Introduction to Anthropology Course

3/7/2023
Introduction to Anthropology (Anth 1012)
By
Mr. Kebede Lemu B.
November, 2022

Unit One
Introducing Anthropology and its Subject Matter
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Definition and Concepts in Anthropology
Etymologically the term anthropology is a
compound of two Greek words,
‘Anthropos’: human-being/mankind and
‘Logos’: reason/study/science.
So, anthropology means reason about
humans‘ or the study or science of humankind
or humanity’.
Anthropology is the study of people-their
origins, their development, and contemporary
variations, wherever and whenever they have
been found.
It is a broad scientific discipline dedicated to
the comparative study of humans as a group,

Cont…
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 In more specific terms, Anthropology is the science
which:
 Investigates the strategies for living that are learned
and shared by people as members of human social
groups;
 Examines the characteristics that human beings
share as members of one species (homo sapiens) and
the diverse ways that people live in different
environments;
 Analyses the products of social groups: material
objects (material cultures) and non-material creations
(religion/beliefs, social values, institutions, practices,
etc

Conti.....
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The ultimate goal of anthropology is to develop
an integrated picture of humankind.
Anthropology primarily offers two kinds of
insight.
First, the discipline produces knowledge about
the actual biological and cultural variations in
the world;
second, anthropology offers methods and
theoretical perspectives enabling practitioners
to explore, compare, understand and solve
societal problems.

The Historical Development of Anthropology
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 Anthropology is a fairly recent discipline. It was given its
present shape during the 20th century.
 The Anthropology (science of humanity), originated in the
region we commonly call the ‘West‘, notably in three or four
Western‘ countries: France, Great Britain, the USA and,
Germany.
 The present academic anthropology has its roots in the works
and ideas of the great ancient and Medieval Greek, Roman, and
Hebrew philosophers and social thinkers.
 Generally speaking, anthropology as an academic discipline
was born during the 19th century, out of the intellectual
atmosphere of Enlightenment, which is the 18th century social
and philosophical movement that emphasized human progress
and the poser of reason, and based on the Darwinian Theory of
Evolution.

Conti....
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 A major impetus for its growth was;
 The expansion of western colonial powers and
 Their consequent desire to better understand the peoples
living under colonial domination.
 Early anthropologists mainly studied small communities who were
called as technologically simple societies, traditional, non-
industrialized .
 In early 1900s indigenous peoples of non-western world and their
social and cultural features were studied in detail and documented.
This approach is called ethnography.
 Ethnology aims at the comparative understanding and analysis of
different ethnic groups across time and space.
 In Ethiopia, professional anthropologists have been studying
culture and society on a more intensive level only since the late
1950s.

Scope and Subject Matter of Anthropology
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Anthropology is the broadest in scope.
The breadth and depth of anthropology is immense; there
is no time and space left as far as man exists and the
temporal dimension covers the past, the present and even
the future.
Anthropology touches upon all aspect of human
conditions as far as there is a relation between human
beings themselves, and humans and natural environment.
Wherever human beings live, there is always
anthropology.
Anthropologists strive for an understanding of the
biological and cultural origins and evolutionary
development of the species.

Sub-fields of Anthropology
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1. Physical/Biological Anthropology: studies the
biological dimensions of human beings, including
biological evolution, the physical variations between
contemporary populations, and the biology and
behaviour of non-human primates.
 Physical anthropologists study how culture and
environment have influenced biological evolution and
contemporary human variations.
There are two major areas of research in physical
anthropology:
1) human evolution, and
2) modern human variation/genetics.

Cont…
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 Human evolution is the study of the gradual
processes of simple forms into more differentiated
structures in hominid.
 Human evolution is further divided into three
specialties:
 Paleoanthropology: is the study of human
biological evolution through the analysis of fossil
remains from prehistoric times
 Primatology: studies about recent human
ancestors to explain human evolution.
 Anthropometry: The study of human variations
within and among different populations in time
and space.
 These physical differences may be in terms of

2. Archaeological Anthropology
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Studies the ways of lives of past peoples by excavating and
analysing the material culture/physical remains (artefacts,
features and eco-facts) they left behind.
Artefacts :- are material remains made and used by the past
peoples and that can be removed from the site and taken to the
laboratory for further analysis. Tools, ornaments, arrowheads,
coins, and fragments of pottery are examples of artefacts.
Archaeological features include such things as house
foundations, ancient buildings, fireplaces, steles, and postholes.
Eco-facts :-are non-artefactual, organic and environmental
remains such as soil, animal bones, and plant remains that were
not made or altered by humans; but were used by them.
 Eco-facts provide archaeologists with important data
concerning the environment and how people used natural
resources in the past.

Cont…
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 Archaeology has also its own subfields or areas of
specialties.
 Prehistoric archaeology:- investigates human
prehistoric cultures . It focuses on entire period
called prehistory- between 6,000 years ago and the
time of the first stone tools (the first artefacts),
around 2.5 million years ago.
 Historic archaeologists :- help to reconstruct the
cultures of people who used writing and about
whom historical documents have been written.
 Ethno-archaeologists :- study material culture of
current societies (e.g., pottery products) to
understand the cultures (life styles) of past
societies.

Conti...
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3. Linguistic Anthropology: studies human language as a cultural
resource and speaking as a cultural practice in its social and
cultural context, across space and time. Language is basically a
system of information transmission and reception.
 Structural /Descriptive Linguistics: Studies the structure of
linguistic patterns. -Structural linguistics studies grammatical
patterns of languages to identify the similarities and differences
among contemporary languages
 Ethno-linguistics (cultural linguistics): Examines the
relationship between language and culture.
 Historical Linguistics: Deals with the emergence of language
in general and how specific languages have diverged over time.
 Socio-Linguistics: Examines how the use of language defines
social groups. It investigates linguistic variation within a given
language.

4. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
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 Socio cultural anthropology describes, analyses, interprets, and explains
social, cultural and material life of contemporary human societies and
culture.
 Society is the group of people who have similar ways of life, but culture
is a way of life of a group of people.
 Society and culture are two sides of the same coin.
 It studies the social (human relations), symbolic or nonmaterial (religious,
language, and any other symbols) and material (all man-made objects)
lives of living peoples.
 Socio-cultural anthropologists engage in two aspects of study:
Ethnography (based on field work) and Ethnology (based on cross-
cultural comparison).
 Ethnography:- provides a comprehensive account of a particular
community, society, or culture.
 It describes the features of specific cultures in as much detail as possible
including local behaviour, beliefs, customs, social life, economic
activities, politics, and religion.
 Ethnology:- is the comparative study of contemporary cultures and
societies, wherever they may be found.

Unique Features of Anthropology
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Anthropology is unique in its scope, approach,
focus and method of study.
1. Anthropology has a broad scope.
 It is interested in all human beings, whether
contemporary or past, ''primitive'' or ''
civilized''.
No place or time is too remote to escape
the anthropologist's notice. No dimension
of human kind, from genes to art styles, is
outside the anthropologist's attention.
 Indeed, Anthropology is the broad study
of human kind, around the world and
throughout time.

Cont..
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2. Its approach:
Holistic: in a sense, that it looks any phenomena from
different vantage points. Studying one aspect of the
ways of life of a group of people by relating it to other
complex related aspects of life.
 Thus, anthropology considers culture, history,
language and biology essential to a complete
understanding of society.
Relativistic: Anthropology tries to study and explain a
certain belief, practice or institution or a group of
people in its own context.
Comparative: Anthropology's comparative perspective
helps to understand differences and similarities among
human beings across time and place.

Cont….
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 3. Emphasis on Insiders' View
 It considers insiders' views as a primary
focus of any anthropological inquiry.
 Anthropological to how people perceive
themselves and understand their world; how
a particular studies give attention group of
people explain about their action, or give
meaning to their behavior or cultural
practices.
 This is called emic point of view.

Cont....
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4. Its Research Approach/Method of Research
 Anthropology is highly dependent on qualitative
research to understand the meaning behind any human
activity. And to explore change and continuities in
human societies. Such as: Extended fieldwork,
participant observation, in-depth and key informant
interviews and focus-group discussion.
 Ethnographic Fieldwork is an important strategy which
normally requires spending a year or more with research
subjects and document realities occurring across time.
5. Unit of Analysis/micro-level Analysis.
 Paying great attention to local or micro-social processes
certainly helps us to better understand big changes in
societies.
 A detailed account of an event or a phenomenon discovers
multiple realities in a community.

Misconceptions about Anthropology
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1. It is said that anthropology is limited to the study of
"primitive" /isolated small-scale societies. However,
anthropologists nowadays study most advanced and most
complex societies as well.
2. Anthropologists only study the rural people and rural
areas.
3. Studies only far away, remote/exotic communities
living isolated from modernization.
4. The purpose of anthropology is to study and preserve
communities far from development and obsolete
cultural practices in museums. Rather, anthropologists‘
duties are to support those communities' capacity to
empower themselves in development processes.

Contributions of Anthropology
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It helps us better understand ourselves/our own ways of
life.
 It gives us insights into d/t ways/modes of life of a given
society(social/cultural diversity) to understand the logic
behind and justification for human activities.
It help us fight against prejudice and
discrimination/ethno-centrism due to its relativistic
approach. Because of its Relativistic approach,
anthropology helps us to be more sensitive to and
appreciative of cultural diversity and variability.
It help us as a tool for development (in its applied
perspective)/Paying attention to local conditions is
crucial to solve community problems.

Unit Two 2
Human Culture and Ties that Connect
Conceptualizing Culture
Anthropologists define culture in different ways.
Edward B.Tylor defined culture as “a complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society”.
B. Malinowski has defined culture “as cumulative creation
of man". He regarded culture as the handiwork of man
and the medium through which he achieves his ends.
 Robert Bierstedt says, “Culture is the complex whole that
consists of everything we think and do and have as
members of society.”
Combining several of these definitions, we may define
culture as the common way of life shared by a group of
people.

Characteristics of Culture
Cultural anthropologists characterize culture as follows
1. Culture is Learned: Culture is not transmitted genetically
rather; it is acquired through the process of learning or
interacting with one’s environment.
 Enculturation is specifically defined as the process by
which an individual learns the rules and values of one’s
culture.
2.Culture is Shared: it must have a shared meaning by at least
two people within a society. In order for a society to operate
effectively, the guidelines must be shared by its members.
3. Culture Is Symbolic: Symbolic thought is unique and
crucial to humans and to cultural learning. A symbol is
something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular language
or culture that comes to stand for something else.
4. Culture Is All-Encompassing: Culture comprises countless
material and non-material aspects of human lives- intellectual,
technical, artistic, physical, and moral creation of human
beings.

Cont…
5. Culture Is Integrated: Cultures are not haphazard
collections of customs and beliefs. Instead, culture should
be thought as of integrated wholes, the parts of which, to
some degree, are interconnected with one another.
6. Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive:
 Humans have both biological and cultural ways of
coping with environmental stresses.
 People adapt themselves to the environment using
culture. But maladaptive to air pollution and over
consumption b/c of chemical emission.
7. Culture Is Dynamic: Culture is changing constantly as
new ideas and new techniques are added as time passes
modifying or changing the old ways.

Aspects/Elements of Culture
 Culture is reflected through the various components that it
comprises, values, language, myths, customs, rituals and
laws.
 Most basic aspects of culture are material and nonmaterial
culture.
1. Material Culture: consist of man-made objects such as
tools, implements, furniture, automobiles, buildings,
dams, roads, bridges…It is referred to as civilization.
2. Non – Material Culture: It is something internal and
intrinsically valuable, reflects the inward nature of man.
 Nonmaterial culture consists of the words the people use or
the language they speak, the beliefs they hold, values and
virtues they cherish, habits, rituals and practices and the
ceremonies, attitudes and outlook, our ways of acting,
feeling and thinking.

Aspects of non-material Culture
 Values: standards by which member of a society define what is good or bad,
beautiful or ugly. They are important because they influence the behaviour of
the members of a society.
 Beliefs: are cultural conventions that concern true or false assumptions,
specific descriptions of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place in it.
 Values are generalized notions of what is good and bad; beliefs are more
specific and, have more content.
 Norms are shared rules or guidelines that define how people “ought” to
behave under certain circumstances and generally connected to the values,
beliefs, and ideologies of a society.
 Norms vary in terms of their importance to a culture, these are:
A) Folkway: Norms guiding ordinary usages and conventions of everyday
life and are norms that are not strictly enforced.
B) Mores: are much stronger norms than are folkways and are norms that are
believed to be essential to core values and we insist on conformity. People
who violate mores are usually severely punished.

Cultural Unity and Variations:
Universality, Generality and Particularity of Culture
 Anthropologists distinguish among the universal, the
generalized, and the particular.
 Certain biological, psychological, social, and cultural features
are universal (found in every culture), others are merely
generalities (common to several but not all human groups), other
traits are particularities (unique to certain cultural traditions).
 Universality: are cultural traits that span across all cultures. Ex,
the universal concept of family based on biology .
 Generality: are cultural traits that occur in many societies but
not all of them ( ex, colonial rule resulting in cultural borrowing
like farming , nuclear family: parents and children, monogamy,
strict control over women’s virginity).
 Particularity: cultural traits that are unique to certain cultural
traditions. Ex, lesbianism.

Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism, Cultural
Relativism and Human Rights
A. Ethnocentrism: refers to the tendency to see the
behaviours, beliefs, values, and norms of one's own group
as the only right way of living and to judge others by
those standards. Judging other cultures as inferior results
in prejudices, misunderstanding and mistrust. Positively it
provide protection for culture.
B. Cultural Relativism: states that cultures differ, so that a
cultural trait, act, or idea has no meaning but its meaning
only within its cultural setting.
 It suspends judgment and views about the behaviour of
people from the perspective of their own culture. It holds
every society has its own culture, which is more or less
unique.
 Cultural relativism describes a situation where there is an
attitude of respect for cultural differences.

Conti...
 Respect for cultural differences involves:
 Appreciating cultural diversity;
 Accepting and respecting other cultures;
 Trying to understand every culture and its elements in terms
of its own context and logic;
 Knowing that a person's own culture is only one among
many; and
 Recognizing that what is immoral, ethical, acceptable, etc, in
one culture may not be so in another culture.
C. Human Rights: human rights advocates challenge many of the
tenets of cultural relativism.
 What if the people practice slavery, violence against women,
torture, or genocide? Is that to be appreciated?
 It is rights based on justice and morality beyond and superior to
particular countries, cultures, and religions.

Conti..
Human rights include the right to speak freely, to
hold religious beliefs without persecution, and to
not be murdered, injured, or enslaved or
imprisoned without charge.
Anthropologists respect human diversity. Most
ethnographers try to be objective, accurate, and
sensitive in their accounts of other cultures.
However, their objectivity, sensitivity and a
cross-cultural perspective got nothing to do with
ignoring international standards of justice and
morality.

Culture Change
 Some of the shared behaviours and ideas that were common at
one time are modified or replaced at another time.
 That is why, any anthropological account of the culture of any
society is a type of snapshot view of one particular time and
there are no cultures that remain completely static year after
year.
 Culture change can occur via following mechanisms:
`1. Diffusion: The process by which cultural elements are
borrowed from another society and incorporated into the
culture of the recipient group.
Direct Diffusion: when two cultures trade with, intermarry
among, or wage war on one another.
 Forced Diffusion :when one culture subjugates another
and imposes its customs on the dominated group.
Indirect Diffusion: when items or traits move from group
A to group C via group B without any first-hand contact
between A and C.

Conti...
2. Acculturation: It is the exchange of cultural
features that results when groups have continuous
first-hand contact. This usually happens in situations
of trade or colonialism.
3. Invention: the process by which humans innovate,
creatively finding solutions to problems is a third
mechanism of cultural change.
One example is the independent invention of
agriculture in the Middle East and Mexico.
4. Globalization: The term globalization encompasses
a series of processes, including diffusion and
acculturation, working to promote change in a world
in which nations and people are increasingly
interlinked and mutually dependent.

Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship
 Marriage: The ritual of marriage marks a change in status for a man
and a woman resulting in formation of the new family.
 Rules of Marriage: Societies also have rules that state whom one
can and cannot marry.
 These prohibitions on mating with certain categories of relatives
known as incest taboos.
 Marriage is, therefore, a permanent legal union between a man and a
woman. It is an important institution without which the society could
never be sustained.
Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?
A) Exogamy: This is the rule by which a man is not allowed to marry
someone from his own social group.
 Reasons for which practice of exogamy got approval:
 A conception of blood relation prevails among the members of a
group. Therefore, marriage within the group-members is
considered a marriage between a brother and sister.
 Attraction between a male and female gets lost due to close
relationship in a small group.

Cont…
B) Endogamy: A rule of endogamy requires individuals to marry
within their own group and forbids them to marry outside it.
Castes in India and Nepal are also endogamous.
C) Preferential Cousin Marriage: A common form of preferred
marriage among relatives.
 Cross Cousins: are children of siblings of the opposite sex- that is
one’s mother’s brothers’ children and one’s father’s sisters’
children.
 the most common b/c, it functions to strengthen and maintain ties
between kin groups established by the marriages that took place in the
proceeding generation.
 Parallel Cousins: When marriage takes place between the children
of the siblings of the same sex. namely the children of one’s
mother’s sister and one’s father brother.
 A common form of cousin marriage is between parallel cousins,
the child of one’s mother’s sister or father’s brother.
• Since parallel cousins belong to the same family, such a practice
can serve to prevent the fragmentation of family property.

Conti..
D) The Levirate and Sororate:
 Another form of mate selection that tends to limit
individual choice are those that require a person to marry
the husband or wife of deceased kin.
 The levirate: is the custom whereby a widow is expected
to marry the brother (or some close male relative) of her
dead husband.
 Usually any children fathered by the woman’s new husband
are considered to belong legally to the dead brother rather
than to the actual genitor.
 Sororate: which comes into play when a wife dies, is the
practice of a widower’s marrying the sister (or some close
female relative) of his deceased wife. For example, in a
society that practice Sororate, a widower may be given as a
substitute wife the daughter of his deceased wife’s brother

Number of Spouses
Societies have rules regulating whom one may/may not marry; they
have rules specifying how many mates a person may/should have.
 Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time.
 Polygamy: marriage of a man or woman with two or more
mates.
 Polygamy can be of two types:
 Polygyny: the marriage of a man to two or more women at a
time.
 Polyandry: the marriage of a woman to two or more men at
a time
 Marriage of a man with two or more sisters at a time is called
sororal polygyny.
 When the co-wives are not sisters, the marriage is termed as non-
sororal polygyny.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Polygamy Marriage
 A sign of prestige. Having multiple wives
means wealth, power, & status both for the
polygynous husband, wives and children.
 It produces more children, who are considered
valuable for future economic and political
assets.
Economic advantage: It encourages to work
hard (more cows, goats..) for more wives.
 The Drawbacks of Polygyny: Jealousy among
the co-wives who frequently compete for the
husband’s attention.

Economic Consideration of Marriage
Such a binding contract includes the transfer of certain rights between the parties
involved: rights of sexual access, legal rights to children, and rights of the spouses
to each other’s economic goods and services.
 Often the transfer of rights is accompanied by the transfer of some type of
economic consideration.
 These transactions, which may take place either before or after the marriage can
be divided into three categories:
1.Bride Price
 It is also known as bride wealth, is the compensation given upon marriage by
the family of the groom to the family of the bride.
 For example, bride price has been seen:-
 As security or insurance for the good treatment of the wife:
 As mechanism to stabilize marriage by reducing the possibility of
divorce
 As a form of compensation to the bride’s lineage for the loss of her
economic potential and childbearing capacity and
 As a symbol of the union between two large groups of kin
2. Bride Service: When the groom works for his wife’s family.
3. Dowry: involves a transfer of goods or money in the opposite direction, from
the bride's family to the groom’s family.
..

Post-Marital Residence
Post-marital residence rule: Where the newly married
couple lives after the marriage ritual is governed by
cultural rules.
 Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or
near the relatives of the husband’s father.
 Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or
near the relatives of the wife.
 Avunculocal Residence: The married couple lives with
or near the husband’s mother’s brother.
 Ambilocal/Bilocal Residence: The married couple has a
choice of living with relatives of the wife or relatives of
the husband.
 Neolocal Residence: The Married couple forms an
independent place of residence away from the relatives of
either spouse.

Family
Family is the basis of human society.
The family, as an institution, is universal and
the most permanent and most pervasive of all
social institutions.
1. The Nuclear Family: Consisting of husband
and wife and their children.
 The Extended Family: In societies based on
extended families, blood ties are more
important than ties of marriage.
Extended families consist of two or more
families that are linked by blood ties.

Functions Marriage and Family
1. Biological Function: The institution of marriage and family
serves biological (sexual and reproductive) function.
2. Economic Function: Marriage brings economic co-operation
between men and women and ensure survival of individuals in a
society.
 With the birth of off-springs the division of labor based on sex
and generation come into play.
 In small scale societies family is a self-contained economic unit
of production, consumption and distribution.
3. Social Function: the institution of marriage brings with it the
creation and perpetuation of the family, the form of person to
person relations and linking once kin group to another kin group
4. Educational and Socialization Function: The burden of
socialization (via processes of enculturation and education) of
new born infants fall primarily upon the family.

Kinship
 Kinship is the method of reckoning relationship.
 In any society every adult individual belongs to two
different nuclear families.
 Family of Orientation: The family in which he was born
and reared.
 Family of Procreation: The other family to which he
establishes relation through marriage.
 The relationship based on blood ties is called
“consanguineous kinship”, and the relatives of this kind are
called ‘consanguineous kin’.
 The desire for reproduction gives rise to another kind of
binding relationship.
 “This kind of bond, which arises out of a socially or legally
defined marital relationship, is called affinal relationship”,
and non of the two are called ‘a fictive kin’.

Descent
 It refers to the social recognition of the biological relationship that
exists between the individuals.
 The rule of descent refers to a set of principles by which an individual
traces his descent.
 Succession and inheritance is related to this rule of descent. There are
three important rules of decent are follows;
1. Patrilineal descent: When descent is traced solely through the male
line. Succession and inheritance pass through the male line.
2. Matrilineal descent: When the descent is traced solely through the
female line.
 At birth, children of both sexes belong to mother’s descent group, but
later only females acquire the succession and inheritance.
 Therefore, daughters carry the tradition, generation after generation.
3. Cognatic Descent: Some people of such society are therefore
connected with the kin-group of father and others with the kin group of
mothers.
 There is no fixed rule to trace the succession and inheritance; any
combination of lineal link is possible in such societies.

Unit-Three :
Human Diversity, Culture Areas and Contact
in Ethiopia

Human Beings & Being Human: What it is to be human?
 Human biology affects human culture; and similarly, human
culture affects human biology.
 One example of this is that the brain size of humans has become
larger over millions of years of evolution, and this is considered
biological change.
 Whereas, the change in human brain has brought cultural
changes in terms of increased intelligence, language and even
the emergence of writing.
 This is why anthropologists use the term bio- cultural to describe
the dual nature of human evolution: both biological and cultural
dimensions.
 Human beings are described as a bio-cultural animal.
 Humanity evolves both as a result of biological factors and
cultural factors. For this reason, anthropologists call it bio-
cultural evolution.

Conti...
As a result, Paleo-anthropologists are concerned with
understanding how cultural, non cultural, and bio-cultural
evolutionary factors shaped humanity through time.
Hence the meaning of humanity from the anthropological
perspective:
 Humanity is the most common term we tend to use to refer to
human beings.
 Humanity stands for the human species, a group of life forms with
the following characteristics:
Bipedalism (walking on two legs);
 Relatively small teeth for primates of our size;
Relatively large brains for primates of our size;
 Using modern language to communicate ideas; and
 Using complex sets of ideas called culture to survive.

Origin of the Modern Human Species: Homo sapiens
Cosmologies Vs. Evolutionally and Paleo-anthropological Explanations
 Cosmologies and Human Origins፡
 Cosmologies are conceptual frameworks that present the universe (the
cosmos) as an orderly system.
 The most profound questions are the ones that perplex us the most.
 Where did we come from?
 Why are we here?
 What is our place in the universe?
 They often include answers to these basic questions about human
origins and the place of human kind in the universe, usually considered
the most sacred of all cosmological conceptions.
 Cosmologies account for the ways in which supernatural beings or
forces formed human beings and the planet we live on.
 These beliefs are transmitted from generation to generation through
ritual, education, laws, art, and language
 For example, the Navajo people of the south western United States
believe that the Holy People, supernatural and sacred, lived below
ground in 12 lower worlds.

Cont..
Western Traditions of Origins:
 The ancient Greeks had various mythological
explanations for human origins.
 One early view was that Prometheus fashioned humans
out of water and earth. Another had Zeus ordering
Pyrrha, the inventor of fire, to throw stones behind his
back, which in turn became men and women.
 Later Greek views considered biological evolution.
 The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (c.636–546
BC) attempted to understand the origin and the existence
of the world without reference to mythology.
 He argued that life originated in the sea and that humans
initially were fishlike, eventually moving onto dry land
and evolving in to mammals.

Cont...
 The most important cosmological tradition affecting
Western views of creation is recounted in the biblical
Book of Genesis, which is found in Greek texts dating
back to the 3rd century BC. This Judaic tradition
describes how God created the cosmos.
 It begins with “In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth” and describes how creation took six days
during which light, heaven, Earth, vegetation, Sun,
Moon, stars, birds, fish, animals, and humans originated.
 Yahweh, the Creator, made man, Adam, from “dust” and
placed him in the Garden of Eden. Woman, Eve, was
created from Adam’s rib.
 Later, as Christianity spread throughout Europe, this
tradition became the dominant cosmological explanation
of human origins.

Evolutionary and Paleo-anthropological perspectives on
human origin
 Evolution refers to a process and gradual change in species over time.
 In fact, evolution is used to describe the cumulative effects of three independent
facts.
 Importantly, these attributes of evolution can be observed in nature every day.
They are:
 Replication: The fact that life forms have offspring;
 Variation: The fact that each offspring is slightly different from its
parents, and its siblings; and
 Selection: The fact that not all offspring survive, and those that do
tend to be the ones best suited to their environment.
 One of the prominent persons in relation to evolutionary development is
Charles Darwin (1809-1882), a British Naturalist of the period.
 Charles Darwin is known for his theory of natural selection in the evolution of
species and the idea of survival of the fittest.

Cont...
 In doing so, anthropologists study humanity as a biological
phenomenon by raising questions such as:
 What species are we most and least like?
 Where and when did we fist appear?
 What were our ancestors like?
 Can we learn about human behaviour from the behaviour of
our nearest relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas?
 Is our species still evolving? How do modern human genetics,
population growth, and other current issues play out from a
biological perspective?
 The answers to the above mentioned and many other questions
about our species is in the study of evolution- the change through
time of the properties of a living species.
That’s because evolution is the foundation of the life sciences.

The Kinds of Humanity: Human physical variation
Racial types- anthropological perspectives
 Biologically speaking, a race is a group of organisms of the
same species that share similar physical (and genetic)
attributes and specific geographic regions.
 In short, they’re subdivisions of a single species- meaning
they can mate and have offspring that are healthy enough to
have their own offspring-exhibiting some characteristics
reflecting their geographical origins.
 Adaptation is a process (behavioural and/or biological) that
increases the likelihood of survival for an organism.
 An adaptation can be a mutation that confers an advantage.
 In humans, adaptations include complex behaviour, such as
making tools w/c is cultural.
 These behaviours aren’t passed on genetically but rather
culturally.

Cont...
Skin colour—one of the most visible human
characteristics — is a good example of adaptation
to a particular environment.
 The darkest skin appears in populations
originating in tropical zones, such as Africa and
Asia.
 The lightest skin is traditionally found in northern
Europe because over time, natural selection
favoured darker skins in areas that received
extensive and more intensive sunlight, because
individuals with lighter skin in these areas were
more prone to skin cancers.
Darker skin, then, is an adaptation to the
geographical conditions of Africa.

What Anthropologists can say for sure about Human Races?
 Anthropologically speaking; First, these genetic differences
don’t mean a lot, biologically. Because all healthy humans can
mate and have healthy offspring, we’re all in Homo sapiens.
 Race is nearly meaningless when applied to humanity.
 Second — and most important — is that cultural behavior isn’t
genetically linked to those geographical differences.
 Most of human behavior isn’t biologically determined or
filtered in through the natural environment.
 One of the main reasons the race concept really doesn’t apply
to humans is that defining human races is almost impossible:
 For most professional anthropologists today, human “race” is
an antiquated concept- it is illusion .

Why is Everyone Different? Human Cultural Diversity/Variation
 Although all humans are of the same species, they don’t all act the same;
human behavior varies tremendously worldwide .
 If race doesn’t control a person’s characteristics, what does account for
human behavioral variation? In short, the answer is culture.
 Cultures differ because people live in different conditions, be they
ecological, economic, social.
Culture area and cultural contact in Ethiopia
 Culture areas refers to a cluster of related cultures occupying a certain
geographical region (Afred Kroeber 1920s).
 Culture areas in Ethiopia
A. Plough culture area
– represents those parts of the country where agriculture is predominantly
the means by which subsistence is eked out.
– Highland and central part of the country serves as the backbone of the
economy is considered a plough culture.
– It has been a subject of anthropological inquires over the past seven decades
starting from the 1950s by ethnographers like Donald Levine, Allen
Hobben, Fredrick Gamst and Jack Bauer.

Cont...
B. Enset culture area
 covers a vast region in the southern part of country.
Enset cultivating regions of the present day SNNPRS
(Guraghe, Sidama and Gedeo)
 enset serves as a staple diet to the people who make use
the plant in a wide variety of forms for a living.
C. Pastoral culture area
 It is found in the low land areas covering a large
section of Afar, Somali and Borana.
 Inhabitants rely significantly on their herds and cattle
for a living.
 Mobility of people and herds is a major characteristic
feature.

Unit 4
Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable Groups
Definition of concepts
 What is marginalization?
 It is defined as a treatment of a person or social group as minor,
insignificant or peripheral.
 It involves exclusion of certain groups from social interactions,
marriage relations, sharing food and drinks, and working and living
together.
 Who are mostly marginalized? Women, children, older people, and
people with disabilities.
 Religious, ethnic, and racial minorities are also among social groups
marginalized in different societies and cultures. Crafts workers such as
tanners, potters, and ironsmiths are marginalized in many parts of
Ethiopia.
What is vulnerability? refers to the state of being exposed to physical or
emotional injuries. Vulnerable groups are people exposed to possibilities
of attack, harms or mistreatment.
 For example, children and people with disabilities need special support
and protection as they are exposed to risks and neglect because of their
age and disabilities.

Minority groups
 refers to a small group of people within a community, region, or
country. In most cases, minority groups are different from the majority
population in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and language.
 For example, black Americans are minorities in the United States of
America. Muslims can be minorities in a predominantly Hindu society.
 Hence, minority groups can be ethnic minorities, religious minorities, or
racial minorities in a given community, region of country.
Gender-based Marginalization:
 Gender inequality involves discrimination on a group of people based on
their gender. Gender inequality mainly arises from socio-cultural norms.
 Gender-based marginalization is a global problem.
 It involves exclusion of girls and women from a wide range of
opportunities and social services. Example, Gender disparities in
education

Cont...
 Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based
violence such as rape, early/child marriage, abduction/forced
marriage, domestic violence and female genital
cutting/mutilation.
 There are some customary practices that affect the health and
wellbeing of girls and women. These practices collectively
are called harmful traditional practices (HTPs).
Health impacts of female genital cutting
Short term and long term implications for the health of girls
and women including severe bleeding, infections, pain
during sexual intercourse, delivery complications, and
fistula.
The impacts also include psychological trauma.

Factors that encourage female genital cutting
 The practice of FGC is sustained for some reasons:
1) people consider it as an integral part of their culture;
2) people believe that the practice has some benefits.
 beliefs related to the practice:
FGC is considered as a process of purifying girls. In some parts of
Ethiopia, people believe that uncircumcised girls tend to destroy
household utensils.
 they are promiscuous because they have high sexual drive.
FGC is also considered as a means of preserving girls’ virginity,
which is considered as a precondition for marriage in some
cultures.
 Female genital cutting is sustained and enforced by social
expectations and norms. Girls and parents who decide to abandon
the practice would be subject to social sanctions. examples:
 Social exclusion and marginalization:
 Gossip and insult

Cont....
Marginalized occupational groups: occupational
marginalized groups in many parts of Ethiopia includes
tanners, potters, weavers and ironsmiths.
Craft-workers such as potters and tanners are
considered as impure and excluded from social
interactions, ownership of economic resources (e.g.,
land), and participation in associations and
celebrations.
 They contribute to their communities; however, they
are marginalized by the dominant and majority groups.
 Dena Freeman and Alula Pankhurst (2001), identified
different forms of marginalization targeting minority
occupational groups.

Types and manifestations of marginalization of craft-workers
Type of
marginalization
Manifestations of marginalization
Spatial
marginalization
Craft-workers settle/live on the outskirts of
villages, near to forests, on poor land, around steep
slopes.
They are segregated at market places (they sell
their goods at the outskirts of markets).
When they walk along the road, they are expected
to give way for others and walk on the lower side of
the road.
Economic
marginalization
Craft-workers are excluded from certain economic
activities including production and exchanges.
 In some cultures they are not allowed to cultivate
crops.
They have a limited access to land and land
ownership.

Cont...
Type of marginalization Manifestations of marginalization
Social marginalization Craft-workers are excluded from
intermarriage, they do not share burial places
with others; they are excluded from
membership of associations such as iddirs.
 When marginalized groups are allowed to
participate in social events, they must sit on the
floor separately-sometimes outside the house
or near the door
Cultural marginalization manifested in negative stereotyping such as
the following: -
-Occupational minorities are labelled as
impure and polluting; they are accused of
eating animals that have died without being
slaughtered;
-Occupational minorities are also considered
unreliable, lacking morality, respect and
shame.

Age-based vulnerability
 It is susceptibility of people, especially children and older people,
to different forms of attack, physical injuries and emotional harms
or mistreatment because of their age. A result, vulnerable
persons/groups need special attention, protection and support.
Children: Discrimination/vulnerability
 Both boys and girls are exposed to some harm and abuse in the
hands of older people. However, girls are exposed to double
marginalization and discrimination because of the gender.
 Girls are exposed to harmful traditional practices such as female
genital cutting and early/child marriage in many parts of Ethiopia.
 Early marriage refers to marriage which involves girls below the
age of 18.

Factors Encouraging Early Marriage
1. Social norms: Social norms contribute a lot for the
continuation of early marriage in many parts of the world.
 Chastity of girls is one of the social norms that influence
parents and relatives to protecting girls from pre-marital sex.
Girl’s reputation and family social status are associated with
sexual purity of girls.
Major harmful consequences of early marriage:
Young girls enter into marital relation when they are too
young to give their consent to get married.
 Early marriage inhibits girls' personal development( chance
to education and future professional development).
 Early marriage exposes young girls to sexual abuse by their
older husbands.
 Early marriage leads to early pregnancies.

Conti..
2. Economic factors: parents, in some cases girls, support early
marriage for economic benefits such as access to land and other
resources.
 Parents’ desire to get a good husband for their daughter is also
another reason.
Marginalization of Older Persons:
 Age based marginalization also affects older people.
 The phrase ‘older people’ refers to adults with the age of 60 and
above.
 Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian
cultures.
 Older persons have been considered as custodians of tradition,
culture, and history.
 The role of older persons crucial in mentoring younger people,
resolving disputes, and restoring peace across Ethiopian cultures.
 Situations are changing as family structures and living patterns are
changing over time.

Cont...
 Rural-urban migration, changes in values and life style, education
and new employment opportunities lead to so many changes.
 Care and support for older people tend to decline as younger
people migrate to urban areas and exposed to economic pressure
and new life styles
 Ageism refer to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against
people based on their age.
 Older people are facing various problems as a result of
modernization, globalization, and urbanization.
 Older people are exposed to social exclusion because of their
lower social and economic status.
 Older persons are marginalized because they are considered as
social burden rather than social assets.
 Communities do not provide older persons with opportunities to
contribute to their communities.

Religious and Ethnic Minorities
 There are several examples of marginalization and discrimination
targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the world. two
examples.
 The Jewish people suffered from discrimination and persecution in
different parts of the world ( extermination in Germany b/c
identity) and also Muslim Rohingyas.
Human right approaches and inclusiveness:
Anthropological perspectives
The major human rights conventions denounce discrimination against
women, children, people with disability, older people and other minority
and vulnerable groups.
 People with disabilities have the right to inclusive services and equal
opportunities.
The human rights of women and girls include right to be free from
harmful traditional practices such as forced marriage, early marriage, and
female genital cutting.
 Any form of discrimination, exclusion, and gender-based violence also
violate the human rights girls and women.

Cont...
Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality.
This does not mean that we need to appreciate every custom
and practice.
 Anthropologists do not support/appreciate cultural practices
that violate the rights and wellbeing of individuals and groups.
For example, anthropologists do not support the following
harmful practices in the name of cultural relativism:
 Female genital cutting (FGC): Anthropologists do not support
FGC for practical reasons: FGC violates the rights of girls to
physical integrity.
 Early/child marriage: Anthropologists do not support early
marriage for similar reasons: Early marriage violates the rights
of young girls to make decision about their future.

Unit 5: Identity, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Multi-culturalism
in Ethiopia
Ethnicity – A Short Historical Overview
 The English origin of the term ‘ethnicity’ is connected to term
“ethnic,”–has been in use since the Middle Ages.
 Derived from Greek ‘ethnos’ (which in turn, derived from the
Latin word ‘ethnikos’), meaning “a group of people bound
together by the same manners, customs or other distinctive
features”.
 In the context of ancient Greek,
 Ethnic refers to a collectively of humans lived and acted
together -which is typically translated today as ‘people’ or
‘nation’ (not political unit per say, but group of people with
shared communality) (Jenkins, 1997).
 In its modern sense, it was only after the end of WW II that the
term widely adopted and begins to use.
7 March 2023 72

Cont…..
• Ethnicity belongs to social and cultural
groups. It is based on the sociological
structure.
• It is determined based on a person’s
national, regional, and cultural group.
• According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary, ethnicity means “the fact or state
of belonging to a social group that has a
common national and cultural tradition”.
7 March 2023 73

Cont..
The North American tradition adopted ‘ethnic’ as a
substitute for minority groups within a larger society
of the nation-state.
The European tradition regularly opted ‘ethnic
group’ as a synonym for nationhood, defined
historically by descent or territory.
While adding new definition of ethnic as an
immigrant minority (i.e., Pakistani, West Indian, Sri
Lankan, etc.).
From this short history of the term is the fact that
‘ethnicity’ contains a multiplicity of meanings.
In other words, ethnicity is “vague, elusive and
expansive’’
7 March 2023 74

Conceptualizing Ethnicity: What’s it?
 Max Weber: an “ethnic group” is based on belief in
common descent shared by its members, and common
customs, language, religion, values, morality, and
etiquette.
 Max Weber insists that ethnic groups are social
constructions because they are based on a shared
community.
 He says that it is not a belief in the community that
creates the group, but it is a group that creates the
belief.
 Weber suggest that the belief in common ancestry is
likely to be a consequence of collective political action;
 People come to see themselves as belonging together –
coming from a common background – as a consequence
of acting together.
7 March 2023 75

Cont..
As Weber (1968) emphasized, it is effectiveness of
social action and, above all, a political aspect of
group action that ‘inspires belief in common
ethnicity’ and transforms group membership into a
political community.
In other words, Max Weber, an ethnic group is
based,
“on the belief in common descent shared by its
members because of similarities or physical
type or of customs or both, or because of
memories of colonization & migration”.
 And “it does not matter whether or not an objective
blood relationship exists”, but believed to exist.
7 March 2023 76

Cont..
Frederik Barth (1969) Norwegian
anthropologist outlined in detail a model
of ethnicity.
Barth began with what actors believe or
think: actors use ethnic identities to
categorize themselves and others for
purposes of interaction, they form ethnic
groups in this organizational sense.
7 March 2023 77

Cont….
• Fredrik Barth’s “Ethnic Groups and
Boundaries” is an instrumental work in
the development of ethnicity.
• He emphasizes the situational, relational,
and interactional nature of ethnicity.
• He contends that cultural features are
situationally defined.
• When we interact with other ethnic groups, we
maintain our ethnic boundaries.
For Barth, ethnicity is seen as a ‘social
organization of culture difference’.
7 March 2023 78

Cont….
• Abner Cohen,
• He is one of the first Anthropologists to
propose a coherent and sustainable method of
understanding ethnicity.
• a member of Manchester School, laid the
foundation for the instrumental approach to
ethnicity.
• Instrumental approach suggests that elites
agitate ethnic tension by intentionally
provoking ethnic violence as a method to
seize power, defend against group threat, and
protect their existing authority.
7 March 2023 79

Cont..
Before Barth, ethnicity was traditionally
explained from inside out;
 social groups possess different
cultural characteristics, which make
them unique and distinct (common
language, lifestyle, descent, religion,
physical markers, history, eating
habits, etc.).
7 March 2023 80

Cont...
F. Barth explained ethnicity from the outside in:
It is not the ‘possession’ of cultural
characteristics that makes social groups
distinct but rather it is the social interaction
with other groups that makes that difference
possible, visible and socially meaningful.
The difference is created, developed and maintained
only through interaction with others (i.e., Frenchness
is created and becomes culturally and politically
meaningful only through the encounter with
Englishness, Germaness, Danishness, etc.).
7 March 2023 81

Cont...
 Furthermore, Barth’s research established a
foundation for understanding ethnicity in
universalist rather than in Particularists
terms.
 The 'basic social anthropological model of
ethnicity' can be summarized as follows:
Ethnicity is a matter of cultural
differentiation - identification always
involves a dialectical interplay between
similarity and difference.
7 March 2023 82

Cont….
Ethnicity is centrally a matter of shared
meanings - what we conventionally call 'culture'
- but is also produced and reproduced during
interaction.
Ethnicity is no more fixed than the way of life of
which it is an aspect, or the situations in which it
is produced and reproduced.
 Ethnicity, as an identification, is collective and
individual, externalized in social interaction and
the categorization of others, and internalized in
personal self-identification.
7 March 2023 83

Cont….
• Abner Cohen, a member of
Manchester School, laid the foundation
for the instrumental approach to
ethnicity.
• It suggests that elites agitate ethnic
tension by intentionally provoking
ethnic violence as a method to seize
power, defend against group threat, and
protect their existing authority.
7 March 2023 84

Ethnic Groups
Max Weber, state an “ethnic group is based on
belief in common descent shared by its
members, extending beyond kinship, political
solidarity vis-a-vis other groups, and common
customs, language, religion, values, morality,
and etiquette (manners)” (Weber, 1978).
 Anderson (1983): “an imagined
community” that possesses a “character and
quality” (Anderson, 1983).
7 March 2023 85

Cont…..
Schermerhorn (1996): as a unit of population
having unique characteristics in relation with
others, binding with common language, myth
of origin, and history of ethnic allegiance
(1996).
F. Barth (1969), as a self-defined group based
on subjective factors and/or fundamental
cultural values chosen by members from their
past history or present existing conditions in
which members are aware of-and-in contact
with other ethnic groups.
7 March 2023 86

Cont...
By considering the various definitions provided to
define ethnicity, Hutchinson and Smith’s (1996)
identified six main features that definition of an
ethnic group, predominantly consists. This
includes;
1. A common proper name, to identify and express
the “essence” of the community;
2. A myth of common ancestry that includes the
idea of common origin in time and place and that
gives an ethnic group a sense of fictive kinship;
3. Shared historical memories, or better, shared
memories of a common past or pasts, including
heroes, events, and their commemoration;
7 March 2023 87

Cont….
4. One or more elements of common
culture, which need not be specified but
normally, include religion, customs, and
language;
5. A link with a homeland, not necessarily its
physical occupation by the ethnic group, only
its symbolic attachment to the ancestral land,
as with diaspora peoples; and
6. A sense of solidarity on the part of at least
some sections of the ethnic’s population
(Hutchinson and Smith, 1996:6-7).
7 March 2023 88

Ethnic Identity
 It is an affiliative construct, where an individual is viewed by
themselves and by others as belonging to a particular ethnic
or cultural group.
 Affiliation can be influenced by
 Racial factors: the use of physical characteristics,
 Natal factors : "homeland" (ancestral home) or origins of
individuals, their parents and kin,
Symbolic factors : those factors that typify or exemplify an
ethnic group (e.g., holidays, foods, clothing, artifacts, etc.).
Cultural factors: Symbolic ethnic identity usually implies
that individuals choose their identity, however, to some
extent the cultural elements of the ethnic or racial group
have a modest influence on their behavior (Kivisto &
Nefzger, 1993).
7 March 2023 89

Cont...
On the individual level, ethnicity is a social-
psychological process, which gives an individual a
sense of belonging and identity.
 Ethnic identity can be defined as a manner in which
persons, on account of their ethnic origin, locate
themselves psychologically in relation to one or
more social systems, and in which they perceive
others as locating them in relation to those systems.
Aspects of Ethnic Identity
There are two aspects of Ethnic Identity
1. External and
2. Internal Ethnic Identity
7 March 2023 90

1. External aspects refer to observable behaviour,
both cultural and social, such as
(1), speaking an ethnic language, practicing ethnic
traditions,
(2), participation in ethnic personal networks, such as
family and friendships,
(3), participation in ethnic institutional organizations,
such as churches, schools, enterprises, media .
(4), participation in ethnic voluntary associations, such
as clubs, 'societies,' youth organizations and
(5) participation in functions sponsored by ethnic
organizations such as picnics, concerts, public lectures,
rallies, dances.
7 March 2023 91

Cont…..
2. The internal aspects of ethnic
identity refer to images, ideas, attitudes,
and feelings which are interconnected
with external behavior.
• Three types of internal aspects of
identity:
(1) cognitive,
(2) moral, and
(3) affective.
7 March 2023 92

Racial Classification: A Short Historical Overview
It was common to divide humanity into four main
races, both on the scientific and folk notions of the
concept.
 In this regard, race was used both as a system of human
classification and social stratification. Europeaeus,
Americanus , Asiaticus, Africanus.
The folk Notions perceived race as a non-overlapping
and distinguishable categories of people; which is fixed
and/or natural (immutable) in its character. “folk” and
“scientific” notions of race begin to diverge in the early
20th century.
7 March 2023 93

Cont…
The concept ‘race’ is ambiguity because of
two main reasons:
• 1. There has always been so much
interbreeding between human
populations that it would be meaningless
to talk of fixed boundaries between races.
• 2. The distribution of hereditary physical
traits does not follow clear boundaries.
7 March 2023 94

Theories of Ethnicity
Primordialist Approach: Ethnicity is fixed at
birth. Ethnic identification is based on deep,
‘primordial’ attachments to a group or culture.
Primordialism holds that ethnicity has
always existed in human history. For them,
ethnicity is closely linked to the nation.
Primordialists hold that ethnicity is given at
birth and is drawn from kin-clan structure.
They view ethnic identity as innate, fixed, and
permanent.
7 March 2023 95

Cont….
Instrumentalist Approach: Ethnicity, based
on people’s “historical” and “symbolic”
memory, is something created and used and
exploited by leaders and others in the
pragmatic pursuit of their own interests.
Approach suggests that elites agitate ethnic
tension by intentionally provoking ethnic
violence as a method to seize power,
defend against group threat, and protect their
existing authority.
7 March 2023 96

Cont….
Constructivist Approach: Ethnic identity is
something people “construct” in specific social and
historical contexts to further their own interests. It is
therefore fluid and subjective.
The constructionist approach asserts that ethnicity is
socially constructed.
This approach is based on the notion that it is
constructed in everyday living. Unlike the earlier
instrumental conception, ethnicity is constructed
through social interaction, by both elites and
ordinary people.
7 March 2023 97

Introduction to Anthropology Course

Indigenous and Local Governance
Indigenous systems of governance have been used to
maintain social order across Ethiopian regions.
Understanding of indigenous systems of governance
helps us know our cultures.
I. The Oromo Gada: Scholars have been studying
Oromo Gada since the 1950s. Ex. Paul Baxter, Eike
Haberland and Asmerom Legesse.
It is ‘an age grading institution of the Oromo that
has a complex system of administration, law making
and dispute settlement’ (Pankhurst and Getachew
2008, xiv).

Cont…..
As the role of indigenous systems of governance is
becoming so vital in democratization globally,
It is necessary to depict the role that Gadaa institutions
play in good governance and peaceful coexistence
(Tesema, 2016).
Gadaa system is essentially a home-grown (indigenous)
democratic socio-political organization of the Oromoo
people.
In Gada system, political power is transferred from one
generation set (Luuba) to another every eight years.
Gada officials such as the Abba Gada and Abba Seera
(father of law) serve for eight years and leave their
position to new generation of Gada officials.

Cont...
The Gada system involves a continuous process of law
making and revision. The law making process has rooms
for wider participation of the people.
Gumi Gaayoo, a law making assembly of the Borana
Oromo similar with Yaa’ii haaraa in Woliso Oromo held
every eight years.
The Gada is an indigenous system of governance, conflict
resolution, and peacemaking.
 The indigenous system of governance among the Oromo
also include institutions of conflict resolution such as the
Jaarsa Biyyaa (literally: elders of the soil/land)
institution.

II. The Gedeo Baalle
The Baalle and the Gada system of the Oromo have
some similarities in terms of grading system and exercise
periodic transfer of power (i.e., every eight years) and
The higher role of religion .
Moreover, the customary law of the Gedeo is called
Seera.
The Ya’a, the general assembly, is the highest body of
Gedeo indigenous system of governance.
 The Baalle is a complex system which has three
administrative hierarchies:
 Abba Gada,
 Roga (traditional leader next to the Abba Gada), and
 Two levels of council of elders known as Hulla Hayyicha and
Songo Hayyicha.

Cont...
• In general, the Gedeo system of
governance has the following major
institutions:
–the Ya’a (general assembly),
–the Seera (customary law),
–the Abba Gada, and
–council of elders.

III. Dere Woga of the Gamo
The Gamo did not have a centralized political
system.
 Dere: organized several local
administrations.
There were more than 40 deres across
the Gamo highlands.
 Each dere had its own ka’o (king) and
halaqa (elected leader).
The indigenous system of governance
embraces the dere woga (customary law)
and the dubusha assemblies.

Cont...
• Dere Dubusha: The highest body of the
indigenous governance and a general assembly
that make and revise customary laws, resolve
major disputes that cannot be solved at the
lower levels.
• The dubushas assembly has three hierarchies:
 The dere dubusha (at the top),
Sub-dere dubusha (at the middle), and
Guta (neighborhood) dubusha (at the
village level).

Cont….
Minor cases and disputes are resolved by
the dere cima, council of elders.
Like the Oromo Gada and the Gedeo
Baalle, the indigenous governance of the
Gamo is embedded in the Gamo belief
system.

Intra and inter-ethnic conflict resolution
institutions
Indigenous justice institutions and mechanisms
share several common aspects including the
following:
High involvement of elders at different stages
of conflict resolution and peacemaking
process.
Indigenous dispute resolution practices focus
on restoring social relationships, harmony, and
peaceful coexistence.

Cont….
Preference and respect for elders known for
their qualities including;
 experience in dispute resolution;
knowledge of customary laws, procedures,
norms and values of the society;
impartiality,
respect for rules and people;
the ability of listening and speaking politely;
 honesty and tolerance.

Cont...
• Indigenous justice systems also have differences in
terms of hierarchies, procedures and level of
complexities. For example,
In some cultural settings, conflict resolution
mechanisms involve several hierarchies and
complicated procedures;
The compositions and responsibilities of council of
elders also vary from society to society.
 For example, different types of elders address
different forms of disputes in some cultural settings;
whereas the same body of elders deal with various
types of disputes in other settings.

Cont...
 In Ethiopia, customary justice institutions include
three major components.
1) Customary Laws: a body of rules, norms, and a
set of moral values that serve as a wider
framework for human conduct and social
interactions. For example,
The Sera of the Sidama,
the dere woga of the Gamo,
the Seera Aadaa of the Oromo;
Gordena Sera of Kestane Gurage .
• In most cases, customary laws are available orally.

Cont….
2. Council of elders: embraces highly
respected and well-experienced community
members who have a detail knowledge of the
customary laws. Ex,
 Yehager Shimagile (Amhara),
 Jaarsa Biyyaa (Oromo),
 Hayyicha (Gedeo),
 Guurtii (Somali),
 Dere Cima (Gamo),
 Deira Cimma (Wolayita), and
 Cimuma (Burji).

Cont….
3. Customary Courts: public assemblies
that serve two major purposes:
(a) hearing, discussing and settling
disputes, and
(b) revising, adapting, and making laws.
 Generally, indigenous justice systems in
Ethiopia embrace three major structures:
customary laws, customary courts, and
council of elders.

The three structures of Gamo customary justice
system
The Dere Woga: It is a comprehensive body of rules and
procedures that govern a wide range of issues including
inheritance, property ownership, marriage and divorce,
conflict resolution and gender division of labour.
The Dere Cima: elders of the land/country.
• It includes notable and respected elders experienced in
resolving disputes.
Dubusha: it is customary courts. Dere dubusha, the
biggest customary court in a given Gamo community, has
two major functions:
(a) hearing, discussing and resolving disputes, and
(b) revising and making laws.

Strengths of Customary Justice Institutions
Incur limited cost in terms of time and resources/money;
elders do not request payment for their services; fines and
compensation are relatively small;
 Conflict resolution process are held in public spaces in
the community; different parties (victims, offenders and
community members) participate in the process; decisions
are communicated in public;
Decisions are easily enforced through community-based
sanctions including social exclusion; compliance ensured
through blessings and the threat of curses;
Customary systems aimed at restoring community
cohesion, social relations, collective spirit and social
solidarity.
 Rely on respect for elders, the tradition of forgiveness,
transferring compensations, embedded in indigenous
beliefs.

Limitations of Customary Justice Institutions
Limitations related to protecting and
safeguarding women’s rights.
Indigenous institutions of dispute resolution
and peacemaking are effective to resolve
dispute and restore peace within the same
ethnic group. But their potential in resolving
inter-ethnic conflicts and restoring long-lasting
peace is very limited.
Inter-ethnic conflict resolution: some example
of inter-ethnic conflict resolution institutions in
some parts of Ethiopia.

Cont….
Abbo Gereb is indigenous institutions that address inter-
ethnic conflicts in Rayya and Wajirat district, Southern
Tigray.
It serves to settle disputes between individuals or
groups from highland Tigray and lowland Afar.
Ethnographic findings also reveal existence of inter-
ethnic conflict resolution mechanisms when conflicts
arise between Afar, Issa, Tigrayans and Argobba.
The mechanisms of inter-ethnic disputes have
different names. It is called
Xinto among the Afar,
Edible among the Issa,
Gereb among the Tigrayans, and Aboroge among the
Amhara.

Women’s Role in Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking
• In some societies, women use their own
institutions to exercise power, protect their rights,
and actively participate in peacemaking activities.
• Three examples:
I. Women’s peacemaking sticks: Sidama women
have two instruments of power: the Yakka and
the Siqqo.
 The Yakka is women’s association or unity
group.
 The Siqqo is a stick that symbolizes peace and
women honor.

Cont…..
II. Don Kachel: Agnuak women peacemaking
institution: ‘Don Kachel’ means ‘let us all live
in peace’.
 It involves a peace-making movement initiated
by Jaye, a group of wise and elderly Agnuak
women.
III. Women’s institution of reconciliation:
Raya-Azebo, Tigray:
Elderly and highly respected women in a village
in Raya-Azebo, Tigray established a
reconciliation institution called the Debarte.

Legal pluralism: Interrelations Between
Customary, Religious and State Legal Systems
• It refers to the existence of two or more legal
or justice systems in a given society or
country.
• Multiple legal institutions, including customary
laws and courts, state laws and courts, and
religious laws and courts (e.g., the Sharia Law)
work side-by-side since a single legal system
does not have a capability to address all legal
cases and maintaining peace and order.

Cont…..
• The FDRE Constitution recognizes religious
and customary laws and courts to address
personal and family cases.
In accordance with provisions to be specified
by law, a law giving recognition to marriage
concluded under systems of religious or
customary laws may be enacted (Art 34(4).
Religious and customary courts that had state
recognition and functioning prior to the
adoption of the Constitution shall be
organized on the basis of recognition
accorded to them by Constitution. (Art 78(5))

Chapter Seven
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
and Practices

Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• It is technical insight of wisdom gained and
developed by people in a particular locality
through years of careful observation and
experimentation with the phenomena around
them.
• (IKS) refer to a body of empirical knowledge
and beliefs handed down through generations
of long-time inhabitants of a specific locale, by
cultural transmission, about the relationship of
living beings with each other and their
environment (Warren 1991).

Cont….
• In sum, IKS refers to “ a total of
knowledge and practices, whether
explicit or implicit, used in the
management of socioeconomic,
ecological and spiritual facets of life
(Hoppers, 2005: 2), stored in the
collective memory and communicated
orally among members of the community
and to the future generations [through,
stories, myth, songs, etc].

Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous peoples
• In international context, while the term
‘indigenous’ is understood (mostly by
Europeans) as being similar or synonym to
‘traditional’, ‘aboriginal’, ‘vernacular’,
‘African’, ‘Black’, and ‘native
American’, the phrase ‘indigenous
people' refers to a specific group of people
occupying a certain geographic area for
many generations (Loubser, 2005).

Cont...
• The World Bank's definition of indigenous peoples
includes;
 close attachment to ancestral territories and the
natural resources in them;
 presence of customary social and political
institutions; -economic systems primarily oriented
to subsistence production;
 an indigenous language, often different from the
predominant language; and
 self-identification and identification by others as
members of a distinct cultural group (The world
Bank in Corntassel, 2003:86).

Cont...
• In sum, despite the lack of an authoritative /
formal universal definition for the concept of
indigenous peoples, the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
(UNPFII) sets outs distinguishing features as a
guide for the identification of indigenous
peoples across the globe. This includes the:
Self- identification as Indigenous peoples at the
individual level and accepted by the community as
their member;

Cont…
Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or
pre-settler societies;
Strong link to territories and surrounding
natural resources;
Distinct social, economic or political systems;
Distinct language, culture and beliefs;
Formation of non-dominant groups of society;
and
Resolve to maintain and reproduce their
ancestral environments and systems as
distinctive peoples and communities.

Indigenous Knowledge (IK)
No single definition of the concept.
According to Warren, indigenous knowledge is the local
knowledge – knowledge that is unique to a given culture
or society.
Since every population is unique in terms of its
environment, its resources, and its tools (both physical
and conceptual), IK will also be unique.
IK contrasts with the international knowledge system
generated by universities, research institutions and private
firms.
It is the basis for local-level decision making in
agriculture, health care, food preparation, education,
natural-resource management, and a host of other
activities in rural communities .

Cont...
• (Warren, 1991), For Kwaku and Morena (2010), IK is
a unique local knowledge to a given culture or
society.
• IK exists in rural and urban societies as part of life
that their livelihood depends on specific skills and
knowledge for survival.
• The World Bank refers IK as a large body of
knowledge and skills which is developed outside the
formal system including development planning,
environmental assessment, resource management,
local conservation of biological resources, and
conflict resolution (World Bank, 1998).

Cont...
IK has different but closely related names such
as
 'folk knowledge',
'local knowledge or wisdom',
'non-formal knowledge',
 'culture',
'indigenous technical knowledge',
'traditional ecological knowledge',
'traditional knowledge', and others.

Cont….
All these terms have similar concepts and refer to
how members of a community perceive and
understand their environment and resources,
particularly the way they convert those resources
through labor (Akabogu, 2002).
 In sum, indigenous knowledge is the knowledge
that people in a given community have developed
over time, and that continues to develop.
It is based on experience, often tested over
centuries of use, adapted to local culture and
environment, dynamic and changing (International
Institute of Rural Reconstruction, IIRR, 1996).

Special Features of Indigenous Knowledge
Ellen and Harris (1996) identified the following
special features of indigenous knowledge:
1. Local : it is rooted in a particular community and
situated within broader cultural traditions; it is a
set of experiences generated by people living in
those communities.
2. Tacit knowledge and, therefore, not easily
codifiable.
3. Transmitted orally, or through imitation and
demonstration.

Cont….
4. Experiential rather than theoretical knowledge.
Experience and trial and error, tested in the rigorous
laboratory of survival of local communities
constantly reinforce IK.
5. Learned through repetition, which is a defining
characteristic of tradition even when new knowledge
is added. Repetition aids in the retention and
reinforcement of IK.
6. Constantly changing, being produced as well as
reproduced, discovered as well as lost; though it is
often perceived by external observers as being
somewhat static.

Significance of Indigenous Knowledge
importance of various local or culture-based
knowledge systems in addressing the pressing
problems of development and the environment”
(ibid).
people in a community value whatever resource they
get from the environment through sustainable
production systems. These communities are conscious
of the need to self-reliant in capital stocks and
management skills ( Mangetane et al, 2001).
enabling component of development. In this regard; a
large percentage of the earth's genetic diversity has
been maintained and managed through farmer's IKS (
Dewes,1993).

Cont…
enable people to develop strategies for
handling household and communal activities
(Mangetane et al., 2001). For example in
Ethiopia Debo and Jige are an important
uniting forces in communal activities.
According to Paula Puffer Paula (1995),
indigenous / local knowledge can help find the
best solution to a development challenges. For
example, familiarity with local knowledge can
help extensionists and researchers understand
and communicate better with local people.

Cont...
• In general, it is an important part of the lives of
the poor.
• IK is a key element of the “social capital” of
the poor; their main asset to invest in the
struggle for survival, to produce food, to
provide for shelter or to achieve control of their
own lives.
• IK offers local people and their development
workers further options in designing new
projects or addressing specific problems and
wider disasters.

Cont….
• However, not all indigenous practices are
beneficial to the sustainable development of a
local community; and not all IK can a priori
provide the right solution for a given problem.
–Typical examples are slash and burn agriculture
and female circumcision.
Hence, before adopting IK, integrating it into
development programs, or even disseminating it,
practices need to be scrutinized for their
appropriateness just as any other technology. (A
frame work for action, 1998).

Indigenous knowledge and development
Indigenous knowledge refers to what indigenous
people know and do, and what they have known
and done for generations – practices that evolved
through trial and error and proved flexible enough
to cope with change (Melchias, 2001).
In other words, ''IK is relevant to development
process such as agriculture, animal husbandry,
traditional medicine, saving and credit,
community development, poverty alleviation, and
peaceful coexistence'' ( Boven and Morohashi,
2002).

Cont….
Indigenous knowledge may help identify cost-
effective and sustainable mechanisms for
poverty alleviation that are locally manageable
and meaningful.
It increases and enhances livelihood options,
revitalize agriculture, increase food security,
improve health and promote a sense of cultural
pride within the community (Kudzayi et al,
2013).
• According to the 1998/99 World Development
Report, knowledge, not capital, is the key to
sustainable social and economic development.

Cont...
• Building on local knowledge, the basic
component of any country’s knowledge system, is
the first step to mobilize such capital.
• In sum, indigenous knowledge is the knowledge
that helps a society make decisions about
activities, such as agriculture and education, that
are acceptable to their life ways.
• Indigenous knowledge, along with western- based
knowledge, helps create development solutions
that are culturally acceptable by the community.

Preservation, Challenges and Limitations of IK
Preservation of IK:
If IK is not recorded and preserved, it may be lost and
remain inaccessible to other indigenous systems as
well as to development workers.
Development projects cannot offer sustainable
solutions to local problems without integrating local
knowledge (Warren, 1991).
"Since IK is essential to development, it must be
gathered, organized and disseminated, just like
Western knowledge''(Agrawal, 1995 in Amare, 2009).
As IK is the key to local-level development, ignoring
people’s knowledge leads possibly to failure.

• Regarding the challenges of IK, Amare (2009) states the
following :
 modernization has influenced indigenous traditional
spread of industrialization threatens the preservation and
continued development of IK systems (Sherpa, 2005).
-Industrialization, along with its attendant processes of
urbanization African which generate IK and practices can
break down.
IK can also be eroded by wider economic and social forces.
– Pressure on indigenous peoples to integrate with larger
societies is often great and, as they become more
integrated, the social structures pressure by
multinational agrochemical companies eager to break
into new markets.

Cont...
As with scientific knowledge, ( Amare, 2009), IK
has the following limitations and drawbacks:
There is historical and contemporary evidence
that indigenous peoples have also committed
environmental sins’ through over-grazing, over-
hunting, or over-cultivation of the land.
Quite often the overlooked feature of IK, which
needs to be taken into account, is that, like
scientific knowledge, sometimes the knowledge
which local people rely on is wrong or even
harmful.

Cont….
Doubleday (2003) pointed out that
knowledge is power, so individuals are not
always willing to share knowledge among
themselves, or with outsiders.
 Knowledge is a source of status and income
(as is the case, for example, with a herbalist)
and is often jealously guarded.
A related issue is that some indigenous
peoples fear that their IK will be misused,
and lacking the power to prevent such
abuses, they choose to keep quiet.

The Erosion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems(IKS)
With rapid population growth—often due to in-
migration or government relocation schemes in the case of
large development projects, such as dams — standards of
living may be compromised.
The introduction of market-oriented agricultural and
forestry practices focused on mono-cropping is associated
with losses in IK and IK practices, through losses in
biodiversity and cultural diversity.
With deforestation, certain medicinal plants become more
difficult to find (and the knowledge or culture associated
with the plants also declines).
More and more knowledge is being lost as a result of the
disruption of traditional channels of oral
communication.

Cont...
As IK is transmitted orally, it is vulnerable to rapid
change — especially when people are displaced or
when young people acquire values and lifestyles
different from those of their ancestors.
Disruption of the farmers traditional networks who
maintained their indigenous crop varieties by keeping
household seed stocks and by obtaining seed through
traditional family and community networks and
through exchanges with nearby communities.
This historic neglect (regardless of its cause —
racism, ethnocentrism, or modernism, with its
complete faith in the scientific method) has
contributed to the decline of IK systems, through lack
of use and application.

Cont….
In sum, indigenous peoples often have much in
common with other neglected segments of
societies, i.e.
lack of political representation and
participation,
 economic marginalization and poverty,
 lack of access to social services and
discrimination.
 Despite their cultural differences, the diverse
indigenous peoples share common problems
also related to the protection of their rights.

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