languages of the country are not adequately described.

The same problem has haunted scholars in the areas socio-cultural studies in Ethiopia

(Mekonnen, 1990). Mekonnen (1990:105) further notes: The beginning of socio-cultural studies in Ethiopia may be traced to the accounts and descriptions of early travelers, missionaries and pure adventurers. These

accounts served as rich sources of cultural and historical information on the

various peoples of Ethiopia even though by current standards they may be

criticized as lacking in scientific methodology, objectivity and theoretical

direction. Professional anthropological studies of the peoples and cultures of

Ethiopia are a much more recent phenomenon, spanning only the past [sixty]

years or so Traditional Abyssinia and its people, the Amhara and Tigray, were the primary focus of [the various writers]. Until very recently this limitation

continued to be reflected in resulting in a serous gap in our knowledge, especially

about the non-Semitic speaking peoples of the country.

1.2.2. Do Ethnic Minorities Have and Make Their Own History? It was believed that non-European societies had no history of any worthwhile significance.1

It was noted that the minorities could not have and make their histories. The historiography

of Third World societies was thus flawed in this manner.

However, a younger generation of scholars had become engaged in the study of the peoples and cultures of Ethiopian, with a relatively new rethinking of the older approaches (James, Wendy: 1986, xiii). A new awareness of the part that humbler peoples could play in

history began to shape the work of both Ethiopian and foreign researchers (ibid.). In

Ethiopian historiography and ethnography, as highlighted by Wendy James, what she called

the `humbler` peoples, the numerous ethno-linguistic groups particularly in the south and

southwest were thought of as having no real histories of their own. They were consigned to

oblivious periphery being considered as having or making no history. Although such an

ethnocentric orientation was very staunch in the pre-1974 Ethiopia, it continued with little

modification until the downfall of the Dergue Regime in 1991. Thus, it may be argued that

the ethnographical and historiographical scholarship in the pre-1991 Ethiopia was generally

very unfavorable to the `humbler`, minority groups of the south and southwest Ethiopia. Gradually and hesitantly, submitting to the new emerging realities both globally and

nationally, historians and ethnographers began asking questions which took them from the royal chronicles and capitals which had the locus of their predecessors` enquiry into the

exploration of local sources and even face to face enquires in the field (ibid).

1.2.3. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches in Studying and Writing about the Peoples of Ethiopia Analysis of existing anthropological and ethno-historical sources show that description of

the peoples and cultures of Ethiopia by foreigners began quite early, at least as early as the

14th century, when the country began to open its doors to the foreign missionaries,

travelers and other interested persons.

The first accounts of the peoples and cultures of Ethiopia by foreign writers were done by

missionaries, travelers and adventurers. However, the writings and descriptions of these

writers lacked any systematic theoretical and methodological directions (Fekadu, 1990).

Systematic, theoretically and methodologically sound study approaches to peoples and

cultures of Ethiopia was a recent phenomenon. It dates back to the 1920s and 1930s, when

significant systematic efforts were made by the Germen based ethnographic expedition

(Fekadu, 1990).

More professional-oriented ethno-historical works on the peoples and cultures of Ethiopia

began from the 1950s and 1960s when large number of western scholars descended on Ethiopia. The strong points of these latter categories of ethno-historical works were their

methodological and theoretical sophistication. They approached the study and writing of the

peoples and cultures of Ethiopia using a number of paradigms and theoretical models. The

1 1(Personal communication, Professor David Anderson, Director of the Center, at our discussion meetings with senior

professors of history and anthropology, at Oxford University, UK, the Center for African Studies, May 2008).

problems in the methodological approaches, however, to the study of the ethno-histories of

Ethiopia failed to take into account the historic multi-faceted dimensions in the intricate

inter-plays between the peoples of Ethiopian and the central-- periphery interactions. There

have been disjoined efforts by historians and ethnographers all following their own

traditions and models of approaches. As Donham (1986) argues, "until recently, northern

society has been analyzed, mostly by historians, in terms of the structures of its imperial

center while southern societies have been studied, mostly by anthropologist as if they had

few links with that center" (p.4).

Another conspicuous aspect of the weakness of the methodological and theoretical

approaches in writing about the ethno-identities of the peoples of south Ethiopia has been

the fact of un-representativeness in the sense of not showing the real picture and image of

the people as understood and lived by the peoples. The ethno-historical accounts were thus

flawed with ethnocentric assumptions.

Writings on Ethiopia and its peoples are also critiqued by some as being affected by the uniqueness of Ethiopia in many respects compared to other African societies. Writers were

criticized for not applying similar conceptual tools and theoretical approaches to the study

of Ethiopia and its societies. Many writings were just too much emphasizing the political

power and charisma of the ruling emperor and the social political institutions of the ruling

class. Thus writes Markakis, (1975:1-2):

both lay and scholarly writings on Ethiopian politics generally eschew the conceptual tools and theoretical apparatus that govern inquiry into social processes in developing

countries and discard the conventional standards and criteria normally applied to

other African societies. With precious few exceptions, such writings are devoid of

critical analysis. An attitude of forbearance characterizes most, while eagerness to

praise the Ethiopian state and its longtime ruler, Emperor Haile Selassie, is the

hallmark of many.

Such hallmark of many ethno-historians did much injustice to the realities and detail aspects

of the majority of Ethiopian peoples. Many writers, while eulogizing the ruling class, have

contributed a lot to the dearth of appropriate ethno-historical information on the various

ethnic groups.

1.2.4. The Image of Ethiopia as Ethnic Museum: Problems of

Ethnohistory of the Southwest The ethnocentric and pejorative description of the Ethiopian peoples gradually faded when

more scholarly professional historians and ethnographers began writing. The Germen

Universities of the late 19thc were highly motivated by the assumption of Ethiopia as a Semitic race and their writings neglected or even continued to derogate the non-Semitic

groups. However, beginning from early 20th c, scholars from Anglo- American universities

began focusing on the peoples and cultures of southern Ethiopia being motivated by the

assumption of Ethiopia as an ethnic museum. They made efforts to focus on "the social

organization of discrete tribes. Their contribution has been to provide ethnographies of the

relatively unknown peoples of these areas (Ibid: 20).

With this rather relatively more professional and less ethnocentric efforts, the histories and

cultures of the hither-to unknown peoples have been accounted in decades that followed.

However, the ethnographic accomplishments of the foreign and national scholars were by

no means sufficient and complete. They still suffered from elements of ethnocentrism,

unrepresentative descriptions and pejorative accounts. One major problem in the

ethnohistoric account of the scholars in the Ethiopia as ethnic museum approach was their

too much focus on what is called the "ethnographic present" and neglecting the past

histories of the people.

Other writers have neglected the necessity for describing each ethnic group as a historic

unit in its own right. They focused on depicting the image of a greater Ethiopia (as in Levin, 1974) where the large-scale inter-ethnic and inter-societal interactions have produced the

present day Ethiopia. Levin (1974) criticized the Ethiopia- asethnic- museum approach, saying it failed to account for the dynamic of large- scale inter-social interactions. He labeled

the view of functionalist ethnographers erroneous, the view that "before the conquests of Menilik II in the late 19th c, the other peoples of Ethiopia had lived independent and self

sufficient lives...." (Levin 1974:21). Levin argued that "the image of Ethiopia as a collection of

distinct peoples neglects what these people have in common, how they interact and the

nature of Ethiopia society as a whole" (P. 21).

Levins paradigm appeared to in line with the ethos of the existing political and cultural ideology of the time. It was the time when the one nation, one religion, one language ideology was reigning high. It is in fact desirable, when writing the ethnohistory and identity of an ethnic group, to take in to account how the large level societal interactions have

shaped the identity of a group. However, it would be even more important to recognize the

fact that the large picture-- the Greater Ethiopia-- does not exist apart from the individual

groups who form the larger picture. The individual culture groups and their identity should

not be sacrificed for the sake of the large whole. Individual groups have primacy over the

larger whole.

The idea of greater Ethiopia overshadowing the unique identities, histories, cultures,

languages of individual nations, nationalities, and people groups to the extent of crushing

their identity is not in line with the current objective socio- political realities of the country

as well. The post- 1991 paradigm is in line with this spirit. It dose not negate the idea of

what peoples have in common, how they have interacted and continue to interact and how

they all together contribute for the greater Ethiopia.

Some writers implied that the only groups in Ethiopia having a tangible, worthwhile history

are the Semitic groups. Some scholars (like Levine, 1974) argued to the extent of implying

that the only useful attempt in studying history of Ethiopian peoples is to focus on the

Semitic group. in his earliest work, Wax and Gold (1968) he used the phrase "the Semitic

past" depicting assumptions that other non-Semitic groups are devoid of any credible

history at all. The phrase tempts one to wonder and ask, Do the non- Semitic peoples of

Ethiopia have no past at all? Is describing them only in the framework of the ethnographic present truly logical, ethical and scientific?

It is thus time to go beyond the notion of the Semitic past and the ethnographic present and take the challenge of describing the history; culture and identity of ethnic minorities by

taking into account their own views.

1.2.5. Neglecting the Local and Small Social Units: Another

Problem in Methodological and Theoretical Approaches Scholars writing about the dynamics of social and political identity of a place over a time

period have for long neglected the analysis of small social units, local events and processes.

There has been a tendency to assume that the only social unit worth-studying is the largest units (Donham, 1986:94). The details of what happened in one small community were neglected and local events were generally undermined and regarded as determined by large

scale processes. Such an approach was particularly dominant among the historians and

ethnographers of the Ethiopia political and social histories. Recent approaches in ethno-

history have stressed the fact that every small social unit, every group and people has made

its own histories; they should not be necessarily analyzed in light of larger processes.

1. 3. General Background History Of Ethiopia

1. 3.1. Introduction Ethiopia is a country located in the horn of Africa northeast side. The country is bounded by the Sudan in the west, Eritrea in the north and north-east, Kenya in the south, Somalia in

the south-east and Djibouti in the east. Ethiopia has been known to the outside world as

Abyssinia, a name which apparently derived from Habashat`, one of the tribes that inhabited the Ethiopia region in the pre-Christian era`` (Bahru Zewdie 2002:1). The present

day Ethiopia is located between longitudes 330 and 480E and Latitudes 30 and 150N.

Ethiopia presents a mosaic of nationalities speaking a multiplicity of languages. Linguists have

divided these languages into four groups, three of them tracing a common ancestry to a

parent language called Proto-Afro-asiatic. The three language groups of the Proto-Afro-asiatic

family spoken in Ethiopia are known as Cushitic, Omotic and Semitic. Cushitic and Omotic

are the most ancient in the Ethiopian region; the Semitic languages are the most recent. A

forth group of languages belongs to an independent family known as Nilo-Saharan (ibid. p. 5).

1.3.2. The History of Ethno-historical Study of Ethiopia: Various

Images and Portrayals of Ethiopia and Its Peoples A conventional, popular version of the beginnings of Ethiopias history relates the folk-tale of queen of Sheba from Ethiopia visiting king Solomon of Israel in the 10th c. B.C is the

beginning. However, this view lacks many scientific credits. The beginnings of Ethiopians

history is to be found in pre-historic times far more ancient than is thought, based on the

archaeological and linguistic evidences (Bahru Zewdie, 2002).

The scholarly images of Ethiopia have been varying and never fixed. The most commonly

cited images included Ethiopia as an ethnic museum and Ethiopia as an outpost of Semitic civilization (Levin 1974). The common, conventional images of Ethiopia had also varying applications. According to Levin (1974:1), Ethiopia has been looked upon as a terribly remote land, a home of pristine piety, a magnificent kingdom, on out post savagery or a

bastion of Africa independence.

Although interest in Ethiopia by the outside world span as far back as ancient times,

foundations for the disciplined study of Ethiopian society and culture were laid by two sets

of travelers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. On several missions to Ethiopia sent

by the kings of Portugal and the popes at Rome, a number of Portuguese and Spanish

clergymen collected basic information on the languages, cultures and history of the country (Levin, 1974: 16).

By the early twentieth century, the study of Ethiopian culture had been institutional on a

modest basis in a small number of academic settings in Europe and the United States. First

through philology and history, then through archeology and anthropology and more

recently through political science, sociology and Economics.... (Ibid: 17). In all these, the

scholarly account of Ethiopian studies was fraught with assumption which led to the over-

emphasis of few people and ethnic groups and the neglecting of other groups (Ibid).

The first generation of Ethiopianist scholars essentially worked under the assumption of

Ethiopia as an outpost of Semitic civilization and saw their works as a branch of Semitic

studies. Hence, there was a huge Semitic bias which continued until another approach came

up, whose assumptions viewed Ethiopia as an ethnic museum. The phrase Ethiopia as ethnic museum was first introduced by Carlo Conti Rossini, an Italian scholar and diplomat. Thus argues Levin (op cit) The view of Ethiopia as a museum of peoples is implicit in the work of a number of anthropologists who have worked in the country. The chief assumption

associated which this view are (1) that Ethiopia is a country of extra-ordinary ethnic

diversity, and (2) that each of its divers peoples deserves to be studied intensively, on its

own terms, as bearer of a bounded system and a unique culture (Ibid: 20 ).

Ever since European travelers, adventurers and missionaries began coming to Ethiopia,

accounts of the peoples, geographies and cultures of Ethiopia began to appear. However,

the accounts were scanty at best. Even in those scanty accounts, the foreign writers

portrayed very ethnocentric and pejorative images of the peoples and cultures of Ethiopia,

particularly in the south. Almeda, the Portuguese missionary had described "barbarous

customs of some Ethiopian tribes notably the Janjero" (Levin 1973:10).

Even the often favorably described Semitic Amhara were not spared the ethnocentric

accounts of some European writers. According to Levin (ibid), for example, major Cornwallis Harris set the tone for [the ethnocentric] orientation in the 1840s by describing

the Amhara as "abject slaves to superstition" possessed by unscrupulous greed and

possessing, neither amusements nor intellectual resource... Such ethnocentric accounts of the Ethiopian peoples continued further in the 19th c. The writers declared Ethiopia to be

"an uncultivated mass of mingled race imbued with the characteristics distinguishing the

least civilized being" (Ibid: 11).

1.3.3. The Prehistory of Ethiopia in General and the Southwest in

Particular Scholars generally make conjectural statements when writing about the prehistory of

Ethiopia. Levine (1974:27) states very little is known about the prehistory of what he calls

greater Ethiopia as a whole. The question of how and where first emerged the various inventions and innovations such as agriculture, system of administration, technology, etc,

remain unanswered. These and many other questions about the origins and pre-histories of

the different Ethiopian peoples, their interactions, their population movements, etc, await

extensive archaeological, paleo-anthropological, anthropological- linguistics and other

scholarly researches.

However, according to Levin (1974:27) there are some established facts on the origins and prehistory of Ethiopia.

It does seem to be established that by the beginning of the late stone age, about 9000

B.C. there were at least two distinct tool making cultures in the area ... the human

remain associated with these industries appear to be of a long-headed type that has

been described as Afro-Mediterranean; there is no evidence of Bushmanoid or

Negroid populations in the area at that time. It is not clear when and by what

processes these early people turned from hunting and gathering to agriculture and

husbandry, but by the third millennium B.C. their successors must have done so. ...

Rock paintings of human and animal figures in Harerge and Eritrea provinces indicate

the domestication of cattle; and relics of hand axes, hoes, grinding stones and

decorated pottery attributed to the late third millennium B.C. in many parts of

western Ethiopian reflect the rudiments of agriculture.

There are also linguistic evidences to the origins and prehistory of the Ethiopian peoples.

Levin (ibid) states that the analysis of linguistic distribution suggests that "the proto-

Ethiopians of the third millennium B.C. spoke languages derived from a single stoke known

as Hamito-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic. In the 1950s it was established that Afro-Asiatic was the

ancestor of five major language families: ancient Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, Semitic and

Cushitic. More recent works by Harold Flaming and others indicate that there may be six.

What previously had been classified as the western branch of the Cushitic language should

be considered separate language family, one that has now been given the name Omotic.

Taking this linguistic evidence, Levine speculates that the present day southwest Ethiopia

may be the original homeland of the Afro-Asiatic and hence for Greater Ethiopia as all the

Omotic and nearly all of the many Cushitic languages are concentrated here.

1.3.4. Classifying the Peoples of Ethiopia To see the larger context in which the Baske need to be situated, it may be important to look at the various classifications of Ethiopian peoples. A number of classification

approaches have been used, and the classification depended on varying criteria such as

genetic, regional, religious, ecological, social structural. The idea of Ethiopia being museum

of ethnic groups in often narrated with a sort of clich. According to most accounts, there

are more than one hundred ethnic groups with in Ethiopia (Markakis, 1975; Levin, 1973).

Most of the ethnic groups are numerically small.

For our present purpose, the relevant means of classification is that which used genetic and

ethno-linguistic criteria. The most commonly accepted and popular way of classifying the

peoples of Ethiopia seems to be one which is based on ethno-linguistic criterion. Hence, we

have four major ethno linguistic groups on this criterion: Omotic, Semitic, Cushitic and

Nilo-Saharan. According to this classification, the Baske people belong to the Omotic group. However, in Levins work, the Baske are not the direct elements of the Omotic group; rather, they are the offshoots of the intermarriage between the proto-Omotic and

pre-Nilotic ancestors. This hypothesis, however, needs to be further verified.

1.3.5. The Importance of Inter-ethnic Relegations One of the dominant frameworks used by scholars when describing about the ethno-history

of peoples of Ethiopia is seeing the present people's identity as being shaped by inter-ethnic

relations. According to Levin (1974:40), After they had separated into different tribes with distinct cultures, the peoples of Greater Ethiopia did not live as discrete isolated units. For

the last two millennia, at least, they have been in more or less constant interactions through

trade, warfare, religious activities, migration, intermarriage, and exchange of special

services.

1.4. The Peoples of Southwest Ethiopia In the History of Ethiopia

1.4.1. Ethnohistorical Scholarship on Southern Peoples Ethno-historical accounts on the peoples historical identity are scanty at best. The question of the availability of written sources on these peoples is very difficult. When we come to

the Omotic group, there seem to be a serious under-representation of these groups. They

have not enjoyed the attention of the national and expatriate scholars. These groups are

even far more under-represented even when compared to the Cushitic groups such as

Sidama, Kambata, Boran, etc which have captured the attention of notable ethno-historians

and anthropologists. The peoples of Baske from Omotic groups have been basically forgotten; no focused major works have been made on these people.

1.4.2. Flaws of the Existing Scanty Accounts on These People While the more or less virtual absence of a focused major ethno-historic work on these

peoples is one thing; the acceptability, veracity and representativeness of the scanty existing

accounts itself is questionable. The Omotic groups in general and Baske and ethnic group in particular have been studied in piecemeal manner. The latter groups are particularly

described by ethnographers as passing remarks. The question is to what extent are the

existing scanty accounts on these peoples are truly representative in the sense that they

show the true images of the peoples? If some one of the writers was required to defend the

descriptions to the people themselves, to what extent would it be acceptable? This question

needs to be raised because in much of the existing ethno-historical accounts, there exist

incorrect and often derogatory descriptions of the peoples identities.

The story of the 'lesser' peripheral ethnic groups have not been told and in cases when it

was told, it was not often accurately told. It has remained to be told especially the stories of

Baske until today. These peoples whose stories have either been silenced or told in an un- representative manner have played their own roles in the making of the 20th c Ethiopia

(Donham, 1985:3). Donald Levine (1993, vii) argues, Ethiopias historic depth stands as a testimony to the centuries of experience in which peoples of differing language, religion,

regional identity and ethnic affiliation worked out the lineaments of a genuinely multiethnic society.

1.4.3. The Omotic People and the Beginnings of Southwest

Ethiopia History The Omotic speaking people derive their name from their location on both sides of the

Ommo River, situated exclusively in south-western Ethiopia. They have been distinguished

by two important features: the large-scale cultivation of ensete and the evolution of highly

organized politics`` (Bahru, 2002:7).

Recent archaeological findings in the Ommo valley support the depth of history in south-

west Ethiopia. The discovery of human skeletal dating very long years, the existence of

manifestations of pre-historic culture such as cave paintings, the domestication of plants and

animals, etc, attest to the beginning of prehistory to some six thousand years ago (Bahru,

2002:8).

The proto-Omotic linguistic groups, it is argued, had origins in Ethiopia as ancient as the 3rd

millennium B.C. According to Levine (1974:28), people speaking the Prot-Omotic language

and proto-Cushitic separated as groups with distinct languages by the fifth or fourth millennium B.C. and began peopling the Ethiopian plateaus not long after." Levine concludes

the prehistory and Ethiopia as follows.

As a baseline for reconstructing the history and Greater Ethiopia... we may consider it

plausible that by the end of the third millennium B.C. its main inhabitants were dark

skinned Caucasoid or "Afro Mediterranean" peoples practicing rudimentary forms of

agriculture and animal husbandry and speaking three branches of Afro-Asiatic:- Semitic,

Cushitic, and Omotic.

The proto-Omotic people groups of Ethiopia are thus, according to Levin, one of the five

core groups that constituted Ethiopia. "The Omotic speaking peoples settled in the

southwest practiced, the hoe cultivation of cereal grains and tubers and organized a number

of sacred monarchies. The most diversified of all the core Ethiopian population, they are

divided into about fifty small societies with distinct languages and cultures." (p29).

According to Huntingford, cited in Levine (1992:2), south-west Ethiopia was occupied by

the ancestors of the present day Cushitic and Omotic peoples (before the Oromo invasion

of the area). The first inhabitants of the area were believed to have been the Nilo-Saharans,

which Huntingford calls Negroes and gives the Amharic equivalent of the name Shanquilla.

However, this view negates with Levine (1974) who argued that the ancestors of todays Nilo-Saharan peoples of Ethiopia were pre-Nilots and Nilots who came to Ethiopia after the

Afro-Asiatic or Hamitic Cushitic groups- and interacted with them.

Huntingford argues that the early Hamites under which he includes the Sidama as a generic

term to cover all the south-western peoples came to Ethiopia prior to the wave of in-migration of the other Hamitic movement, the Semitic peoples. According to Huntingford,

the Sidama group is classified into six categories: (A) Sidamo, [Gedeo], Hadiya, Kambatta, Tambaro, Alaba, (B) Wolayta, Goffa, Kullo, Konta, Zala, Kuera or Baditu, Haruro, Kucha,

Gammo (C) aara (D) Basketo, Zaiyse, Doko (E) The Gonga groups: Kafa, Shinasha, Bosha or Garo, Mao or Anfillo, Sheka or Mocha (F) the Gimira group: Sheko, Benesho, She or

Dizu, Kaba, Nao, Mazhi or Maji (G) Yamma or Janjero. (Ibid. p. 3). Some of the terminologies here are outdated and derogatory.

1.4.4. How the Peoples` Ethnic Identity is Shaped and Affected by

Incorporation into the Central Rule The social and cultural identities of the peoples of the south and south-west have been

shaped negatively or positively by the politico-economic processes that began mainly with

Menlik II empire building marches to the south (towards the midlle of 1880s). The political,

socio-cultural and economic interactions between the ruling group and the minorities in the

periphery played significant roles. The interaction between the expanding imperial state on the other hand and the peoples of its new southern frontiers on the other . have shaped the present day society of places and peoples throughout the regions south of the old

Abyssinian kingdom and indeed far beyond the borders of the modern state (ibid. xiv).

1.5. The Baske In Ethiopian Ethnography The Baske are the least studied people in the ethnography and historiography of Ethiopia. The meager information that exists on them is made just as passing remarks by some

foreign ethnographers who were doing in-depth studies of other groups or doing some

other things. What follows is a scanty description made on the people.

The Baske are categorized in Bender (1976) under the North Omotic or Ometo language group. The local dialects of Baske language, which is their mother tongue, were identified Doko, or Dogo, Dollo and Dolla. (As shall be shown, our fieldwork does not reveal such

dialect differences in the Baske language.)

They are categorized in Cerrulli's ethnographic survey of the southwest Ethiopia under

what she called west Sidama or the Ometo group. The Baske are described as living on the bank of Ommo River between Dimme and Goffa (Cerrulli, 1956). The principal crops

grown in Baske are maize, millet, dates and coffee (ibid. 99). This Cerrulian literature again ignores the staple crop , the ensete false banana)

A 16thc. map of Ethiopia mentions the Baske as situated in its present day geographical location. The map was prepared by Donald Levine from the works of Almeida, the 16thc.

Portuguese missionary to Ethiopia

1.6. Issues Of Ethnic Identity Across The Various Regimes Of

Ethiopia: Policies Of The Governments

1.6.1. The Making of Imperial Ethiopia and the Incorporation of the

South-Western Peoples Existing literature show that the empire building agenda of the Ethiopia central government

efforts began with Thewodros II (r. 1855-68) and continued with Yohannes IV (r. 1871-89),

and finally culminated by Menlik II (r. 1889-1913) The late 19th c saw the vigorous process of

consolidating power at the center and the effort by Menlik was more or less complete by

the turn of 20th c ( Donham 1985).

The here-to-fore independent groups and kingdoms of these southwestern Ethiopian

regions were brought under the subjugation of Menlik II beginning from the 1880s. These people have thus more or less two distinct epoch of history: pre-incorporation and post-

incorporation. When we attempt to construct the ethno-historical identity of Baske therefore we need to the take into account these factors and processes which have shaped

the peoples history and identity.

1.6.2. Ethnic Identity Consciousness in Post-Dergue Era(1991 to the present) The period after 1991 has been a time of political change in Ethiopia. It encouraged a process of ethnification. This process revitalized all that is traditional and specific (Aadland, 2002:31).

There are obvious difficulties in nomenclature regarding the ethnic identification of the various ethnic groups in south and southwest Ethiopia. The Ethiopia constitution offers

similar definition to all the three terminologies. A nation, nationality or people is a group of

people sharing common culture, psychological make up, mutually intelligible language and

live in a definable, contiguous territory (The Ethiopian Constitution, Article 39(5)).

The languages of ethnic groups, as well as their cultures and histories were not given any

chances of development in pre-1991 Ethiopia. The language policies in pre-1991 Ethiopia

prevented the development of written forms of any Ethiopian Languages other than

Amharic (Cohen, 2006).

The demise of the Dengue Rgime has ushered in a new era for ethnic identity

consciousness in Ethiopia. In deed, the transformation that has taken place in the political structure of Ethiopia since 1991 has been both radical and pioneering, in the words of Turton (2006:1). It has been radical and pioneering since it elevated ethnic identity issue to

the highest standards in proffering each ethno-linguistic group fundamental rights of reclaiming, proclaiming and developing its identity, history, culture and language.

The heightened ethnic consciousness among the various ethnic groups in the country which now reigns high was stifled during the pre-EPRDF era. Such consciousness was very weak

during the Semitic domination. Due to the stupefying ideologies and systems, the people

held false consciousness and although the peoples no doubt retained a belief in the worth of

their own cultures, there seems to have been little development of a political critique of the

interior position they occupied vis--vis the Amhara " (Donaham, 1986:34). The lack of such

a reaction must have been related to the processes of incorporation themselves- the fact

that women of these groups often married Amhara and that men, particularly high status

men with land often become Amhara (ibid, p 35).

The idea of derogation endured by ethnic minorities following their incorporation which

lingered until 1991 was characterized by cultural superiority which was imposed on the

southerners. "The northern colonists viewed southerners as primitive, without culture and effective government; and a lazy, dirty and warlike heathen who needed the word of

God (Donham, 1986:41).

1.6.3. Nation Building or Nation Destroying? The case of pre -1991 Ethiopian state regimes in attempting to build a one-nation, one language nation was analogues to what some western nations did to the indigenous ethnic

minorities in the name of nation building. As Turton (2006: 3) argues, most modern western

states were built on the attempted destruction (in some cases going as far as genocide) of

any sense national identity amongst minority groups.

In pre-1991 era and following the incorporation of the ethnic minorities in to the central

state in the country, what may be described as `a near-nation-destroying was practiced by

the dominant groups. Minorities were not allowed to claim, proclaim and build up their own

ethnic identities, their histories, languages and cultures. In the name of nation-building, the

ideology, religion, language and institutions and histories of the ruling class were given

primacies over, and superimposed on, those of the minority groups. The experience of the

country has been comparable to nation-building in the west which typically involved the

imposition of the language and culture of the dominant group over the rest of the

population. Pre-1991 Ethiopia ``owes its existence to western style dominant group nation-building by an ethnonational group, the Shewa Amhara`` (Turton, 2006:4; Merera,

2006.)

1.6.4. The Context for and the Making of Southern History We need to put the ethno-history of the Baske in the general frameworks of the socio-political transactions that obtained in the 19th and 20th cc. Here the dynamic of the center-

periphery, dominant- minority transactions and linkages play crucial roles in the making and

remaking of the 19th c ethno-historical identity of the southern peoples in general and the

Baske in particular. As Donham (1986:44) argues this general context was a context in which southern peoples "struggled, acquiesced and simply lived their lives. Central

institutions and types of center-periphery linkages provide the background against which

southern history becomes intelligible." However, this context and process should not be

taken as the necessary and sufficient condition for the understanding of the ethno-history

and identity of the peoples. It covers just small portions of the vast history of the peoples.

With the downfall of the Imperial Rgime and notably following the demise of the Dergue

Rgime, renewed ethnic identity consciousness swept across the country, notably the here-

to-fore dominated groups of people in the south. The old notions of national identity and

consciousness of citizenship have replaced with new forms of national identity, with "new

notions of the worth of different cultures (Donham, 1986:48).

1.6.5. Abyssinanization of the Southern Peoples Donald Donham in his Southern Marches writes of what he calls as the Abyssinanization of

southern peoples. These process of Abyssinanization of the southern peoples began quite as

early as the late 10th century and which continued with intensity in the 19thc culminating in

the political domination of the peoples by taking over their lands and incorporating them. It

involved multiple events and phenomenon notably the social, cultural, linguistic and

ideological domination of the ruling class over the locals. It played important roles in

transforming the linguistic, ideological, and cultural map of the southern region, thus

creating its own imprint on the shaping of the ethno-historic identity of the southern

peoples.

The spread of rist system of land tenure, the spread of Amharic and the expansion of

Orthodox Christianity were the three components of the Abyssinanization processes which

have significantly affected the identity dynamics of the peoples of southwest Ethiopia.

1.6.6. Becoming Ethiopians Vs, Being a Particular Ethnic Group How do the southwestern ethnic groups view their identity in terms of being and becoming

Ethiopians? What is being an Ethiopian for them? Existing historiographical record show the

lesser ethnic groups of the south have `recently `become Ethiopians` (James, ibid.). Wendy

James puts become Ethiopians in quotations. It may be ambiguous, being open to interpretation. How are these peoples viewed in terms of their rights of Ethiopian identity

before they were incorporated in to the larger political system? Were not they Ethiopians

before?

When writing about the ethnic identity of a minority group in the context of the larger

Ethiopian societal context, it is difficult. There are varying views and understandings from

different angles. Outsiders may view it as becoming Ethiopian for the minority groups. This

assumes that they were outside of the mainstream Ethiopian society and thus were not

considered as Ethiopian in their identity. But what do the people themselves believe and

view about their own ethnic identity? What is `being` and `becoming` an Ethiopian to them?

How this is rated vis--vis being their own particular ethnic identities; example, being a

Baske? In any case, it is very important to give due regard to the peoples own understanding of their ethnic identity consciousness- first giving priority to what and how

they believe and know about their particular primary identity. Then the question of being

and becoming an Ethiopian comes next

CHAPTER TWO: GENERAL BACKGROUND OF BASKETO

2.1. Introduction In this Chapter, we will try to describe the general background and profile of Baske. Our description begins by mentioning the ethno-linguistic identity of Baske and followed by a number of important points such as location, geography, topography, administrative status,

demographics, social amenities, etc. But first we make a general introductory description of

the southern, Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional (SNNPR), the Region where

Baske is located.

A wikipedia source (http://en.wikipedia.org) opens its description of this Region by stating that

the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Regional (often abbreviated as SNNPR )

is one of the nine ethnic divisions (kililoch in Amharic) of Ethiopia. It comprises the former

Regions 7-11. Its capital is Hawassa. The SNNPR borders Kenya to the south, the Ilemi

Triangle (a region claimed by Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan) to the southwest, Sudan to the

west, the Ethiopian region of Gambela to the north, and the Ethiopian region of Oromia to

the north and east.

The SNNPRG, being an amalgam of the main homelands of numerous ethnicities, contains

over 45 indigenous ethnic groups. The 1994 census reported that the predominantly spoken

languages include Sidamigna (18%), Guragigna (14.72%), Wolayta (11.53%), Hadiyigna

(8.53%), Keffigna (5.22%), and Kembatigna (4.35%). Other languages spoken in the State

include Gamoigna, Mello, Goffa, and Gedeo; because of the relatively few number of

speakers of most of the languages in the region, the working language of the state is

Amharic (the most widely spoken language in Ethiopia and formerly the only official

language).

Map 1: Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's region.

(Source:http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Image:Ethiopia-SouthernNations, Nationalities-

and-Peoples.png

However, this internet source is not an updated one and in view of the relatively longer

period of time elapsing since 1994 (it is about 14 years), we expect significant variations and

growth in the statistic. The most recent national populating and housing census (2007) is

not yet accessible publicly and thus we could not include this most recent data here.

2.2 Basketo Special Woreda Basketo Special Woreda is one of the 134 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and

Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the Baske people, whose homeland lies in this Special Woreda. Basketo Special Woreda as an administrative unit was included within the

former Semen Ommo Zone and some internet sources use this data which they claim to have

taken from the CSA source. However, the Woreda has been restructured as a and granted a

Special Woreda status since 2001. As such Basketo as a "special Woreda", has maintained its

own administrative autonomy without being part any Zone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketo).

1 - Alaba SW2 2 - Amaro SW 3 - Basketo SW 4 - Bench Maji 5 - Burji SW 6 - Dawro

7 - Dirashe SW 8 - Gamo Gofa 9 - Gedeo 10 - Gurage 11 - Hadiya 12 - Keffa

13 - Konso SW 14 - KT 15 - Selti 16 - Sheka 17 - Sidama 18 - South Omo

19 - Welayita 20 - Yem SW

Map 2: Map of SNNPR depicting the zonal and Special Woreda SW) administrative divisions (Source:

Google Earth)

2 Special Woreda

Map 3: Map of Basketo Special Woreda (Source: SNNPR Livelihood Woreda Reports,

2005)

The Baske people are an Omotic-speaking ethnic group who were part of the former Semien (North) Ommo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region.

The Woreda is named after this ethnic group.

The Baske have belonged to the Ensete Culture Complex area in the southwest where the cultivation of this tuber crop has been dominant for millennia. They also cultivate ensete

and, additionally, tuber roots, maize, millet and vegetables. They also keep domestic animals

in small numbers.

As we will discuss in detail later in the appropriate section, the Baske were organized as a segmentary clan society headed by a divine king, the kati. According to a wikipedia web

source, the ethnic religion of the Baske knew a duality of the sky-god Tsosii (the proper term however is ossa and the earth-mother Qacharunde. Under Ethiopian rule they mostly adopted Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. However, the informants did not make any

mention of the name Qucharunde. Rather, this so-called earth mother was known be

another name, Enda-Gamonde considered as a female deity.

The Baske speak a family of Afro-Asiatic language family called the Omotic language. The language in a formal Amharic usage, Basketoa is basically akin to the Gammo Goffa dialect of the Omotic language group spoken in the former North Ommo Zone. Despite the

informants claimed a distinct linguistic identity for Baske, one could observe a close link between the Baske and the Gamo Goffa language. The language also has a distant affinity to the Wolayta language. I (as a native Wolayta) could make a sensible communication with

the Baske in many situations such as in markets.

2.2.1 Location, Topography, Agro-ecology and Social Amenities

Basketo Special Woreda is located some 564 k.m. from Addis Ababa and at a distance of 340

k.m. from Hawassa, the regional capital. The Woreda is bordered with Mello Woreda (of

Gamo Goffa Zone) in the north, Semen (North) Aarri Woreda (of South Ommo Zone) in

the south, Selamago Woreda of South Ommo Zone in west and Geze Goffa Woreda of

(Gamo Goffa Zone) in the east.

The highest altitude point in Baske is measured around 2500 meter. The highest peak is Tsite mountain (Interview with Mulu). The land and topography are characterized by steeply

mountains and gorges in between mountain ranges. The Woreda is characterized by roughly

divided into highland and plain agro-ecological zones; two major agro-ecological zones exist

in the land: zaree (Low land) and gheze ( High land). It has long period of rainfall about eight

months of the year.

2.2.2 Traditional Weather And Annual Calendars There are two main seasonal calendars in Basketo: bargi (summer, rainy season: from May

to September) and setta (winter, October to April). For example, the locals say bargi kabbi,

setta kabbi (meaning, summer maize, winter maize). The ancient Baske had their own annual calendars. Thus, the months of the year are the following: Guaa (September), Wogazza (October); Oydda (November), Ezina (December), Lftna (January); Odna

(February); Wozina (March); Gustama (April); Wutgama (May), Qorqata (June), Balbala (July),

Lamma (August) and Qogma (Pagumen).

The Baske indigenous day names included Aatabo, Giyabo, Yenta, Yenasa, Yemalqa, Yena, Yenena- seven days. Atabo means today or this day; Giyabo (Tomorrow), Yenta (the day after tomorrow), Yenasa (the day after the 2nd day), Yemalga (5th day), Yena (6th day) and

Yenena (7th day). It is like beginning from Monday. Moreover, the reference point is always

the day on which one stands. So any day could be Aatabo.

But these indigenous calendars have almost become museu