‘No one remains living in the past’: the dynamics of pottery technological styles in southwestern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

This article examines the pottery technological styles of the Oromo, the Yem and the Dawro ethnolinguistic groups in southwestern Ethiopia. It provides a comparative examination of the technological choices each group makes at different stages of pottery production, which, in turn, produce and reproduce their group identities. In southwestern Ethiopia, pottery-making lies within the domain of women, with social restrictions prohibiting male involvement. Potters are marginalised and transmit pottery-making knowledge and skills through learning networks, mainly between immediate family members. Each pottery-making community practises distinct technological traditions and styles, but all communities are now acquiring new technological skills in response to developing socio-economic dynamics. Examination of the incorporation of new elements into pottery-making due to both socio-economic changes at the local level and global phenomena may provide clues about the changing dynamics of the craft in the recent and more distant past.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article étudie les styles et techniques de poterie des groupes ethnolinguistiques d’Oromo, de Yem et de Dawro, dans le sud-ouest de l'Éthiopie. Il examine et compare les choix techniques que chaque groupe fait à différents stades de fabrication d’une poterie, choix qui, à leur tour, produisent et reproduisent l’identité des groupes. Dans le sud-ouest de l'Éthiopie, la fabrication de poterie relève du domaine des femmes, avec des restrictions sociales interdisant la participation des hommes. Les potiers sont marginalisés et transmettent leurs connaissances et leurs compétences en poterie par le biais de réseaux d'apprentissage, principalement entre les membres de leur famille. Chaque communauté de potier a son propre style et ses propres techniques traditionnelles, mais toutes acquièrent désormais de nouvelles techniques leur permettant de répondre au développement de la dynamique socio-économique. L'examen de l’utilisation de ses nouveaux éléments dans la poterie, en raison à la fois des changements socio-économiques locaux et des phénomènes mondiaux, peut fournir des indices sur l'évolution de la dynamique artisanale dans un passé récent et plus lointain.

KEYWORDS:

• chaîne opératoire
• technological changes
• social identity
• technological style

Acknowledgments

My deepest thanks go to Oromo potters in Wallaga and to Yem and Dawro potters in Jimma. I am genuinely grateful to them for sharing their experience with me without reservation and regardless of their busy schedules. I am also indebted to Desalegn Abebaw, Dajene Dandana and Kebede Gelata of ARCCH (Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage) for facilitating my fieldwork. I should also like to thank Hordofa Asana Seda, Abebe Dinega and Ayana Getahun. Many thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers of this paper for the constructive comments and suggestions that they offered me. I am also grateful to Jimma University, my then home institute, for its support during my fieldwork in summer 2012 and 2013. Many thanks also to the ARCCH, the Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity, the Oromia Culture and Tourism Bureau, the West Wollega Zone Culture and Tourism Bureau and the Jimma Zone Culture and Tourism Bureau.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Geographic Society under Grant W239-12 and Grant 9846-16 and by the University of Calgary Carter Fieldwork Grant.

Notes on contributors

Bula Wayessa

Bula Wayessa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American and African Studies, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His research interests include social marginalisation, the materiality of social identity, mobility, ontology and agricultural change.