IDENTITY AND OPPORTUNITY : The Implications of using local languages in the primary education system of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia. by Gideon P.E. Cohen submitted for the degree of PhD in the University of London. School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), London University. ProQuest Number: 10673251 All rights reserved IN F O R M A T IO N T O A LL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673251 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The thesis concerns the reactions of groups of people to the introduction of local languages into the primary education system in Ethiopia. The changing patterns of language use in education come in response to the language policies of the Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia, which were first introduced in 1991. The geographical area under consideration is the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Eight local languages, spoken by the most populous groups of people in the region, are now in use in the primary education system. Some areas of the region have, however, continued to use Amharic, the national language, in primary schools. The field-work discusses the patterns of language use in education, and attitudes towards language use, in areas where local languages have been introduced, and those where Amharic is used. The thesis considers the wider implications of the reform for the peoples of the SNNPR, and, in furtherance of this objective, an attempt is made to place the reform in its historical context. That historical context includes the development of government language policy and the historical patterns of language use in the Ethiopian state, as well as the history of the peoples of the south-west of the country. The reform raises questions which concern identity and opportunity, for the peoples of the south-west of Ethiopia, considered as whole units, and for the individuals who belong to these groups of people. The reform also has profound implications for the status of these groups of people in the Ethiopian state. Opinions about the implications of this reform vary considerably, and the questions addressed by the field-work are a subject of importance in current political debate in Ethiopia. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the professional help of the following people in Ethiopia ; Ato Kebede Sima, Ato Daniel Kabiso, Ato Getachow Mamo and Ato Bahru Shikur of the ICDR in Awassa, without whose help the field-work would not have been achieved in such a straightforward and uncomplicated manner. Dr. Linda Pursely of the BESO Project, Awassa. Miss Mary Breeze and Miss Lydia Hoeft of the SIL. Dr. Baye Yimam and Ato Takkele Taddese, of the Linguistics Department, AAU. Ato Teshome Yehualashet, formerly of the Ministry of Culture, now AAU, who took a particular interest in the topic. Ato Daraja Tefera and Ato Kedir Ibrahim of the central offices of the ICDR in Addis Ababa. Ato Rezene, of the British Council, Addis Ababa. The facilitators from the zone and woreda offices of the SNNPR who participated in the field-work. Particularly Ato Phillipus Paulos of the ICDR, K.A.T. zone, Durame, and Ato Tesfaye Lankamo of the ICDR, Sidama zone, Awassa; both of whose contribution to the field-work was immense. The school principals, teachers, students and parents who were interviewed during the field-work; without whose frankness in discussing the issues of language use the thesis would have had no depth. I would also like to thank my translator, and travelling companion, Mr. Norval Marshall, of Shashemene, Ethiopia. In the U.K. I wish to thank my supervisor, Professor R.J. Hayward, and Dr. D. Appleyard of the Africa department, SOAS, London University, and Dr. Ondine Barrow of the Welcome Unit for the history of Medicine, Oxford. 1 would also like to thank the following people for the immeasurable personal assistance and encouragement they have given me during the course of researching and writing this thesis; Mr and Mrs Donald and Lorna Davidson and family in Addis Ababa, Miss Lorraine Clarke and family, Mr Desmond Martin and family, Mr. Donald Leech and family, Mrs. Janet McLoughlin and family and all the families of the settlement, Shashemene. 3 The staff of the Unique Park Hotel in Awassa. In the U.K. 1 wish to thank; David Wolton and Suke Wolton; my father, Jerry Cohen, for his help and encouragement especially in writing the Chapters of this thesis; my mother, Maggie Cohen, who has been a constant source of support and encouragement throughout; and Carol, who has been there throughout and who experienced some of the harsher moments of the field­ work. I would also like to thank Miriam and Sarah, Naomi and Talitha, Yazzmin and Zechariah. And, finally, Dr. Vernon Carrington, of Jamaica. I would like to dedicate this thesis to the peoples of the SNNPR who provided its subject matter, and in particular to the Kembatas of the Rift valley who, in the early-1990s, first stimulated my interest in Ethiopia’s south-west. 4 CONTENTS Abstract p2 Acknowledgements p3 Contents p5 Introduction : What is Kembata? p7 What is an ethnic group? A definition for this thesis. p11 The development of the topic: Approaches. p25 The development of the topic: Sources. p29 Methodology of the field-work. p39 Chapter One : A history of contact between the Ethiopian state and the south-west. p46 Politics and historical writing. p46 Patterns of contact and government. p51 Early contact from the fourteenth century to the sixteenth century. p55 Northern domination in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. p59 Chapter Two : A history of state language policy in Ethiopia. p78 Language use and language policy in Ethiopia. p78 The establishment of an Amharic-speaking state in the nineteenth century. p79 Haile Sellassie’s government: Centralism and broad Amharization. p80 The Derg: Centralism and veiled Amharization. p88 Chapter Three : Geopolitical and linguistic reform in Ethiopia in the 1990s. p97 A brief history of Ethiopia’s geopolitical divisions. p97 Geopolitical reform under the government of Meies Zenawi. p99 Language planning issues in Ethiopia in the 1990s. p105 Languages in education in Ethiopia in the 1990s. p 115 The political and social implications of the new language policy. p 120 Chapter Fo u r: The development of local languages in the SNNPR. p 128 Chapter Five : The geographical distribution, and population characteristics of groups of people in the SNNPR. p 153 Chapter Six : The eastern highlands; the Sidama and Gedeo zones. p180 The urban/rural dichotomy of attitudes towards language use. p180 Schools in the larger urban centres; Awassa and Dilla. p185 Schools in medium sized towns; Yirga Alem and Yirga Chefe. p 195 Rural schools in the eastern highlands. p201 Conclusion. p210 Chapter Seven : The western highlands ; the K.A.T. and Hadiya zones. p212 Literacy rates and the language of education. p 21 2 Schools in Durame. p214 5 Rural schools in Kembata and Hadiya, p222 Schools in Alaba. p233 Conclusion. p240 Chapter Eight: Peoples of the Ometo cluster; North Omo zone. Problems of diversity. p243 Schools in Walaita. p244 Schools in Gamo and Gofa. p249 Conclusion. p255 Chapter Nine : The Gurage zone. Contrasting patterns of contact. p257 Conclusion. p266 Conclusions : Language, identity and the state. p267 Glossary p283 Bibliography p 284 Appendices Appendix One - Maps p300 Map One: Political divisions; Haile Sellassie’s government. p301 Map Two: Political divisions; Meles Zenawi’s government. p302 Map Three: The distribution of languages in Ethiopia. p303 Map Four: The distribution of languages in the south-west. p 304 Map Five: The political divisions of the SNNPR (zones). p305 Map Six: The political divisions of the SNNPR (woredas). p 306 List of woredas and woreda capitals. p307 Map Seven: Rivers, roads and towns in the south-west. p308 Appendix Two - Language Charts p309 Chart One: The Ethio-Semitic language family. p 3 1 0 Chart Two: The Cushitic language family. p 3 1 1 Chart Three: The Omotic language family. p 31 2 Chart Four: The Nilo-Saharran language family. p 31 3 Tables ( all contained in Chapter Five) Table One: Groups of people with populations over 30,000 in the SNNPR. p 1 58 Table Two: Population, education and literacy in the SNNPR. p 1 60 Table Three: Language use in primary education in the SNPPR. p162 Table Four: Population size of areas covered by field-work. p 163 Table Five: Education in the areas covered by field-work. p 1 66 Table Six: Literacy in the areas covered by field-work. p 169 Table Seven: Population and literacy rates; in larger towns covered by field-work. p 1 73 6 Introduction What is Kembata? The Background of the Research Topic. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, during the final years of the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile-Mariam, I visited parts of the Rift valley in southern Ethiopia, in the former provinces of Shoa and Sidamo. The geographical area was one of stunning contrasts. The Rift valley floor was hot, dry and arid, some areas were almost desert. On the slopes, at the edge of the Rift valley, the land was fertile, and agricultural: green fields of cereal crops dominated the landscape.