Awra Amba, a utopia between myth and reality Robert Joumard To cite this version: Robert Joumard. Awra Amba, a utopia between myth and reality. [Research Report] University Gustave Eiffel. 2021, pp.162. hal-03199059v2 HAL Id: hal-03199059 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03199059v2 Submitted on 5 May 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Robert JOUMARD Awra Amba, a utopia between myth and reality May 2021 Awra Amba, a utopia between myth and reality Robert Joumard is emeritus senior scientist, University Gustave Eiffel, France. Contact:
[email protected] Summary This is mainly a review of the 30 available research works on the Ethiopian utopian community of Awra Amba, complemented by the analysis of information provided by the community itself. It al- lows us to present the seeds and then the tormented historical evolution of this community founded in 1972 by a small group of illiterate peasants around one of them. Then, we present the main fea- tures of its culture, its values, the mechanisms implemented in order to respect them and the degree to which these values are respected: its well known gender equality, solidarity, golden rule (honesty, refusal of addictions, mutual respect, children’s rights), democracy, and eventually the value of work.