Initiating Change in Highland Ethiopia
Initiating Change in Highland Ethiopia
Causes and Consequences of Cultural Transformation
There are two types of rituals performed by the same people in a rural community in Southern Ethiopia. One appears to be remarkably stable, while the other has undergone massive transformations over the years. Focusing on new ethnographical and historical data from the Gamo Highlands of Southern Ethiopia, Dena Freeman analyzes these rituals and provides fascinating insight into the cultural transformations of a little-known region of the world.
- Of interest to both anthropologists and historians
- Presents ethnographic and historical data about a little-known and fascinating country
- Provides a theoretical framework for understanding cultural change
Reviews & endorsements
"This is an elegant account of an extended rural community in southern Ethiopia." African Studies Review
Product details
July 2007Paperback
9780521037761
192 pages
227 × 148 × 11 mm
0.296kg
16 b/w illus. 3 maps 6 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Select glossary
- 1. Introduction: theorising change
- 2. The recent history of the Gamo Highlands
- 3. Production and reproduction
- 4. The sacrificial system
- 5. The initiatory system
- 6. Experiencing change
- 7. Assemblies and incremental cultural change
- 8. Transformation versus devolution: the organisational dynamics of change
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
