The Rastafari Inethiopia: Challenges and Paradoxes of Belonging
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The Rastafari inEthiopia: Challenges and Paradoxes of Belonging Mahlet Ayele Beyecha The Rastafari in Ethiopia: Challenges and Paradoxes of Belonging Master Thesis in African Studies (Research) November 2018 Mahlet Ayele Beyecha s1880225 African Studies Centre, Leiden University The Netherlands Supervisor: Prof. Mirjam de Bruijn Second supervisor: Dr. Bruce Mutsvairo Third reader: Dr. Giulia Bonacci Word count: 91,077 (excluding cover pages and references) Cover photo: A photo of Eden Genet Kawintseb. Unless noted otherwise, all photos in this thesis, including the cover photo, are copyright Mahlet Ayele Beyecha. i “Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it is everything in between that makes it all worth living.” King of Reggae, Robert N. Marley ii Author’s statement This research thesis has been submitted in fulfillment of requirements for the (Research) Master of Arts in African Studies. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowed without special permission provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Extended quotations from or reproduction of this manuscript, in whole or in part, are subject to permission to be granted by the copyright holder. Signed: Mahlet Ayele Beyecha iii Declaration I certify that, except where due acknowledgemnt has been made, the work is that of the author alone, and has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award. The content of this Research Master Thesis is the result of work that has been carried out since the official commencement on August 1, 2017 of the approved research program. Mahlet Ayele Beyecha November 2018 iv Acknowledgments I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to all the individuals whose solidarity enabled this work to be completed. First, to the universe for the circle of life that allowed me to close this long due part of my life. To my supervisors: Professor Mirjam de Bruijn, thank you for believing in my crazy ideas. Above all, thank you for allowing me to be myself. This work has greatly benefited from you. Your very first comment, when I asked you doubting my style of writing after submitting the first write-up, was, “I think you should not be limited in any way in your way of writing.” Your words became a corner stone in the evolution of this work. I also would like to thank my co- supervisor, Dr. Bruce Mutsvairo, for his constructive suggestions, which were determinant for the work presented in this thesis. To my family, I am particularly indebted to my husband, Jahnoch Kock, for his unreserved and invaluable support; my ‘suns’, 'Zu-I-Lu and Alula Kock, from whom my parental attention was frequently diverted, while this work was in progress, but without whom this journey would not have been possible. I sincerely thank them all for bearing the pain with me. You were important to this work as much as I was. Writing a thesis on a topic close to heart is a surreal process. I want to thank Dr. Ongaye Oda for reading and editing the early drafts and final version of this thesis under extreme pressure of time. It is because of your efforts and encouragement that I have a legacy to pass on to the Rastafari community that embraced me with love. My special thanks to Ras Kawintseb Kidane Mihret Selassie, my mentor and godfather of my Rastafari way of life. I am obliged for his friendship and ideological firmness, for always pulling that thread of light, even when I did not believe in myself, for his infectious positive energy and the peace he brings with his presence, and for all those private lectures I got in many sleepless nights, when I was hosted by his family. Without Ras (as I often call him), this version of me would not exist, and, thus, this work would not have come into being. I would like to extend my gratitude to Mama Ijahnya, Ras Thau Thau, Ras ChaMuwari, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey, Jonathan Dyer, and Sister Welette, who tirelessly attended to my follow-up questions via social media after the fieldwork had been completed. My sincere gratitude also extends to everyone who made this research possible and whose contribution is extraordinary but I forgot to mention their names. I wish to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia for its unreserved support in arranging the interviews. My special thanks go to Ambassador Bogale Tolessa and Ato Tebikew Terefe. My gratitude also extends to the Immigration Authority of Ethiopia. These public institutions have defied the bureaucracy prevailing in the country and left me in awe. I wish, above all, to record my respectful thanks to the many Rastafari scholars, distinctly, to the loving Rastafari scholar sisters, Mama (Dr.) Desta Meghoo, Mama Ijahnya Christian and Sister (Dr.) Giulia Bonacci, who have changed the narrative of the patriarchal Rastafari and whose exemplary leadership and scholarship served as a driving force for the completion of this work. I thank the Rastafari community in Ethiopia, based in Shashemene and Addis Ababa, who were so very indulgent with me and showed me such great hospitality while I picked these flowers from the garden of their hard-pressed personal lives. v Finally, I shall never forget the repatriates in Ethiopia, survivors of the brutal ignorance of the Ethiopian government over half a century, whose lives were at a stand-still as they were being kept in limbo. In your persistence of calling Ethiopia home despite the challenges, you have showed me what true perseverance is. I salute you all! vi Dedication To my children, Zu-I-Lu and Alula Kock, who are growing in the Rastafari culture. To my husband, the father of my sons, Jahnoch, by whom my Rasta-womanhood has been guided to come to full growth, and for feeding me, in the nine years of our married life, with consciousness from his ceaseless search for truth. To Ras Kawintseb, godfather of my Rastafari way of life, mentor in the faith, and a friend to me and my family vii Note for Examiners In most cases, participants are identified by their real names, i.e., their Rastafari name. However, at times, I do not name the informant. I use “anonymous.” At other times, I use pseudonyms. In this respect, given the background story of the anonym or the pseudonym, you might have been introduced to her or him in other parts of the thesis. This is due to the precarious nature of the repatriates’ relation within the Ethiopian community hosting them and the government of Ethiopia. I consider it an ethical responsibility to ensure protecting research participants. I make sure that nothing I say in this thesis or what they say in the video jeopardizes their stay in Ethiopia. Should you have any doubt or question of verification on the audiovisual, I am happy to show the material prior to publication. Throughout the thesis, you will read Rastafari language, known as dread talk, and Amharic language. Where a word or a phrase in these languages appears for the first time, I provide the translation in brackets and in the footnotes. For further reference, I have also included a glossary at the beginning of the thesis. In Rastafari women are referred as sistren, empress or Mama for elders, while men are referred as brethren and Ras prior to their names. Similarly in this thesis, you may find sistrens used as Sister or Mama to same names. For instance Sister Ijanya is referred both as sister and Mama Ijannya. This research is carried out amid the ongoing issue of the the legality of the Rastafari community in Ethiopia (see Chapter Six). Some of the community members have the Ethiopian national Identifcation card by the time this work is finalized. However others still remain without the Identifcation card. In this regard, the research is based on the data collected from August 1, 2017 to August 2018. The first six month from the field followed by online communication with the members. The short videos are combined together to tell the story in the text and will be presented in CD with the print version of this work. Moreover, the videos will be inserted in their arppropriate pages within the text when published online. List of the videos are provided at the end of the thesis with respective page numbers in the text and with the topic of interviews and footages related to the research. For smooth reading of the work, the video list within the text are removed. List of figures, tables and abbreviations are moved at the end of the thesis as per discussion with the supervisor. viii Contents Author’s statement .......................................................................................................................................... ii Declaration ....................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................................................... vi Note for Examiners ....................................................................................................................................... vii GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................................ xii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................