Structural Analysis of the Evolutionary Motif, Portrait and Discourse of National Identity in the Kebra Nagast, Tobbiya and Dertogada
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Structuralism is ;1 [Wen/ietlJ centwy approach or strategy which altered the conformist VIeW of
nature and reality as metaphysics and histoncism do. Structuralism can be taken as a wa~
approach metllOd or phIlosophy of Clitical investigation of relationships among deep and surface
levels of being and human culture in general; tlJe modem structural world VIeW emerged as
prominent manner of study of universal rules and universality with the coming of Ferdinand de
Saussw-e-s book Course in General Linl}U1~'bc's in 1916. The Prague School that included Roman
jakobson and S. Troubetzkoyare responsible for tlJe ennchment of structural linguistIcs <1l1d
stTucLuralism. Noam Chomsky and LeVI"-StraUSS have also played an important role in the fUrther
development of the structural approach and able to successfuDy maintain its proJ1Using inOuence in
tlle Westem mode of thought kom semiotIcs Lo cybemetIcs and general systems theory.
Structuralism, hence, is attnouted with tlle undented manifestatIon of things in their entIrety and
shared elemental constItution for an underlying principle is goveming their eXlstence and
interactIons. Tms unequivocal approach however, had been mistaken as a study of staflc fOmJs or
refiigerated defunct even by some well-noted tllliJkers nke]. Dernaa and M Foucault due to their
deplorable fallaCles and dubious insights about the concept; contranly stI'ucturahsm is a highly
systemaoc and inclusive of the lllterconnectedness of things to form an relao'vely definable honsoc
entity of small constantly transfOlmao've as well as self-regulatI've structures. Thus, the structural
insight Situates itself somewhere in tlle miadie, dJspelling the inertially formansts and chaos
theonsts; and phIlosophizing that things are chaotIc forms or formal chaos.
Thereot; the Painstaking conceptual kame work of stI-uctw-ansm has been dIscussed and analyzed
in chapter three, follOWing the inb-oductory chapter and reVIeW of related liteJ-ature respecb'vely. hl
chapter tl1J-ee the concept of so'ucturansm is discussed Iil detaIl fully understood to aVOla the
popular mIsconceptIons IncludJng that of ({post-stJ"ucturansm'~ Chapter four lines up next to
analyze the thJ-ee fOCllS mal.erials' (the KebIa Nagast, Tobbiyc1 and Dertogada) mstoncal, social,
po/iocal, and /itermy sb-uctural configurabons, paIl1cularly accompanIed with Northrop Frye-s
structural tl1Cory of reClln-ent formaoons. Thus, tlle aIUUYSIS PaI1 of this researcll pc1pei~
syntheSiZIng liteJ-aLure, philosophy and POhbcs-ciJscllsses the selected materials' structural
Interconnecbon ;1l1d SImIlItude. And finally, tile concluslonls rendered in chilpter live to elicit the
major pOliltS tlml have been constructed Iil tl1C entIre chapters, especially the /ourtll one
Description
Keywords
Evolutionary Motif