13 research outputs found
Folk-fairs and Festivals
FĂȘtes populaires et festivals. PrĂ©servation culturelle et formation de lâidentitĂ© nationale en ĂrythrĂ©e. â LâĂtat dâĂrythrĂ©e promeut les fĂȘtes populaires et les festivals afin de mettre en Ćuvre sa politique dâ« unitĂ© dans la diversité » et de crĂ©er lâinteraction et la cohĂ©sion dans la population. Ces manifestations rĂ©gionales et nationales offrent un terrain dâinteraction entre les communautĂ©s locales et lâĂtat oĂč celles-lĂ attendent des bĂ©nĂ©fices Ă©conomiques de celui-ci et, inversement, oĂč lâĂtat tente de rendre populaires ses politiques de pluralisme culturel et de tolĂ©rance en encourageant lâarticulation de traditions culturelles locales pour rĂ©aliser lâintĂ©gration nationale. La mise en scĂšne de la culture locale a donc toujours une dimension nationale et peut avoir un impact important sur la prĂ©servation culturelle et la formation dâune identitĂ© nationale. Cet article sâintĂ©resse Ă la maniĂšre dont lâĂtat promeut lâunitĂ© nationale en sâappuyant sur lâexemple du festival Eratra.The state of Eritrea promotes folk-fairs and festivals in order to facilitate its âunity in diversityâ policy, and create communal interaction and cohesion among its peoples. These regional and national folk-fairs and festivals provide a ground for interaction between local communities and the state in which local communities expect economic benefits from the state and, conversely, the state attempts to popularise its policies of cultural pluralism or tolerance to multiculturalism by encouraging the articulation of local cultural traditions in terms of national integration. The staging of local culture therefore always has a national dimension, even when the expressive and material culture is of local origin, and can be an important factor in cultural conservation and national identity formation. The article looks at how state policy fosters national unity while respecting cultural diversity using the annual Festival Ăratra as a case in point
SĆ«fism and Syncretism in North-Eastern Ć Ă€wa
SĆ«fism in north-eastern Ć Ă€wa, as in Sunni Islam elsewhere, is a mystical movement that emphasises the intermediary role of holy men or saints and is aimed at gaining a closer connection to and higher knowledge of AllÄh by its male adherents who perform rituals collectively in brotherhoods or fraternities. Moreover, the shariâÄ-minded Islam is concerned primarily with the well-being of the Islamic body politic while SĆ«fism in the abstract represents concerns that are typical of the social and ..
The Argobba of Ethiopia are not the Language they Speak
The Argobba of southeastern WĂ€llo and northeastern Ć Ă€wa live amongst and speak the languages of the Amhara and the Oromo with great ease as if they are members of these ethnic groups. For them Amharic and Afaan Oromoo are the languages of administration and market transaction and therefore important for Argobba survival in a region domi-nated by these two ethno-linguistic groups. Yet the Argobba I met in these lands identified themselves as Argobba, and they were known as such, despite the fact that several of them had Amharic or Afaan Oromoo as their first language. The central claim of this article is therefore that the Argobba of this region define themselves as Argobba based on their traditions, customs, beliefs, values, and total cultural practices and not on the basis of who can or cannot speak the Argobba language
Jeberti Women TradersâInnumeracy
AbstractThis study examines critically how cultural traditions of counting and calculating effect normal transactions among illiterate (innumerate) women traders and peasant customers in and around the market places of Mendefera and Ăddi Khwala in Eritrea. It looks at how non-written or orally transmitted numerical systems help women traders in business operations, and how such systems make them more capable of defending themselves against any form of dishonesty that comes with the use of the written word or number or in dealing with official accounts of government income taxes. Attention is basically given to the question of whether women traders make wide use of such socially and culturally relevant methods of counting and calculating in enhancing commerce despite the wide prevalence of innumeracy.RĂ©sumĂ©Cet article Ă©tudie, de maniĂšre critique, lâincidence des traditions culturelles de comptage et de calcul sur les transactions normales entre des femmes nĂ©gociantes, pour la plupart illĂ©trĂ©es et ne sachant pas compter, et leurs clients paysans, que ce soit sur les marchĂ©s de Mendefera et dâĂddi Khwala, ou de leurs alentours, en ĂrythrĂ©e. Il montre aussi comment des systĂšmes de numĂ©ration non Ă©crits et transmis oralement sont mobilisĂ©s par ces femmes non seulement pour toutes leurs opĂ©rations commerciales mais dans leurs propres mĂ©canismes de dĂ©fense contre des formes de malhonnĂȘtetĂ© pouvant survenir avec lâintroduction de chiffres et de mots Ă©crits, ou dans leurs rapports avec la comptabilitĂ© de lâadministration fiscale. Lâaccent est notamment mis sur la question de savoir si ces nĂ©gociantes font socialement et culturellement un large usage de ces mĂ©thodes de comptage et de calcul afin dâaccroĂźtre leur commerce, en dĂ©pit de la prĂ©dominance et de lâampleur de lâ« innumeracy »
The Construction of Ethiopian National Cuisine
L'Etiopia ha sempre beneficiato di unâattenzione internazionale in quanto patria di unâeccellente tradizione gastronomica. Per quanto vi siano pietanze regionali diffuse in gran parte del Paese, vi Ăš anche una cucina nazionale distinta. Ad elevare lo status di questa cucina nazionale ha contribuito la crescente popolaritĂ di una sua pietanza particolarmente piccante conosciuta come wĂ€áč, che ha ora notorietĂ internazionale grazie al turismo e ai ristoranti etiopici in Europa e Nord-America. Gli Etiopi non hanno mai dubitato dello status elevato della loro alimentazione, ma non câĂš ancora un autentico e compiuto testo di ricette etiopiche che promuova le pietanze del Paese. Per quanto la loro cucina si diffonda in piĂč continenti, lo studio dell'alimentazione etiopica Ăš agli inizi senza che si registrino apporti significativi che contribuiscano a una migliore conoscenza scientifica.
Questo articolo esamina alcuni dei processi che sono implicati nell'alimentazione etiopica come cucina nazionale e internazionale, rievocando le radici storiche della sua tradizione gastronomica e i fattori che ne influenzano lo sviluppo come cucina trans-nazionale
Dyadic Relation and Market Transaction in an Environment of Economic Depression
Abstract
This essay examines the significance of dyadic relationships between buyers and sellers during both peace and war times, and describes how war events affect the process of peace time dyadic trade relations. It suggests that these relationships prevail not so much in all areas of commercial encounters, but rather in those disturbed by specifie social and economie settings. In looking at how market participants use these relationships to make sense of unstable political and economic conditions, this paper lays out the material context within which these social relations exist, presents descriptive and analytic data on market people contending with both the terror of an ongoing war and its immediate dangers, examines how traders and customers attempt to confer meaning on the events of their lives during difficult moments, and investigates how dyadic bonds ease socioeconomic exchange under war conditions.RESUME
Cet article Ă©tudie la signification des relations dyadiques entre acheteurs et vendeurs au cours des pĂ©riodes de guerre et de paix, et Ă©value l'impact de la guerre sur les relations commerciales dyadiques du temps de paix. Il rĂ©vĂšle que ce type de relations loin d'englober l'ensemble de la vie commerciale ne concerne que certains dispositifs Ă©conomiques et sociaux bien dĂ©limitĂ©s. En examinant la façon dont ceux qui frĂ©quentent le marchĂ© utilisent ces relations pour pallier l'instabilitĂ© de la situation Ă©conomique et politique, l'auteur dĂ©crit les conditions concrĂštes de l'effectuation de ces relations. Il montre Ă©galement la façon dont les vendeurs et les acheteurs sont confrontĂ©s Ă la guerre et Ă ses dangers immĂ©diats, et examine la maniĂšre dont les marchands et les clients tentent de confĂ©rer un sens aux difficultĂ©s de leur vie quotidienne. Il met enfin l'accent sur le rĂŽle facilitateur de ces relations dyadiques dans les Ă©changes commerciaux en pĂ©riode de guerre.Kifleyesus Abebe. Dyadic Relation and Market Transaction in an Environment of Economic Depression. In: Cahiers d'Ă©tudes africaines, vol. 37, n°146, 1997. La Corne dans tous ses Ătats. pp. 429-465
In vino veritas : âwineâ and moonshine and the language of drinking and drunkenness in Debre BĂŻrhan
Rural Amhara drinking is associated with a specialised lexicon related to producing, distributing and ritually consuming drinks in communal settings. Here the drinking register is part of individual agency through which the meaning of specific ritual events is negotiated. Amhara cultural norms of heightened potency and diminished responsibility allow drunken speakers to extend their linguistic repertoires and to challenge established social relations. When drunk, speakers are less constrained in their linguistic choices by considerations of individual linguistic competence and of differential status between speakers and addressees. Drunks exploit the ambiguities in implicit social meanings that normally function to maintain the status quo as they use their extended communicative competence to present alternative views on the nature of social relations. Understanding this provides important insights into the status of local drinks as indigenous commodities and the link between their consumption and socio-political and economic relations. This article examines the language use of Amhara drinking and drunken speakers, the exposure of truth during drunkenness and the social context of drinking and drunkenness in the town of Debre BĂŻrhan in northeastern Shewa, Ethiopia.In vino veritas : âvinâ, alcool de contrebande et le langage de lâalcool et de lâivresse Ă Debre BĂŻrhan (Ăthiopie) ;
La consommation dâalcool dans les rĂ©gions rurales amhara est associĂ©e Ă un lexique spĂ©cialisĂ© liĂ© Ă la production, Ă la distribution et Ă la consommation ritualisĂ©e dâalcool dans les milieux communautaires. Dans ce cas spĂ©cifique, le registre de lâivresse participe de dispositions individuelles Ă travers lesquelles le sens particulier des Ă©vĂ©nements rituels est envisagĂ©. Les normes culturelles amhara caractĂ©risĂ©es par une virilitĂ© accrue et une responsabilitĂ© attĂ©nuĂ©e permettent aux locuteurs ivres dâĂ©tendre leur rĂ©pertoire linguistique et de dĂ©fier les relations sociales Ă©tablies. Lorsquâils sont ivres, les locuteurs se sentent moins contraints quâen temps normal par des considĂ©rations de compĂ©tence linguistique et de diffĂ©rence de statut entre locuteur et auditeur dans leur choix linguistique. Les ivrognes exploitent les ambigĂŒitĂ©s que lâon trouve dans certaines significations locales implicites qui servent normalement Ă maintenir le statu quo, profitant de leur compĂ©tence de communication dĂ©sinhibĂ©e, pour avancer des points de vue diffĂ©rents sur la nature des relations sociales. Comprendre cela fournit des informations importantes sur le statut des boissons locales en tant que commoditĂ©s « indigĂšnes » ainsi que sur le lien qui existe entre leur consommation et les relations sociopolitiques et Ă©conomiques. Cet article examine donc lâutilisation du langage du « boire » et des locuteurs ivres, lâexposition de la vĂ©ritĂ© pendant lâĂ©tat dâivresse et le contexte social du « boire » et de lâivresse dans la ville de Debre BĂŻrhan, dans la rĂ©gion nord-est du Shewa, en Ăthiopie.Kifleyesus Abbebe. In vino veritas : âwineâ and moonshine and the language of drinking and drunkenness in Debre BĂŻrhan. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume 26, annĂ©e 2011. pp. 207-246