Lucy to Lalibela: heritage and identity in Ethiopia in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Unusually for an African country, Ethiopia was only briefly colonised. As such, this multi-ethnic yet predominantly ancient Christian country, for hundreds of years ruled by an Imperial Dynasty, preserved a unique cultural identity underpinned by a powerful social memory. The ‘story of Ethiopia’ (which in the present article is given the label ‘heritage meta-narrative’) was carefully nurtured over hundreds of years in order to stress the ancient Christian Orthodox lineage of the country and an almost divine form of kingship prior to 1974, and was used to provide a strong centralising force for an ethically and culturally disparate population. In recent years, after a series of complex political events, these disparate Ethiopian populations are agitating for political change, if not outright independence, and in order to stress the legitimacy of these claims they are re-examining what their heritage means, and in turn are creating new heritage micro-narratives. Using sources drawn from official works, academic papers and popular Web-log (blog) posts, the present article charts the fracturing of the old Ethiopian heritage meta-narrative and the creation of new multiple heritage micro-narratives against the background of political change.

Keywords:

• Ethiopia
• identity
• heritage
• politics
• archaeology

Acknowledgements

Funding for the fieldwork that underpinned much of the present article was provided by the British Academy and French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE). I have benefitted greatly from insights from a number of Ethiopian scholars and people on the street in Lalibela and Aksum. In Lalibela, I particularly thank the help of Ato Daniel Mihiriti. I have also been greatly assisted by ongoing debate and discussion with my postgraduate students on my cultural heritage courses, and the present article has been greatly improved by the suggestions of two anonymous referees, although any errors or omissions remain my sole responsibility. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of graphics reproduced herein, and to obtain their permission for use of copyrighted material. The author apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if they could be notified.

Notes

1. For accessible introductions to Ethiopian history see, for example, Pankhurst (1998) and Ullendorff (1960). A useful example of indigenous historiographical scholarship that overwhelmingly stresses a highland-centric, Christian Semitic history is Sergew Hable Sellassie (1972).

2. This is not to devalue the publication. It still remains a very accessible, if somewhat skewed introduction to the cultural heritage of Ethiopia.

3. For a popular view see, for example, http://www.tecolahagos.com/getachew.htm

4. A random selection of operators is as follows: www.ethiopiantour.com; www.timelessethiopia.com; www.tourtoethiopia.com; www.amazingethiopia.com. It will be seen from a brief look at their websites that heritage tourism is the key selling point to foreign travellers, or a ‘safari-free zone’, see: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/travel/features/article_1415828.php/A_safari-free_zone_Ethiopia_s_ancient_cultural_heritage

5. The Lower Awash and Lower Omo valleys, both crucial palaeoanthropological sites are designated at UNSECO World Heritage sites, while another site, Konso-Gardula, was submitted to the tentative list in 1997.

6. The coffee bean (Coffea Arabica) is probably native to Ethiopia, although in this case this is a likely appropriation of another country’s heritage claim: archaeologists are clear that it was first cultivated in Yemen, across the Red Sea (Anthony et al. 2002).

7. The traditional construct of the proto-urban ‘pre-Aksumite’ culture has been traditionally viewed as a strongly South-Arabian-influenced early urban and literate culture of the northern Ethiopian highlands which flourished from around the eighth–seventh centuries BC (Schmidt and Curtis 2001, Finneran 2007, p. 109ff); see also contrasting positions articulated by Curtis (2009) and Phillipson (2009). The status of the ‘Ona’ urban culture of the Greater Asmara region is seen as a localised phenomenon within a wider trajectory towards proto-urban societies.

8. The site of Adulis has always been regarded as being the main entrepot for Aksum during the first half of the first millennium AD.

9. For example: ‘Tokonda Adulite site which requires further excavation, research and conservation; Kaskase Adulite… QoHaito Adulite site… Metera (Matara) Adulite site, also one of the major archaeological sites in Eritrea, requires further excavation, conservation and some reconstruction of structures, and integrated visitor facilities developed’ (Ministry of Tourism Eritrea 2009).