Ethnicity and Political Identity: the case of the Gurage in Ethiopia
Seminar date:
19 April 2000
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* John Markakis |
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This seminar will discuss an interesting case of ethnic mobilization in a new political environment: the Gurage people of Ethiopia, a total of about 1,800,000 people. Since 1991, a new discourse on ethnicity and identity has been introduced in Ethiopia which poses new challenges to dispersed 'minorities' like the Gurage, a diffuse conglomerate of 'ethnic groups' speaking a variety of Semitic languages. A large number of Gurage are peasants, but they also form an important group of traders, entrepreneurs and middlemen active all over the country. The seminar will discuss issues of their ethnic identification, mobilization and entry into politics in the light of the new ethno-federal political system of Ethiopia. Those attending are kindly requested to read the following text, which will stand central in the discussion: J. Markakis, 'The politics of identity: the case of the Gurage in Ethiopia', in: J. Markakis and M.A. Mohamed Salih (eds), Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1998. Available at the ASC secretariat. |