Oromo Religion Myths And Rites Of The Western Oromo Of Ethiopia An Attempt To Understand

The profession of peacemaking has been practiced by indigenous communities around the world for many centuries; however, the ethnocentric world view of the West, which dominated the world of ideas for the last five centuries, dismissed indigenous forms of peacemaking as irrelevant and backward tribal rituals. Neither did indigenous forms of peacemaking fit the conception of modernization and development of the new ruling elites who inherited the postcolonial state. The new profession of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which emerged in the West as a new profession during the 1970s, neglected the tradition and practice of indigenous forms of peacemaking. The scant literature which has appeared on this critical subject tends to focus on the ritual aspect of the indigenous practices of peacemaking. The goal of this book is to fill this lacuna in scholarship. More specifically, this work focuses on the process of peacemaking, exploring the major steps of process of peacemaking which the peacemakers follow in dislodging antagonists from the stage of hostile confrontation to peaceful resolution of disputes and eventual reconciliation. The book commences with a critique of ADR for neglecting indigenous processes of peacemaking and then utilizes case studies from different communities around the world to focus on the following major themes: the basic structure of peacemaking process; change and continuity in the traditions of peacemaking; the role of indigenous women in peacemaking; the nature of the tools peacemakers deploy; common features found in indigenous processes of peacemaking; and the overarching goals of peacemaking activities in indigenous communities.

First full-length history of the Oromo 1300-1700; explains their key part in the medieval Christian kingdom and demonstrates their importance in shaping Ethiopian history.

When we think of Ethiopia we tend to think in cliches: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falasha Jews, the epic reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Communist Revolution, famine and civil war. Among the countries of Africa it has a high profile yet is poorly known. How- ever all cliches contain within them a kernel of truth, and occlude much more. Today's Ethiopia (and its painfully liberated sister state of Eritrea) are largely obscured by these mythical views and a secondary literature that is partial or propagandist. Moreover there have been few attempts to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture that goes beyond the usual guidebook fare. Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia seeks to do just that, presenting a measured, detailed and systematic analysis of the main features of this unique country, now building on the foundations of a magical and tumultuous past as it struggles to emerge in the modern world on its own terms.

In Locating Politics in Ethiopia's Irreecha Ritual Serawit Bekele Debele gives an account of politics and political processes in Ethiopia as manifested in Irreecha celebrations over the years.

A lucid outline of explanations of religious phenomena offered by such great thinkers as Hegel, Marx, and Weber.

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.