College of Social Sciences

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Browsing College of Social Sciences by Author "Ababio, Kofi"

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    Tourism in South Western Ethiopia (The Case of The Mursi People of Southomo)
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-08) Getachew, Hanna; Ababio, Kofi
    This thesis is concerned wilh the anthropology of tourism in soUlh Omo. Of particular concern are the changes in Murs; life brought aboul by tourism in sowh Omo. This thes;~ aims 10 show "ou the Atlurs; as wilh other groups of people in southern Elhiopia are undergoing significant changes as a resull of their popularity amongst mainly western (ourists. The discursively presented a/fraction of soulh Omo as an exolic lOuris/ destination is considered and the Murs; haw been selected for study nol only because of my prior familiarity with MlIrsi individuals but also because CIS can be discerned from a wide range of bOlh academic and popular media, the Mill'S; themselves appear to be the leading human am'acfion of an 'exolicised' Ethiopia. Perhaps more Ihan other peoples of sOlllhern Elhiopia, Ihe Mursi are centralia the discourse of primitive and exot:~· (ribalism of 'wildest Africa' (har has 10l1g dominated the selling of African lOurism to 'he western traveler, For example the /ip-plates of A,fursi women are a staple of primitivist images in popular tour-guides to Ethiopia bllt el'en as existing and ongoing fieldwork is concerned wilh as~essing how both outsiders and the Mur:,i regard (heir personal adornments, up till now, no reseurch has as yet addressed how the Mursi themselves perceive oU/siders, especially the foreign tOllrist. II major concern of this thesis is [he percepIion of 'native' by tourists and 'he perception of tourists by the 'native' and in between the tourist and the 'nalfl'e' are a range of stakeholders, for example tour operators, local government officials, tour guides and hoteliers whose perceplion.\ of and interactiom \t lIh both tourist and native are also considered. A major finding oj this research is that the Mursi are not passive under the impact of foreign tourism bill are themse/w.~:,' actively engaged in explOiting their changing circumstances. 1 hal'e observed both 'negative'lInd positive changes in rhe lives of the Mursi, which may well be seen diJIerently by otllers, bu( what is undeniable is that it is no longer possible 10 imagine or see Ihe MlIrsi as confined to the discourses of tribal anthropology (Ababio, 2006 pel's comm.) where they remain in some remote area 01 (he mercy of a hostile environmem and perpetually engaged in intertribal conflict which may occaSionally be interrupted by some foreign anthropologist or intrepid photo-hungry tOllrisl. The Nllirsi themseh'es have developed ill their ideas and understanding of 1111: wider world. ineluding their own perceplion of (he IUlIure of foreigners. Some Mllrsi hal'e themseh'e:, trareled abroad whilsl OIhers hare taken lip more or less permanent residence in Jinka /Olin. These kind:, of change:, also represent fimdamemal challenges /0 the Iribalist 10/lrism of sOllthern Ethiopia which likewise tends to depict the A.III/'si and other peoples of sOlllh Omo a:, objects impacted lipan by others; as los( peoples, dwelling in some remote, timeless, relalive isolalio11, more or less unchanged by either secular (gol'ernment) or sacred (min'ionGlY) interventiOIl 111 the light of the limitations of this research enumerated towards Ihe end of the thesis, an outline ofprospeclsforfulure research is set OUI.