Customer Reviews (1)

The Politics of War and Famine, Ethiopia style
Me. DeWaal has written a superb volume describing the gross violations of human rights and the consequences of willy-nilly, no-strings-attachedWestern aid during the Ethiopian wars for national liberation and thedevastating famines of the mid 80s. He rightly points out, as has Shawcrossin his "Quality of Mercy," that in their eagerness to placateoppressive governments in order to provide the starving with aid, Westerncharitable organizations risk prolonging conflicts and exacerbating civilunrest.He points out that historically Ethiopia has suffered localizedfamines that have been alleviated by regional surpluses, and thatMengistu's Dergue intentionally deprived rebellious areas of this surplusby bombing villages, drastically curtailing travel, incentives to trade,etc. So, while there was no explicit effort to starve the rebel populace,the Dergue was able to manipulate the situation to its advantage. How manyin the West even heard of the TPLF or EPLF during the Famine of '84 and'85? The Western press was blind to the conflict, probably because theright-wing Reaganauts didn't see the independent and left-soundingTigrayans and Eritreans as "white enough" to be African contras.His book terminates right after the fall of the Mengistu regime, and hemakes good recommendations for ensuring peace in the region. Alas, thesubsequent events have shown that these ideas were, for the most part, notimplemented, and today we have as much animosity as during the depths ofthe Marxist and royalist regimes. His book serves as a reminder to theguilt-ridden West that good intentions are not enough when tackling famine,and that the political as well as social dimensions must be considered. AmI suggesting that the West should have ignored the plight of the starvingEthiopians and Eritreans? Of course not. But if the West had been moreinsistent on full access to all sides in the conflict there might have beena quicker end to the civil war. As it was, Mengistu probably bought himselfat least three more years of bloody, fratricidal rule. ... Read more

Product Description
A Kingly Craft is a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary fields of African art history and visual studies. Ethiopian illuminated manuscripts have been regarded as remarkable expressions of Christian art and material culture. However, until recently, the elite art form of manuscript production has not been rigorously examined within specific social, cultural, and political contexts. This work is an innovative study of eighteenth and nineteenth century manuscript painting during a critical period of Ethiopian history known as the _Era of the Princes._ ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Must-Read for Every Ethiopian and Friend of Ethiopia
Dr. Messay gives a detailed, down-to-earth, and honest account of the survival of Ethiopia and her Church, and the reasons why and how.The illustration on the cover of the book, I believe, is quite appropriate: the protective, feminine hands unmistakably belong to Our Lady - the guardian and keeper of Ethiopia, a country she had been given by Her Son at the time of their visit during the Flight to Egypt.

Thank you very much Dr. Messay!May God bless and give you many more years!

Your humble student,

A seminal offering
Perhaps I, as but a very amateur student of Ethiopian history, have no business labelling any book as seminal, but I can't think of a better description for this book. I find this book an excellent extension to Greater Ethiopia, by Donald Levine. Messay establishes the sociological foundations of Ethiopia, and then goes on to construct an explanation of how this foundation explains Ethiopia's survival as well as its struggle with modernization. Finally, given this explanation, he gives a recipe for how Ethiopia, instead of dismantling this foundation, can creatively use it to successfully modernize. No nation develops by uprooting itself or imitating others, he reminds us, and we do need reminding.

A creative phliosophical discovery
Dr. Messay Kebede has written a book that I think is more of a discovery than an explanation of survival of Ethiopia.

The author is able to express a dilemms with a sharp logical reasioning with a beautiful and almost poetic language while tackling this sophisticated philosophical question. He has successfully and dilectically researched the History of Ethiopia from different angles to prove his philosophical discourse. Some of us who are familiar with Ethiopian history are amazed in his ability to uncover those deep seated traits of the Etiopian mind and use his philosophical discourse to analyze them.

It is a powerful book, especially for Ethiopians and other nations, who are experiencing some kind of identity crisis in the national level. If they anlyze their society in detail, they might come up with a solution to their crisis.

Sorry I am 43 years old. I got the wrong format to write my review.
Thank you!!

A CLASSIC LANDMARK WORK
In this book the author, Prof. Messay Kebede, has left no stone unturned in his thorough examination of Ethiopian myth, language, life, history, culture, system of church and of government, as seen and documented by historians, poets, painters, and novelists; all the good, the bad and the ugly. He has spared no effort in wielding the philosopher's scalpel, in opening up and cutting into new, as well as old wounds, in exposing the healthy, as well as the sick and putrid flesh, the positive as well as the negative aspects of it all. Through all of these examinations, Professor Messay attempts to find an answer as to why it is that Ethiopia has failed to modernize. He compares Ethiopia with two similarly old cultures: Japan and Great Britain. The deep questions he raises in the book, perhaps, will prove far more valuable than any answers that might have been given. These questions are sure to provoke more answers from future historians and researchers. This work will be `the handbook' for scholars on Ethiopia for many years to come, and I recommend it to any person interested in learning in depth about Ethiopia, any person that is, who would like to have more than just a passing glimpse of the country and its problems. This book goes deep into the crux, and the `heart of the matter,' and examines the root causes of past and present day difficulties as it attempts to find what it is that must have, seriously and fundamentally, gone wrong and resulted in Ethiopia's failure to modernize. Without a doubt, this book will soon be recognized for the masterpiece and the classic work that it is, a landmark against which many future books on Ethiopia will be compared and judged.Sir, I doff my hat and salute you. You have accomplished a great work. I anxiously look forward to reading your next book. Keep up the good work.

From one of your Admirers,

G. E. Gorfu.

Ethiopian Poet, Novelist, and Philosopher.

Comprehensive creative response to challenge of Ethiopia
The book is written with vigor, clarity, and decisiveness. It first raises the alternative theories meant to explain Ethiopia, then it works beyond those easy answers to convincing insight. The highlights of these insightsinclude: Survivial as the essence of Ethiopia.The Solomonic dispositionas allowing multiple claimants to rulership.The absence of racial,ethnic, and color lines, matters upon everyone else in the world seems toinsist. The special quality of Ethiopian Christianity as an authenticspirituality rather than an imposed system.The self-defense of the empireunder the pressures of European colonial expansion.Yet, for all thisoutstanding history, spirituality, independence, and even geography,Ethiopia is sinking, having failed to modernize in a way that respects itssoul. This book is original in its confrontation of the crisis ofmodernization.Every page glows with intelligence and passion, as befits aphilosophical treatment of the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of just above US$100. With such a low average income, poverty is of course widespread, so understanding the causes of poverty is of utmost importance, but until recently very little household-data has been available. This study deals with many aspects of poverty and income-distribution in Ethiopia, providing a wealth of information on household-income and its determinants. The book is of interest both to academics working on poverty analysis and to policy makers and donors collaborating with Ethiopia. ... Read more

Product Description
Images of war, narratives of suffering and notions of ethnicity are intrinsically linked to Western perceptions of Africa. Filtered through a mostly international media the information of African wars is confined to narrow categories of explanation emerging from and adapted to a Western history and political culture. This book aims at reversing this process; to look at war and suffering from the point of view of those who fight it and suffer through it. In doing so it reveals that the simplistic models explaining contemporary wars in Africa which are reproduced in a Western discourse are basically false.
This book examines the understanding of war and the impact of warfare on the formation and conceptualisation of identities in Ethiopia. Building on historical trajectories of enemy images, the recent Eritean-Ethiopian war (1998-2000) is used as an empirical backdrop to explore war's formative impact, by analysing politics of identity and shifting perceptions of enemies and allies. ... Read more

Product Description
4th edition. Edited by Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry. Research completed July 1991. Describes and analyzes the history, politics, economics, sociology, and national security systems of Ethiopia. ... Read more

Product Description
"Ethiopia" celebrates the rich cultures of an ancient society, and describes its people's efforts to revive their land. Times are hard: soils are exhausted, schools and hospitals are derelict, and AIDS and urbanization pose new challenges. But the sense of community is strong, and the country's new constitution gives grounds for hope that there is a better future for Ethiopia.

This second edition features an eight-page supplement with updated information about the war with Eritrea and its social and economic consequences; together with reports on the food-security situation, the redistribution of land, relations with theWorld Bank and IMF, and national strategies to combat the problem of AIDS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Book...
I think this is a good book. It has some interesting, novel photographs, concise information, and I just like it! I'd say its fit for teenagers but if someone has desire of a younger age I don't think it is too difficult for them either. ... Read more

Product Description
Ethiopia is an ancient country with rich potential, but it has not yet resolved the fundamental question of economic development and nation building. The Ethiopian population lives under the threat of recurring famine and war. The conflict that existed between Ethiopia and Eritrea for several decades was never resolved peacefully, and a new conflict has recently emerged on top of the old. ... Read more

Product Description
This study describes the beginnings of a movement which has created anotherface for Ethiopian Christianity. The expatriate missionary-evangelists, who in1927 were encouraged by Emperor Haile Selassie to work in southern Ethiopia,intentionally by-passed the Orthodox model and made a fresh start.Three of the many facets of the movement comprise the body of the book. Thereis the religious backdrop of Orthodox Christianity and the expatriates'fundamentalist traditions; then the praxis and polity of their work; finallythe post-Occupation outcome which confirmed their choices.Since its beginning in 1932 the New Churches Movement has impacted every partof Ethiopian society: religious, political and socio-economic. It demonstratesthat a fresh start can be complementary rather than competitive. Themovement's success encourages missionary-evangelists to continue making newbeginnings. ... Read more

Product Description
Oxfam carries out original research on various aspects of its overseas programme, as part of a constant monitoring process, and in an effort to gain greater understanding of development programmes and practice. Althrough primarily a tool for institutional learning, some of the resulting reports are of wider interest. As part of its commitment to sharing experience of good practice, Oxfam publishes those reports which describe innovative research projects, evaluate particularly interesting projects or programmes, or are the proceedings of workshops or seminars. This report is the outcome of a field study carried out with cattle herders in northern Mursiland, Ethiopia, on behalf of Oxfam (UK and Ireland). Its immediate purpose was to seek the views of local herd-owners on how the pastoral economy could be strengthened, without external intervention, in a remote area prone to cattle disease and drought. A secondary focus, which emerged during the research, is the threat posed to pastoralists by government plans to encourage tourism and to construct dams on the Omo river for electricity generation.The paper considers ways of putting pressure on conservation bodies and civil authorities to protect the vital subsistence resources of the Mursi people. ... Read more

Product Description
Development worldwide has increasingly involved population displacement. Ethiopia is no exception to this trend; population displacement resulting from development as well as conflict, drought and conservation has been on the increase since the 1960s. The recent history of conflict in the Horn of Africa has led to large-scale population movements of refugees, returnees, internally displaced groups and demobilised soldiers. The context of drought and food insecurity in the mid-1980s and again in the early 2000s added a further rationale and impetus for organising state-led resettlement programmes. This book brings together for the first time studies of the different types of development, conflict and drought induced displacement in Ethiopia, and analyses the conceptual, methodological and experiential similarities, overlaps and differences between these various forms. ... Read more

Product Description
Is Marxism a reflection of the conceptual system itfights against, rather than a truly comprehensive approach to humanhistory? Drawing on recent work in anthropology, history, andphilosophy, Donald Donham confronts this problem in analyzing aradically different social order: the former Maale kingdom of southernEthiopia.

"Every once in a while there appears a book that . . . opens up newways of inquiring into the ways of the world. Donald Donham haswritten such a book. The style is quiet and judicious, but the effectis stunning. . . . In putting inherited partisan approaches to thetest of explaining the realities of Maale society and culture, Donhamenriches anthropology and imparts new vigor to the analytical Marxiantraditions. History, Power, Ideology embodies a major accomplishment."--From the Foreword, by Eric Wolf ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A New Lease of Life for Marxist Analysis
Dr. Donald Donham's extremely readable account and analysis of what could easily have been a most boring subject matter is a must read. Not only for those Marxists tired of orthodoxy of all types, but also for thosenon-Marxists who never tire of bashing Marxists. Set amongst the Maalepeople of Ethiopia, this book takles a seemingly simple question that hasbeen the bane of materialist analysis for as long as it has been inexistence. The question itself is posed in the following way: Is the tabletop existing because of the four legs that hold it up? Or, is it equallyreasonable to say that the four legs are "legs" only because thetable top meaningfully allows them to be so. Else they would merely be fourpieces of wood, and that too skewed since it is the top that makes thenperfectly vertical!

The book deals with the question of how the Maaleorganize their labor and brings together liberal economics and Marxistanthropological theory together in a positive manner. It shows how thefirst set of theories have limitations that do not allow them to solvecertain Maale "paradoxes." On the other hand the latter set oftheories need to be reshaped in the light of ethnographic data from ThirdWorld countries and peoples such as the Maale.

A superb, humanistic andmany times humorous book. Always with both feet firmly planted on theground, the author also shows how Marxism necessarily must participate inthe drama that is life. Thus, he successfully attempts to integrate theliterary genres of Comedy, Tragedy, Irony and Romance into his clearlyargued Marxist analysis. I will be using this book in my graduate levelseminar on Social Theory. ... Read more