Transforming Traditions: the Dynamics of Cultural Variation in the Gamo Highlands, Southwest Ethiopia
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TRANSFORMING TRADITIONS: THE DYNAMICS OF CULTURAL VARIATION IN THE GAMO HIGHLANDS, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA Dena Gail Freeman Department of Anthropology London School of Economics University of London A dissertation submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 1999 UMI Number: U120999 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL 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 complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U120999 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Th£S£S> F 703921 ABSTRACT This thesis is about cultural variation. Its ethnographic focus is the Gamo highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where there are two politico-ritual systems, one based on sacrifices and the other based on initiations. While the sacrificial system is remarkably homogeneous over the area, the initiatory system varies considerably. The central purpose of this work is to try to understand why these two systems exhibit such different degrees of variation in the same setting and among the same people. After describing the structure of the two cultural systems as they exist in the late twentieth century, the thesis examines some of the politico-economic changes that have taken place in southern Ethiopia over the past few centuries, and considers how some of these external changes would have led to internal cultural change in the highlands. It suggests that external changes are manifested as strains on certain social relations, evidenced as either interpersonal conflicts or communal misfortune, and that people try to resolve these strains through discussions at assemblies. The particular organisation of the Gamo assemblies facilitates decisions that lead to incremental cultural change. The thesis then argues that these incremental changes have various intended and unintended consequences in the different cultural systems. The ‘linked chain’ pattern of interconnections in the initiatory system leads to complex nonlinear behaviour such that small incremental changes produce dramatic structural transformation, while the ‘Russian doll’ pattern of interconnections in the sacrificial system leads to linear behaviour such that small changes have only small effects. The thesis therefore concludes that, although change in both systems has been driven by the same politico-economic factors, the form of change has been different due to their different systemic organisation, leading the initiations to transform rather more than the sacrifices. It is for this reason, then, that they exhibit such different degrees of variation. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Maps 7 List of Diagrams 7 List of Photographs 7 Glossary 9 Acknowledgements 13 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 15 1.1 The Problem 15 1.2 The Gamo Highlands 20 1.3 Fieldwork 24 1.4 Previous Studies of the Gamo Highlands 30 1.5 Approaches to Cultural Variation 33 1.5.1 Approaches derived from the Functionalist Tradition 34 1.5.2 Approaches derived from the Structuralist Tradition 41 1.5.3 Approaches derived from the Transactionalist Tradition 46 1.5.4 Synthesis and Discussion 51 1.6 Complexity Theory 52 1.7 The Structure of the Thesis 55 PARTI - SYSTEM AND HISTORY 57 CHAPTER TWO: THE GAMO HIGHLANDS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 57 2.1 Introduction 57 2.2 The Gamo Highlands in the Nineteenth Century 57 2.3 Incorporation into the Nation State of Ethiopia 61 2.4 The Imperial Era (1897-1973) 62 2.4.1 Political Changes 62 2.4.2 Religious Changes 65 3 2.4.3 Other Changes 71 2.4.4 The Previous Anthropological Studies in Historical Context 73 2.5 Revolution and the Derg Government (1974-1991) 74 2.6 1991 and After 79 2.7 Doko 1995-7 81 2.7.1 Cultural Life in Doko 82 2.7.2 Modernity in Doko 84 2.7.3 The House 85 2.7.4 Marriage 94 2.8 Concluding Remarks 100 CHAPTER THREE: THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM 102 3.1 Introduction 102 3.2 The Sacrificial System in Doko, 1995-7 102 3.2.1 Fathers and Sons 105 3.2.2 Household Heads and their Juniors 106 3.2.3 Bekesha Bair as and their Juniors 109 3.2.4 Lineage Heads, Clan Heads and their Juniors 111 3.2.5 E k’k’as and their Juniors 113 3.2.6 The Kawo and his Juniors 118 3.2.7 Summary 118 3.3 The Sacrificial System in Doko in the 1960s 119 3.3.1 Bekesha Bairas and their Juniors 119 3.3.2 Lineage Heads, Clan Heads and their Juniors 121 3.3.3 Summaiy 123 3.4 Variation 124 3.4.1 Demutsas 125 3.4.2 Maakas 126 3.4.3 Mountain Ek’k’as 128 3.4.4 Summary 129 3.5 Concluding Remarks 129 4 CHAPTER FOUR: THE INITIATORY SYSTEM 131 4.1 Introduction 131 4.2 General Principles of the Initiatory System 132 4.2.1 Initiates in Doko 132 4.2.2 The Role of the Halak ’a 133 4.2.3 Who becomes Halak 'a? 135 4.2.4 The Initiatory System and the Sacrificial System 138 4.3 The Form of the Initiations 142 4.3.1 The Masho Halak'a 143 4.3.2 The Halak ’a in the Deres of Doko Masho 159 4.3.3 The Halak ’a in Upper Losh 162 4.3.4 The Halak ’a in the Deres of Doko Gembela 167 4.3.5 Discussion 170 4.4 Concluding Remarks . 171 PARTII - SYSTEMIC HISTORY 172 CHAPTER FIVE: WAR, TRADE AND REGIONAL HISTORY 172 5.1 Introduction 172 5.2 The Gamo Highlands before the Sixteenth Century 174 5.3 Events of the Sixteenth Century 182 5.4 The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 186 5.4.1 Political Independence and Expansion 186 5.4.2 The Genesis of the Initiatory System 192 5.5 The Nineteenth Century 210 5.5.1 Political Devolution in the Northern Highlands 212 5.5.2 Political Devolution in the Southern Highlands 214 5.5.3 The Initiatory System 217 5.6 The Twentieth Century 218 5.7 Concluding Remarks 220 5 CHAPTER SIX: ASSEMBLIES AND INCREMENTAL CULTURAL CHANGE 223 6.1 Introduction 223 6.2 The Local Experience of External Change 225 6.3 Peace, Fertility and Reconciliation 229 6.4 The Assemblies 232 6.4.1 Non-Dere Assemblies 234 6.4.2 Dere Assemblies 240 6.4.3 Discussing Woga 245 6.5 The Outcomes of Assembly Discussions 251 6.6 Conciliar Organisation and Cultural Innovation 253 6.7 Concluding Remarks 259 CHAPTER SEVEN: LINEAR AND NONLINEAR CHANGE 261 7.1 Introduction 261 7.2 Transformation of the Initiatory System 262 7.2.1 A Comparison of the Doko Gembela and Doko Masho Initiations 263 7.2.2 From Warrior to Wife 268 7.3 The Initiatory System as a Complex Dynamic System 275 7.3.1 Critical Points, Positive Feedback and Structural Transformation 275 7.3.2 Sensitivity to Initial Conditions 281 7.4 Comparing the Sacrificial and Initiatory Systems 285 7.5 Concluding Remarks 287 CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSION 288 Bibliography 294 6 LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Location of the Gamo Highlands in Ethiopia. 17 Map 2: Distribution of Sacrificial and Initiatory Systems in Southwest Ethiopia. 22 Map 3: Doko in the Gamo Highlands. 25 Map 4: Major Trade Routes in the Fourteenth Century. 177 Map 5: The Oromo Migrations. 183 Map 6: Location of Gamo Deres. 189 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram 1: Doko and its Sub-divisions. 82 Diagram 2: House and Compound, Showing Cycles of Production and Consumption. 86 Diagram 3: Bekesha Bair as in Doko. 110 Diagram 4: Halak ’a Initiations in the Deres of Doko Masho. 161 Diagram 5: Halak ’a Initiations in the Deres of Doko Gembela. 169 Diagram 6: How Interpersonal Tensions come to be discussed in Assemblies. 227 Diagram 7: Initiations in Doko Gembela and Doko Masho. 264 Diagram 8: Structural Transformation I - From Warrior to Wife. 277 Diagram 9: Structural Transformation II - Positive Feedback Loops. 278 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS View over the Gamo Highlands. 18 Harvest Time in Doko. 18 Men Farming with a Work Group. 19 Woman Grinding Grain. 19 Almaz preparing Grain, with Wale’s Modem House in the Background. 26 Shagire, Wale and other Family Members at a Feast. 26 7 Houses in a Compound. 87 The Protestant Church in Doko Masho. 87 Entrail Reading at the Ek ’k ’as House on the Day of the First Sowing. 116 Making the Maggana Offerings. 116 Pots of Beer at the Beer Feast. 148 Drinking at the Beer Feast. 148 Erecting Bamboo Poles in the Halak’a’s Compound. 153 Presenting Butter to the Ades. 153 Halak ’a being helped with his Ostrich Feather. 154 Eating at the Seniors’ Feast. 158 Assembly Place (.Dubusha), with Stone Seats. 241 Halak 'as Blessing an Assembly. 241 8 GLOSSARY A Note on Transcription of Gamo Terms ch’,k ’,p ',t' and ts’ are all explosives (also in Amharic). d ’ is an implosive that has a sound between d and t. ? is a glottal stop. e at the end of a word is pronounced like the French e. Gamo Terms Ade Father, owner, boss. Also used to refer to initiated men. Angisa Lineage head. Atuma Type ofhalak'a in some deres. Ayle Slave. Bacha Site where offerings to ancestors are made.