A Historical Survey of the Fuga Low-caste Occupational Communities of South-central Ethiopia
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Date
2000-01-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The ancestors of the Fuga outcast occupational communities are believed to have initially come from northwestern Ethiopia sometime in the early medieval period. They together with other people, settled at Ambaricho in Klimbata, at Masmasa in Hadiya, at Asar and at Ennfir both in Western Gurage, and in Y Kamma. On their arrival in these places the Fuga were already hunters and woodworkers who served their companions in identifying convenient seulement places in 50mh-central Ethiopia. There is a strong fee ling that the Fuga might have originally been a branch of the Fuga, a clan among the Way to clans of the Lake Tana region. After the immigrant Fuga's sett lement in south-central Ethiopia they intermarried with the indigenous people, remnants of the primitive hunters who also practiced occupations like pottery and tanning. They were both able to leam each others occupations through time. Both came to be identified as low•caste occupational communities with the common name of Fuga. The low-caste Fuga occupational communities were able to retain lands of their own only in their original sett lement places which they have been using for fanning activities. Despite their population growth they were not able to gain any addi tional land outside of their original sett lement places before the arrival of the Shtiwall conquering army of Menelik (r. 1889• 1916) in the nineteenth cenlury.As occupational communities they were not able to gain any additiona l land untillhe last decade of the nineteenth century. For centuries they have lived among the Kambata, the Hadiya, the Gurage and the Yamma being known as despised low-caste occupational communities. The lack of land among the Fuga subjected them to economic poverty and harsh social oppression and labour exploitation. As a result some Fuga families to migrated to neighbouring areas in the same region looking for better opportuniti es. Wherever they went they were despised and segregated in their settlement areas as they were considered landless low-caste occupational communities. In the twentieth century the Fuga communities came to be relatively better treated at the hands of the Shawan conquerors and settlers who dominated the indigenous societies. Some Fuga families were able to integrate with the Sbawan army and were able to secure fann lands as tenants in the same manner the other indigenous societies under went. Since the arrival of the Shawans some Fuga ind ividuals started to accept either Islam or Christianity, giving up their fonner traditional beliefs and food habits. Their outward migration also he lped them to experience better economic and social life. They migrated to some Or01110 areas where they enjoyed better treatment. Since the 1950s. however, many Fuga families in different parts of the Oromo areas started to rent or to buy fann lands. Along with their farming acti vities they also continued to work as potters, woodworkers and tanners to subsidize their incomes. At the same time a few young Fuga started schooling. Some Fuga communities even had their own school where they educated their children. Similarly, they also established their own churches and provided religious services to the communities. This development was encouraged by the 1974 Revolution which to a great extent favoured despised low-caste communities. Based on the 1975 land proclamation all Fuga communities residing in the rural areas obtained faml- Iands of their own for farmi ng activities. The land ownership liberated them from tenancy and to some extent from poverty. The socio-political change enabled them to live like any ordinary peasant. They also got political support from the government so that they were treated equally with the rest of the societ ies. Such careful treatment encouraged them to participate in the newly organized peasant associations. It was since then that the Fuga community members started to serve as government employees. And many of the hard working among them became economically better orr. As a result of their economic improvement many Fuga children attended public and government and schools and the traditional segregation was minimized. However, the whole errort made by the Fuga could not provide them equality with other and full acceptance. StiJlthere are some social baniers, like marriage, which deny the Fuga equality.
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A Historical Survey of the Fuga Low-caste Occupational Communities