Mapping the notion of the transnational: A close reading of the ‘Women’s Question’ from the Ethiopian Student Movement’s publications in the 1960s and 1970s

abstract

This focus piece explores how the notion of the transnational was mapped and mobilised in the publications of the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM) that were printed and published in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in their quest to articulate the ‘Women’s Question’ in Ethiopia. Reading from the large corpus of ESM publications, I more specifically engage those publications which covered discussions, opinion pieces, and debates on the Women’s Question from my interest in demonstrating how ESM activist publications were already engaged in discussions of the transnational in the 1960s and 1970s. Pertinent to formulating the Ethiopian Women’s Question, I map how the notion of transnational was mobilised as part and parcel of activist praxis within ESM. A genealogical reading of the evolution of the Women’s Question in the writings of the ESM showed that discussions on the subject were sporadic, especially between the late 1960s and early 1970s, when this question was more explicitly configured as journals committed to address women’s issues, such as Tanash Ityopyawit [Rise up Ethiopian Women!], and Tagia Ityopyawit [Struggle Ethiopian Woman], emerged.

keywords:

• Ethiopian Student Movement in the 1960s and 1970s
• Women’s Question
• transnational
• aspiration
• resistance
• auto-critique of the everyday

Acknowledgement

My thanks go to the Arts and Humanities Research Council/Global Challenges Research Fund which funded this research via Deepening Democracy Project 2017–21 (AH/R005435/1), managed by SOAS University of London.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article

Notes

1 Most ESM publications do not name the author, as the disclosure of the individual author was in contradiction to the leftist ideological commitment within the movement. Where I indicate the name of an author, it is when I have identified their name in my research, and the person has given me consent to use their name. From my research, I have observed that some of the authors of these articles were male members of the ESM. A second note regarding the intended audience of these publications is related to language. With a few exceptions where the article was written in English, most of these articles were published in Amharic. In cases where I have done the translation myself, I indicate it in the citation. The use of Amharic as the primary language of communication supports my overall view that their intentions, whether published at home or abroad, were for an audience that mobilised transnational operative strategies within a local repertoire towards revolutionary practice. Even when articles were published in English, their publication in Amharic further supports this, as this practice of writing intended practical interventions, for instance in identifying education of women as having a role to play in the socialist revolution, and in turn supporting the case for the establishment of women’s organisations in Ethiopia. A final note: while the primary audience intended for these publications was men and women in the ESM, the subject matter (for instance, sex work, peasant women and education discussed in this focus), as well as the use of language indicate the intention to address broader social issues and society.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Netsanet Gebremichael

NETSANET GEBREMICHAEL holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Social Studies from Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Uganda. She is an Assistant Professor and researcher at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University. Since October 2021, Netsanet has been Fatima Mernissi Post-Doctoral Fellow at The Africa Institute in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. She is working on a book manuscript titled Tizita’s path to Reckoning: Reminiscing Asmara from Ethiopia 1998-2018, based on her PhD dissertation. Netsanet is also preparing a monograph on Women in the Ethiopian Student Movement (1950–1978). Email: [email protected]