A History of Oromo Literature and Identity Issues, (c.1840-1991)
| dc.contributor.advisor | Ta’a, Tesema (Professor) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tolessa, Tesfaye | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-11-13T12:37:39Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-19T12:02:28Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-11-13T12:37:39Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-19T12:02:28Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study is to document the reciprocal relationships between Oromo literature and identity issues in the process of the Oromo struggle against the formation of Ethiopian homogenous nation as the subject has not received proper historical study. In an attempt to fill the gap, the dissertation reconstructs a history of Afaan Oromo literature as a storehouse of Oromo identity, transcript for consciousness creation and instrument of resistance against impositions of Amhara rulers. For the study, pertinent available data were collected, interpreted and analysed qualitatively based on historical research methods using mainly narrative and analysis styles. The research findings depict that before the Oromo were conquered by the Amhara, the main emphasis of Afaan Oromo literature was the socialization of Oromo youths into ethically committed and morally strong Oromo. It was mainly used to teach the Oromo youth what was good and evil, moral and immoral, destructive and constructive, and encourage thought and action with its tales, poems, songs, epics, riddles, demonological legends, ballads, anecdotes, proverbs, lullabies, history and others. It also stored these principles in the forms of values, tension, myths, common experiences, psychological makeup and intellectual curiosity. The first attempt to write in Afaan Oromo might have come from the Muslim scholars whose efforts were to get written Afaan Oromo in a suitable script, which continued until Qubee was adopted in 1991. From c. 1840 onwards, the missionaries saw it as a language spoken by many people over large territorial areas and as a pathway to control the Oromo cultural identity and convert them to Christianity. The missionaries insisted on writing in Afaan Oromo under severe conditions that even cost them heavy prices. Consequently, from 1840 to 1899, they effectively worked on translation of the scriptures into Afaan Oromo, inscription of Afaan Oromo folklores and studies of Afaan Oromo grammar and vocabularies which gave Afaan Oromo a written basis, and from 1900 to the period of Italian conquest on teaching how to read and write in Afaan Oromo. Besides, the determination to write in Afaan Oromo and the increased consciousness of nationalism were paradoxically escalated by the attempts to suppress Afaan Oromo and Oromo cultural identity in favour of the formation of the linguistically, religiously and culturally homogenous Ethiopia from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The Oromo grievances against the domination were articulated, recorded and passed on vertically from generation to generation and horizontally from one geographical area to another in Afaan Oromo literature. The networking of the grievances by Oromo oral literature and the consolidation of Oromo consciousness of their identity made the Oromo to consider the Italians as liberators when they began to use Afaan Oromo for education, broadcasting and office activities. These linguistic and cultural freedoms that the Oromo tasted under Italian rule made them to pose serious resistance against the restoration of Emperor Haile Sillasie. The Harar and Baalee Oromo uprisings, the Maccaa-Tuulamaa Association, the Afran Qalloo Cultural Movement and other covert movements of the Oromo were what evolved because of the imposed strict language policy and this gradually consolidated Oromo consciousness. The struggle was one factor for the decline of Emperor Haile Sillasie. The struggle to write in Afaan Oromo and the Oromo national question continued under the Darg until it was declared that the Oromo were a nation with their own regional state and Afaan Oromo became the written official language of the Oromia Regional State in 1991. The script adopted to write Afaan Oromo passed through intermittent linguistic studies with constant and critical debates until Qubee was adopted as standardized script to write Afaan Oromo. The script in which Afaan Oromo was to be written continued to be the subject of linguistic and political debates of the agencies engaged in issues of written Afaan Oromo throughout the study period until Qubee was officially declared as the script in which Afaan Oromo is now written. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/20102 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | en_US |
| dc.subject | History | en_US |
| dc.title | A History of Oromo Literature and Identity Issues, (c.1840-1991) | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |