Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Doing development and being Gurage : the embeddedness of development in Sebat Bet Gurage identities Thesis How to cite: Henry, Leroi Wendel (2002). Doing development and being Gurage : the embeddedness of development in Sebat Bet Gurage identities. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2001 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000e344 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk UTSi11CTT Doing development and being Gurage: the embeddedness of development in Sebat Bet Gurage identities Leroi Wendel Henry BA (Hons.) A Thesis Submitted to the The Development Policy and Practice Discipline Faculty of Technology Open University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2001 c ç 3c c- I Pe'Qu t&-1 o Acknowledgements I would firstly like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Hazel Johnson and David Turton and my mentor David Wield for their advice, enthusiasm, continual support and patience during this project. I thank everyone in DPP and CCC for providing a stimulating and helpful environment in which to undertake research. Special thanks go to Seife Ayele, who provided advice on research in Ethiopia and sparked my interest in the Gurages and to Stephen Potter and Roger Spear for co-ordinating the CTS doctoral training programme. Thanks to the Open University Research School who provide a supportive environment for doctoral scholarship. I would also like to thank everyone at the Institute of Development Research and the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Addis Ababa, especially Yared Amare and Allula Pankhurst for their support and advice. Thanks to the Zone, Worreda and Peasant Association officials in Gurageland who, without exception, co-operated with this research. Special thanks go to all the people who have collaborated with this project, especially the activists in GPSDO and the Enamor and Moher & Akilil sub-committees whose commitment to their communities inspired this work. Thanks to all the informants in Addis and Gurageland who gave up so much of their free time to enlighten an ignorant ferangie. This thesis would not have been possible without the dedication, hard work and patience of my research assistants. Thanks go to all my friends and family, especially my partner Sara who have coped with my long absences and have supported me over the last four years. a -1 i1;; 2002 Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Open University generously funded this scholarship. DON'TION 2.2.2 Participation . 21 2.2.3 Accountability...........................................................26 2.2.4 Effectiveness............................................................29 2.3 The role of indigenous NGOs in civil society.............................31 3 Ethnicity and development.............................................................37 3.1 The main currents in thinking on ethnicity................................37 3.1.1 Essentialism..............................................................37 3.1.2 Instrumentalism.........................................................39 3.1.3 Constructivism...........................................................40 3.2 The ethnic gap in the development discourses..........................47 3.3 Ethnicity and the state in post-colonial Africa...........................51 3.4 The uses of ethnicity as an analytical concept...........................53 4 Conclusions: conceptualising the relationships between ethnicity anddevelopment ..........................................................................55 Chapter 3 Methodology and methods IMethodological standpoint.............................................................61 2 The case study and locations.........................................................63 2.1 The case study......................................................................63 2.2 Locations..............................................................................67 2.3 The impact of the researcher on identities................................70 3 Informants....................................................................................73 3.1 Selection of informants..........................................................73 3.1.1 Urban informants.......................................................73 3.1.2 Rural informants........................................................75 3.2 The missing voices................................................................77 4 Data collection methods.................................................................80 V 4.1 Methods 80 4.2 The absence of PRA and survey methods.................................83 4.3 Research assistants...............................................................85 4.4 Gender.................................................................................87 5 Ethical issues...............................................................................88 5.1 Sensitive issues....................................................................88 5.2 The contribution of the research.............................................90 6 Conclusions................................................................................91 Chapter 4 The social world of the Gura ge migrant and conceptions of civic virtue IIntroduction..................................................................................92 2 Rural institutions..........................................................................93 2.1 Shango.................................................................................93 2.2 Idir.......................................................................................94 2.3 Senbete and Mahber..............................................................95 3 The causes of Gurage migration.....................................................95 3.1 Push factors..........................................................................95 3.2 Pull factors............................................................................96 3.3 Patterns of migration..............................................................97 4 Rights and obligations of migrants.................................................101 5 Urban institutions.........................................................................108 5.1 Idir.......................................................................................109 5.2 Ikube...................................................................................112 6 Conclusions: analysing migration and understanding Gurage conceptionsof civic virtue.............................................................114 vi Chapter 5 Sebat Bet Gurage perceptions of development IIntroduction..................................................................................120 2 Sebat Bet Gurage perceptions of the purpose of development................................................................................121 2.1 The impact of migration on perceptions of development.............123 2.2 Development to facilitate Gurage migratory survival strategies..............................................................................124 2.3 Migration and the modernisation of Gurageland........................129 2.4 The modernisation of Gurage migratory survival strategies........132 2.5 Gurage perceptions of the appropriate location of development..........................................................................135 3 Indigenous Gurage approaches to development as a construction of publicaction and civic virtue...........................................................138 3.1 Development must produce tangible benefits for the rural community............................................................................141 3.2 Development is confined to activities that take place in the publicsphere........................................................................143 4 The relationships between Gurage cultures and development.............146 4.1 The relationship between culture and development in the developmentdiscourses.........................................................147 4.2 Insider views: Gurage perceptions of culture.............................148 4.3 The role of indigenous knowledge............................................150 4.4 Culture as a barrier to development and a resource for social transformation.......................................................................151 5 Conclusions.................................................................................154 6 Post script: internal contestations of the Gurage development discourses...................................................................................156 VII Chapter 6 Legitimacy in Gurage development associations IIntroduction..................................................................................159 1.1 Respect, authority and leadership within the rural Sebat Bet Guragecommunity...............................................................161 2 Participation in development..........................................................162