Modern Oromo

The early non-Oromo writers have distorted the history of the Oromo. Without scientific research, they were speaking of the so-called Oromo migration of the 16th century. Against the unscientific thesis, of the early scholars, this work confirmed the Oromo to be not only the indigenous African peoples, but also belong to the Cushitic Africans who invented the first world civilization. Their egalitarian and holistic culture, the gadaa system is part of the ancient Cushitic civilization. It is the base for modern democratic system of governance. The root word of 'gadaa' is originated from ‘Ka’, the creator God of the ancient religion of the Cushitic Africans. From this very name, Ka originated the Oromo word “Waaqa”, which also means creator of everything. This shows that the Oromo are among the first nations who came up with the idea of monotheism. Therefore, this work disqualifies the missionary assumptions describing the Oromo Indigenous Religion (OIR) as Satanism and its religious experts, the Qaalluus as witchdoctors or sorcerers. This dissertation discovered many identical, similar, partial similar and few differing elements between the Oromo Indigenous Religion (OIR) and Oromo Christianity (OC). Also, the study identified many Oromo cultural elements that are compatible to Christianity, therefore must be adopted by the Oromo Christianity. According modern scholarship God revealed himself in every human culture and religion is part of human culture. Therefore, no religion can claim to be “the only true religion”. Based on this principle, this dissertation calls all leaders of religious institutions in Oromia, to change their attitude, develop culture of tolerance, conduct constructive religious dialogue, create the atmosphere of peaceful coexistence of all religions and establish sustainable peace that serves humanity.

Since the sixteenth century, Ethiopian Orthodox Chris-tianity and the indigenous religions of Ethiopia have been confronted with, and influenced by, numerous Catholic and Protestant missions. This book offers historical, anthropological and personal analyses of these encounters. The discussion ranges from the Jesuit debate on circumcision to Oromo Bible translation, from Pentecostalism in Addis Ababa to conversion processes among the Nuer. Juxtaposing past and present, urban and rural, the book breaks new ground in both religious and African studies. Verena Bll and Evgenia Sokolinskaia are researchers at the department of African and Ethopian Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg. Steven Kaplan is professor of African Studies and Comparative Religion at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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.

This publication is the second edition of the Oromo Textbook. It is designed to teach the Oromo language to those who can speak the language but are unable to read it; for those children who were born and live outside their homeland; and for those who are interested in learning one of the major languages of Africa. The Oromo language is spoken by close to 40 million people in Ethiopia and northern Kenya and is the second or third largest language in Africa. It is a testament to the resilience of the Oromo language and how it survived over a century of Abyssinian onslaught and suppression. By reading this handbook one can grasp aspects of Oromo culture, systems of thought the principle of social organization and the art of communication. Rare among Oromo educational material, this volume reads smoothly; from learning the sounds of Oromo alphabets also known as qubee, to reading, and understanding the Oromo language. This work is distinct because it brings out the Oromo oral tradition. It is loaded with specific ways Oromos learned, thought, and preserved their language and culture, the essence of their Orommumma (Oromomness). This book strives to fill the void of Oromo educational material not only in North- America, but also in Oromia (Ethiopia), where teaching and learning the Oromo language outlawed by successive Ethiopian regimes and not sufficiently developed under the current government. This book will undoubtedly emerge as a conversation and discussion piece in the learning and teaching of the Oromo language, Oromo history and tradition of the Oromo people.

The book deals with historical, social, economic, political, and international causes, contexts, and consequences of inequalities and conflicts in Africa. In particular, the book is to puts conflicts and turbulences in Ethiopia in a broader, African comparative perspective. It also identifies and analyzes multiple causes of conflicts which cannot be studied only as a result of one variable. Inequalities and conflicts have a whole set of causes stemming from historically inherited, as well as global, international, socio-economic, political and other contexts which cannot be analyzed separately. This book is vital for anyone who is interested in the study of African history, comparative politics, and conflict in Africa.

Reframes the story of modern Ethiopia around the contributions of the Oromo people and the culturally fluid union of communities that shaped the nation's politics and society.