THE SOCIAL REPRODUCTION OF JAMAICA SAFAR IN SHASHAMANE, ETHIOPIA Shelene Gomes A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2011 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2548 This item is protected by original copyright The social reproduction of Jamaica Safar in Shashamane, Ethiopia Shelene Gomes PhD Thesis Submission 2011 Social Anthropology University of St Andrews 1. Candidate’s declarations I, Shelene Gomes, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 73,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September, 2007 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in September, 2007; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2007 and 2011. Date 17th October 2011 Signature of candidate 2. Supervisor’s declarations I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date 16-Nov-11 Signature of supervisor 3. Permission for electronic publication (To be signed by both candidate and supervisor.) In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the University of St Andrews. Date 17th October 2011 Signature of candidate Signature of supervisor 3 Abstract Since the 1950s, men and women, mainly Rastafari from the West Indies, have moved as repatriates to Shashamane, Ethiopia. This is a spiritually and ideologically oriented journey to the promised land of Ethiopia (Africa) and to the land granted by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I. Although migration across regions of the global south is less common than migration from the global south to north, this move is even more distinct because it is not primarily motivated by economic concerns. This thesis - the first in-depth ethnographic study of the repatriate population - focuses on the conceptual and pragmatic ways in which repatriates and their Ethiopian-born children “rehome” this area of Shashamane that is now called Jamaica Safar (or village in the Amharic language). There is a simultaneous Rasta identification of themselves as Ethiopians and as His Majesty’s people, which is often contested in legal and civic spheres, with a West Indian social and cultural inscription of Shashamane. These dynamics have emerged from a Rastafari re-invention of personhood that was fostered in West Indian Creole society. These ideas converge in a central concern with the inalienability of the land grant that is shared by repatriates, their children, and Rastafari outside Ethiopia as well. Accordingly, the repatriate population of Shashamane becomes the centre of international social and economic networks. The children born on this land thus demonstrate the success of their parents’ repatriation. They are the ones who will ensure the Rastafari presence there in perpetuity. 4 To Charmaine and PI 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 9 Figure 1. Map of Ethiopia 10 Figure 2. Map depicting the location of Shashamane in relation to 11 major rivers and in Oromiyya Region Figure 3. Map showing the area of Jamaica Safar, kebele 12 (sub-district) boundaries and the front page Introduction Part I: the research question 13 Outernational ties: IandI and repatriation 23 Ethiopianism, Rastafari and the Jamaican shituation 28 Introduction Part II: Jamaica Safar and Shashamane 36 Shashamane/Shashemene 39 The repatriate population of Jamaica Safar 42 The land grant, Houses and periods of repatriation to Shashamane 46 Methodology: doing ethnographic research on the land grant 53 Chapter 1 “His Majesty’s People”: narratives of community and 59 personhood “His Majesty’s people’: charter myths 65 Contradictions and ambiguities: rights to belong 72 Contradictions and ambiguities: reclaiming blackness 77 Inalienability of the land, visitors, and pilgrimage 80 6 Elders, pioneers and being heartical 86 “The generation born on the land grant” 92 Chapter 2: Making a living (outer)nationally in Shashamane 97 Household earnings: waged labour and sexual divison of labour 107 ‘The Western Union run’: transnational monetary transactions and 115 “helping out IandI” Work and social relations 121 Goods to Shashamane and to foreign and status 127 Seasonal residence and repatriation 132 Migration following repatriation 136 Chapter 3: Sighting Rastafari: word-sound-power 143 Sighting and knowing 147 Knowing your Bible and coming to consciousness 151 Testing knowledge of the Bible 159 Rasta speech and the word 164 Chanting the word 167 Chapter 4: Jamaican yards: family, household and ‘ethnicity’ 175 Household composition 179 Household division of labour and child rearing 186 Motherhood and Jamaican and Ethiopian womanhood 189 Fatherhood and Jamaican and Ethiopian manhood 194 Young Jamaican men and women: the yard and ‘ethnic’ identification 199 7 Chapter 5: Ethiopian-ness and citizenship 208 Citizenship as concept 213 Legal citizenship: implications for residence and betterment 216 “The generation born on the land grant” and subjective faces of citizenship 220 Local development and planning: land use and ‘ownership’ 228 Local relations with babylon: interactions with police and judiciary 233 Local Shemagleh: another judicial route 240 Conclusion 244 Citizenship 246 Further directions for research 249 Bibliography 251 8 Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the willingness of IandI in Shashamane with whom I interacted regularly and who, despite a chequered history with researchers, still gave of themselves. Their courage, tenacity, and pragmatism I respect immensely. I must especially thank my adopted family in Shashamane who took me in as one of their own for an entire year (I await your critiques of the dissertation)! The University of St. Andrews Centre for Amerindian Studies in the Department of Social Anthropology partly funded this research and a Russell Trust grant from the University assisted with fieldwork. My gratitude goes to my supervisor, Huon Wardle, who gave generously of his time and expertise, and to the academic and administrative staff of the department and beyond. I must also acknowledge my parents whose unfailing intellectual, economic, and day to day support I value immensely. Their analysis of and involvement in the struggles for independence and autonomy of our Caribbean region has long fostered my awareness of the crucial yet ambivalent role of the region to modern industrialisation and capitalism, the legacies of which we, as Caribbean peoples, have grappled with and continue to, sometimes with fortitude, of which Rastafari is one example, and at other times misguided by petty factionalisms. 9 Figure 1. Map of Ethiopia 10 Figure 2. Map depicting the location of Shashamane in relation to major rivers and in Oromiyya Region 11 12 Figure 3. Map showing the area of Jamaica Safar in blue, 01 (Awasho) Kebele, 10 (Alelu) Kebele and 02 Kebele where the town’s administrative offices (the Municipality) are located in ink and the front page in yellow Introduction Part I: the research question This thesis is an ethnography of the repatriate population of the area known as Jamaica Safar or Rasta Safar (village or neighbourhood) in Shashamane, Ethiopia. It focuses on how these repatriates, who are mainly from the West Indies, create and sustain this locality thereby carving out a literal and conceptual place for themselves and their families in Ethiopia. The themes of economy, society, kinship and politics are examined in order to frame the social and subjective ideas about individuals and about communities held by repatriates and their locally-born children. Since Shashamane is neither a typical migration destination for West Indians, nor is their motivation primarily an economic one, this movement must be considered in terms of Rastafari worldview. Most repatriates in Shashamane are Rastafari (Rastafarian) men and women from Jamaica who settled there in the 1970s. They call themselves “repatriates” since they have returned to what is considered the “home,” “homeland,” and for some Rastafari the “promised land” of Ethiopia