Ethnic Relations and Social Change among the Dant'a in Southern Ethiopia
| dc.contributor.advisor | Barisso, Tadesse(ph.D) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Eyoel, Mulugeta | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-03-28T11:31:49Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-04T11:55:20Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-03-28T11:31:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-04T11:55:20Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2001-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis describes th e ethnic relations and soc io-cultural change among the Dant'a of southern Ethiopia. The major objectives of the study are to explore the ethnic relations and soico-cultural change in terms of marriage practice, kinship ties, administrative and religious systems, political power and economic relations, and interdependence in rel ations to the neighboring communities such as Kambatta, Hadiya, Donga, T'ambaro and others. It also examines to identify the impact of government policies imposed on them and their role in changing the nature of the ethnic relations with the neighboring communities during the Haile Sellasse, the Derg and the EPRDF regimes. The conquest of Dant'as and their neighboring communities by Menelik's troops in 1892 and the establishment of the Naflanna Gabbar system had resulted in the eviction of many Hadiyas and their settlement in the territory of Dant'a. In turn, this resulted in shortage of cultivable land in the territory of Dant'a and led some of their community members to move to Gibe (Omo) valley where they could subsist on pastoral way of life. The Dant'as conversion from their previous traditional religion and Orthodox Christianity to Protestant Christianity is resulted from the activities of missionaries who thought the Bible in local languages and who constructed schools, clinics, health centers, roads and other infrastructures in their locality. Moreover, their long established marriage relationship with the neighboring Hadiya resulted in shift of many of their younger generation from their ancestoral language of Kambatssa to Hadiyissa. The government policies of designing the administrative map of the country and naming the administrative units of Awraja (province) and 'Woredas' (districts) without taking a local condition of settl ement patterns and population distribution of various ethnic groups into consideration during Menelik and the Haile Sellasse regimes have been the main cause for the escalation of conflicts and emergence of competition over the political power and economic opportunities in subsequent periods of the Derge ,md the EPRDF regimes. In this regard, the Haile Sellasse's regime was not able to resolve the conflict among the Dant'a and the neighboring communities which was associated with an issue of renaming the Kam batta 'A wraj a' and T'ambaro ' Woreda' into names which could represent all community groups who live in these ad mini strative divisions. However, the Derg regime made an effort to reso lve the conflict among these communities by naming the "Kambatta Awraja" into "Kambatta and Hidiya Awraja" in May 1976. Nevertheless, IX both the Oerg and the [ PROF governments co uld not able to res lve the co nni ct assoc iated with 'Woreda' name inhabited by the Oant'as, the two groups of Hadi ya (Agar and Sooro) and other . Sub equently, th e change in nati onal politics of the country and the EPRDF policy of des igning the admini trati ve map of the co untry along ethni c and/or lingui stic lines further aggravated the connict between the Oant'a and the neighboring communities, and resulted in competiti on over politi cal power and economi c opportunities at the zone and 'Woreda' levels. In addition, th e cial relationships of Oant'a with the neighboring Hadiya at the local level ha been adverse ly affected and changed as a res ult of politi cal change. Moreover, the ex isting national politi cal climate led the Oant'a to demand for power sharin g at the zone level and recently for their own spec ific 'Woreda' admini stration by cl aiming di tinct identity. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/30943 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Ethnic Relations | en_US |
| dc.title | Ethnic Relations and Social Change among the Dant'a in Southern Ethiopia | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |