IN PURSUIT OF AFAR NOMADS GLYNN Flood’S WORK JOURNAL AND LETTERS FROM THE FIELD, 1973 – 1975 [Edited by Maknun Ashami, Jean Lydall and Michèle Flood] HALLE (SAALE) 2018 MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY DEPartment ‘IntegraTION AND CONFLICt’ FIELD NOTES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS XXI MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMent ‘IntegraTION AND CONFLICT’ FIELD NOTES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS XXI In Pursuit of Afar Nomads: Glynn Flood’s Work Journal and Letters from the Field, 1973 – 1975 Published by Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale) P. O. Box 11 03 51 D - 06017 Halle /Saale (Germany) Phone +49 (0) 345 2927 0 http://www.eth.mpg.de ISSN 2193-987X Editors: Maknun Ashami, Jean Lydall and Michèle Flood Series Editor: Günther Schlee Assisted by: Viktoria Giehler-Zeng and Robert Dobslaw Cover Photo: Afar women moving her house, January 1975, © Glynn Flood Printed 2018 by Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale) © 2018 Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology TABLE OF CONTENTS Series Editor’s Preface ................................................................................ iv Preface (Michèle Flood) .............................................................................. v Introduction (Jean Lydall) ............................................................................ 1 Orthographic Note ....................................................................................... 5 Historical Sketch of the Lower Awash Valley up to June 1975 (Maknun Ashami) ........................................................................................ 7 WORK JOURNALS AND LETTERS FROM THE FIELD 1973 ........................................................................................................... 21 1974 ......................................................................................................... 126 1975 ......................................................................................................... 154 Hassan Abdulla’s Household ................................................................... 187 Letters to Hayward and Lewis ................................................................. 193 Glossary of ʿAfar Words .......................................................................... 205 Sources (CD: Glynn Flood’s Archive) .................................................... 209 Other Volumes in the Series ..................................................................... 210 SERIES EDITor’S PREFACE (GÜNTHER SCHLEE) ABOUT THE SERIES This series of Field Notes and Research Projects does not aim to compete with high-impact, peer-reviewed books and journal articles, which are the main am bition of scholars seeking to publish their research. Rather, contribu- tions to this series complement such publications. They serve a number of different purposes. In recent decades, anthropological publications have often been purely dis- cursive – that is, they have consisted only of words. Often, pictures, tables, and maps have not found their way into them. In this series, we want to devote more space to visual aspects of our data. Data are often referred to in publications without being presented systemati- cally. Here, we want to make the paths we take in proceeding from data to con- clusions more transparent by devoting sufficient space to the documentation of data. In addition to facilitating critical evaluation of our work by members of the scholarly community, stimulating comparative research within the institute and beyond, and providing citable references for books and articles in which only a limited amount of data can be presented, these volumes serve an important func- tion in retaining connections to field sites and in maintaining the involvement of the people living there in the research process. Those who have helped us to collect data and provided us with information can be given these books and booklets as small tokens of our gratitude and as tangible evidence of their cooperation with us. When the results of our research are sown in the field, new discussions and fresh perspectives might sprout. Especially in their electronic form, these volumes can also be used in the production of power points for teaching; and, as they are open-access and free of charge, they can serve an important public outreach function by arousing interest in our research among members of a wider audience. iv Series Editor’s Preface PREFACE (MICHÈLE FLOOD) Sometimes people have asked me: “Why are you still so hypersensitive about Glynn when, after all, you only shared five years of his life?” How can I ever explain? When Glynn was so savagely killed time became vertical for me. The few years we spent together in Ethiopia were a complete upheaval in my life. I arrived in Addis Ababa as the youngest teacher at the Lycée Guebre Mariam; I got married; had a child; experienced absolutely fulfilling emo- tions as regards the country, the people, and life altogether; and immediately this was followed by total chaos. Glynn and I were introduced to the Afar at the same time: ▫ in Addis Ababa through Sultan Ali Mirah’s family, whose eldest son, Ayda- his, entrusted me with first one and then another of his sons, young Ali Mirah aged 7 and Hanfare aged 4; ▫ in Asaita, where we were guests at the Sultan’s Bogaytu guesthouse, while exploring the area and visiting cotton farms. Glynn eventually met Hummad, at whose camp he was finally able to do serious fieldwork. Conditions were hard: heat, drought, illnesses – tuberculo- sis, malaria, brucellosis – which he was not adequately equipped to combat. He got ill with malaria and brucellosis, nearly died of the latter, but was determined to carry on undeterred. He learnt the Afar language, which he began to turn into a written language, and developed a passion for his work and the people he was studying, and for whom he developed a deep feeling of responsibility. My teacher’s salary, which was our only regular source of income, was far from being sufficient; Glynn’s grant was much too small, and by the time he had bought basic equipment – camera, tent, tape recorder – we had to live on Aydahis’ generosity. When the Ethiopian revolution started in 1974, things became more con- fusing, although we hoped a new and better era was on its way. But when Col. Mengistu1 came to power after the brutal execution of the appointed chairman of the Derg, Aman Andom, and 60 prisoners from the Ancien Ré- gime in November 1974, it became quite impossible to stay. Glynn, however, insisted on first trying to recover his materials – equipment and, more impor- tantly, field notes, photos and recordings, which were still in the field. But, it was already too late. It took me about 40 years to learn how to survive it all. I fled across the world, and only many years after settling down in France, was I able to open 1 Mengistu Haile Mariam became leader of a military junta, called the Derg, which overthrew the Imperial Regime of Haile Selassie. In Pursuit of Afar Nomads v the trunk which contained what Glynn had previously brought back home: field notes, work journal, letters, photos, dried plants … The shock was so brutal that it made me ill, even though I was in the presence of my friends, Jean and Ivo Strecker, who had come to visit me. The idea was to pass all the documents on to the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology where Günther Schlee had agreed to receive them. In September 2013, I wrote a letter to Günther letting him know that I was entrusting Jean Lydall-Strecker with Glynn’s materials. I also insisted that Maknun Ashami be involved in deciding how to make best use of the docu- ments. Jean and Maknun were close friends of Glynn in Ethiopia, and Jean as an anthropologist working in Ethiopia, and Maknun as an Afar with a doctor- ate on ‘The Political Economy of the Afar Region of Ethiopia’, seemed the most relevant and reliable persons for the job. Jean and Maknun have now done a thorough job of classifying, selecting and organizing these precious documents, which remain relevant not only for students of Afar pastoralism, but also for the study of fieldwork conditions and methodology. I would like to pay special tribute to Professor Günther Schlee and the Max Plank Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), without whom this work would not have been possible. vi Preface INTRODUCTION JEAN LYDALL GLYNN Flood’S ESTATE The origin of this volume can be traced back to a conversation I had with Günther Schlee in 2013 when travelling by car from Addis Ababa to Jin- ka in Ethiopia. We discussed whether large-scale irrigation schemes were more or less productive than the pastoralist economies they frequently dis- place. Günther mentioned recent research in the Awash Valley, undertaken by Behnke and Kerven, which suggested that pastoralism was at least as productive as cotton and sugar plantations (see Behnke and Kerven 2013). I pointed out that this echoed Glynn Flood’s opinion as expressed in his article ‘Nomadism & it’s Future: The ʿAfar’, which he wrote as a doctoral student in November 1974 while doing research in the Lower Awash Valley (see Flood 1975). Günther, who had not seen Glynn’s article, wanted to know more about his work. I explained that he lost his life when caught up in a conflict between the Afar and government forces in June 1975. We then won- dered whether his widow, Michèle Flood, would consider coming to the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology to talk about Glynn’s fieldwork. But when