Being And Becoming Oromo

The Oromo people are one of the most numerous in Africa. Census data are not reliable but there are probably twenty million people whose first language is Oromo and who recognize themselves as Oromo. In the older literature they are often called Galla. Except for a relatively small number of arid land pastoralists who live in Kenya, all homelands lie in Ethiopia, where they probably make up around 40 percent of the total population. Geographically their territories, though they are not always contiguous, extend from the highlands of Ethiopia in the north, to the Ogaden and Somalia in the east, to the Sudan border in the west, and across the Kenyan border to the Tana River in the south.Though different Oromo groups vary considerably in their modes of subsistence and in their local organizations, they share similar cultures and ways of thought.

The In Between is a story that transcends cultures, borders, nationality, religion and an identities for which one see's themselves rather than the one imposed on them. More importantly it is about African Women who wonder where they fit between conservative African values with double standards for boys and girls and/or fantasy land with feminist ideology and the American democracy. The author uses Winnie Mandela, who gave so much to her people, for the pursuit of justice but seems to end up in a different place than her counterpart, male. It is also about immigrants who are born in one place but raised in a different place with new sets of culture, language and values. Also, while the majority of the book focuses on diverse issues, as stated above I must say this, "I have a soft spot for the forgotten women of Africa, the Oromo women, who often face double bigotry, for being Oromo and for being women". Overall, the book is about the Oromo people and their pursuit for dignity, being and becoming Oromo in the Diaspora, the failure of OLF, bureaucratic Oromo Community Associations and the quest to know where one belongs.

The book examines, compares, and contrasts the African American and Oromo movements by locating them in the global context, and by showing how life chances changed for the two peoples and their descendants as the modern world system became more complex and developed. Since the same global system that created racialized and exploitative structures in African American and Oromo societies also facilitated the struggles of these two peoples, this book demonstrates the dynamic interplay between social structures and human agencies in the system. African Americans in the United States of America and Oromos in the Ethiopian Empire developed their respective liberation movements in opposition to racial/ethnonational oppression, cultural and colonial domination, exploitation, and underdevelopment. By going beyond its focal point, the book also explores the structural limit of nationalism, and the potential of revolutionary nationalism in promoting a genuine multicultural democracy.

The Kingdom of Jimma Abba Jifar, established ca 1830, was the largest and most powerful of five monarchies formed by the Oromo peoples in south-western Ethiopia. Based on extensive fieldwork in the area, this work presents a study of the history and organisation of Jimma under its most powerful ruler, Abba Jifar II (1878-1932), stressing the political history and structure of Jimma with a comparative perspective which notes similarities and differences in processes and structures to monarchical systems elsewhere in Africa and the world.

Ethiopia is best understood as a country with multiple internal divides, but also endless interconnections which are constantly renegotiated. Contributing to the growing literature on the country's cultural diversity, this book offers special emphasis on the contemporary dynamics of intra- and intergroup boundary formation and alteration. It also adds to the more general literature on identity change, boundary transgression of individuals and groups, and cultural contact and change. With contributions from experienced Ethiopian and international scholars, the book offers perspectives on territorial, ethnic, class, caste, gender, and age related boundaries in different parts of the country. (Series: African Studies / Afrikanische Studien - Vol. 53) [Subject: Sociology, African Studies, Cultural Studies]