REVISITING THE “BLACK MAN‟S BURDEN”: ERITREA AND THE CURSE OF THE NATION-STATE by Aman Sium A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Aman Sium 2010 REVISITING THE “BLACK MAN’S BURDEN”: ERITREA AND THE CURSE OF THE NATION-STATE Master of Arts 2010 Aman Sium Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This thesis argues that the state apparatus has failed to provide Africans with a culturally compatible form of governance. The state is a product of colonial origin, and thus, has failed to resonate with Indigenous African spirituality, moral consciousness or political tradition. By grounding my argument in the Eritrean context, I make the case that the Eritrean state – not unlike other African states – is failing in three fundamental ways. First, it is oppressive towards Indigenous institutions of governance, particularly the village baito practiced in the rural highlands of Eritrea. Second, the state promotes a national identity that has been arbitrarily formed and colonially imposed in place of Indigenous ones, such as those formed around regional or linguistic groupings. Lastly, because the Eritrean state is a rather new phenomenon that suffers from a crisis of legitimacy, it inevitably falls back on processes of violence, coercion and control to assert its authority. ii Dedication For Africa‟s Indigenous nations, you are still the Dimtsi Hafash iii Acknowledgement It only seems fitting to begin by thanking my family. To my father Bairu, my mother Aster, and my sisters Sewit and Awet, thank you. I also owe thanks to my partner, Solome. All of whom have been patient and supportive collaborators along this turbulent journey. Thank you to George Dei, a scholarly giant in the field of Indigenous Knowledges and antiracist theorizing. Your work has inspired me to ask new questions about the world. Thank you to my second reader John Portelli for providing timely support and advice on improving my work. And of course thank you to my supervisor, Njoki Nathani Wane, for providing a model for my development both in and outside of the classroom. You have influenced me in more ways than I am able to cite here. You are a patient teacher, wise elder and dear friend. I see you. I humbly place myself at the continued service of Fanon, Makeba, Cabral, Awate and other revolutionary minds who gave their lives in pursuit of African liberation. They have taught me that the fight for Black/African liberation is an ongoing process, and although they had sacrificed greatly, there is still much more for present and future generations to sacrifice in its pursuit. I am especially indebted to the work of Basil Davidson. Davidson passed away while I was writing this thesis and I owe much of my conceptual foundation to his book, The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State (1992). Over the centuries many white missionaries, politicians, and scholars have exploited Africa for personal gain. Davidson was not one of them. He was an ally and friend to the continent and contributed to the theorizing of an Africa beyond the nation-state. I wish him well in his journey through the spirit world. Lastly, I owe my existence and well being on this earth to the Great Ancestors who came before me. Thank you for feeding my spirit with the wealth of knowledge and tradition. I live to honour you. iv Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Nature of the “Burden” ............................................................................................................................ 1 Personal Location and Rationale for the Study ........................................................................................ 3 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................................ 7 Organization of the Thesis ........................................................................................................................ 8 Definition of Terms, Names and Locations ............................................................................................. 11 Chapter Two: Literature Review................................................................................................................. 16 The Contentious Terrain of Political Historiography: Davidson versus Fukuyama .............................. 16 State Failure from Multiple Perspectives ............................................................................................... 20 Chapter Three: Discursive Framework: Towards an Anticolonial Indigeneity .......................................... 27 Chapter Four: From the Hamitic Myth to Heart of Darkness: Unlearning the Myth of an Africa Without History ........................................................................................................................................................ 42 Chapter Five: Indigenous Nations v.s. Colonial States: The Case of Tigrinya People in Eritrea ............... 50 Anatomy of the Village Baito .................................................................................................................. 50 Core Principles: enacting the spirit of Wefera and Adetatnan/Abotatna Kem Zemharuna ................... 59 Core Functions: the examples of the Tigrinya naming ceremony and conflict resolution ..................... 64 Re-asserting Indigenous Nationalism and Trans-territorial Identity ..................................................... 72 Resisting State Violence and De-Indigenization ..................................................................................... 96 Chapter Six: “Inventing the Future”: On the Crisis of Leadership... and Beyond .................................... 107 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 110 v List of Tables Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Justice Models Used by the Village Baito and the Dominant State vi Chapter One: Introduction Nature of the “Burden” In The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State, Basil Davidson argues that Africa‟s reliance on the state model is linked to the colonial notion that “nothing useful could develop without denying Africa‟s past, without a ruthless severing from Africa‟s roots and a slavish acceptance of models drawn from entirely different histories” (Davidson, 1992, 42). In his concluding chapter Davidson speculates that the young state of Eritrea, which had just completed a thirty year revolution at the time of his writing, would serve as a vanguard in a new wave of African governance. At the time of the book‟s publishing, Eritrea was described by the author as a site of “reasoned hope” (Davidson, 1992, 319). Davidson believed that the Eritrean People‟s Liberation Front (renamed the People‟s Front for Democracy and Justice following independence) would lead the young nation along a new course of accountable and transparent leadership based on Indigenous-styled self-reliance. The Front‟s leader-turned- President, Isaias Afwerki, was thought of as belonging to Africa‟s new generation of leadership. Unfortunately, it would not take long for Davidson to be proven wrong. Shorty after securing independence from the Ethiopian Derg led by Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Eritrean state would reproduce the same colonial relations of power it once fought against. Nineteen years later Eritrea has come to symbolize the final nail in the African state‟s coffin. It has failed to break from the dominant narrative of state failure in Africa. In its 2003 World Report, Human Rights Watch described Eritrea as “a country under siege – from its own government” (Mengisteab & Yohannes, 2005, 131). The national university has been closed in an attempt to stifle intellectual criticism of government, and a program of indefinite military conscription has denied the country‟s youth access to classroom education. Tactics of indiscriminate torture, sexual violence, and economic restrictions are commonly used against people who refuse to serve the state‟s wishes, and disproportionately include the disenfranchised and underclassed (Sium, 2010). Journalistic