Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- List of Maps, Tables & Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction: Konso Landscape, Culture & Development
- 1 Konso Intensive Indigenous Agriculture
- 2 Social Life of Agriculture
- 3 Ritual Life of Agriculture
- 4 Political Life of Agriculture
- 5 Modernity & Christianity
- 6 Revolutionary State
- 7 Ethnic Decentralization & Self-determination
- Conclusion: Landscape, Meaning & Development
- References
- Index
6 - Revolutionary State
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- List of Maps, Tables & Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction: Konso Landscape, Culture & Development
- 1 Konso Intensive Indigenous Agriculture
- 2 Social Life of Agriculture
- 3 Ritual Life of Agriculture
- 4 Political Life of Agriculture
- 5 Modernity & Christianity
- 6 Revolutionary State
- 7 Ethnic Decentralization & Self-determination
- Conclusion: Landscape, Meaning & Development
- References
- Index
Summary
The 1974 revolution heralded the beginning of a new period in Ethiopia. The Derg government penetrated the structures of government more deeply into the grassroots communities of southern Ethiopia than any regime that had gone before. In this chapter, the general history of the revolution is reviewed, setting the context for the discussion of the experience in Konso. As well as exploring the way the revolution impacted on Konso, the way in which the ideas and practices associated with the revolution combined with those of Protestant Christians, described in the last chapter, is examined. The combination of the modernizing forces of Protestant Christianity and scientific socialism had severe impacts on the institution of the poqalla. As the modern project failed, however, some Konso began to seek alternative forms of meaning and organization, and returned to some of their older institutions, including the poqalla. Here the orthodoxy of customary practices and the institution of poqalla show their resilience.
The impact of the revolution and the Derg period in Ethiopia
The revolutionary government was known as the Derg, from the Amharic word for ‘committee’. The events surrounding and following the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia have been described in some detail by Clapham (1988), Dessalegn Rahmato (1984), Ottaway and Ottaway (1978), Pankhurst (1992), Donham (1999) and James et al. (2002). The revolution brought some dramatic transformations, including changes in state administrative structures at the local level, and a land reform programme implemented in 1975, which has been described as one of the most radical agricultural reforms that have been set in motion in sub-Saharan Africa (Dessalegn, 1984).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Living Terraces in EthiopiaKonso Landscape, Culture and Development, pp. 173 - 192Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009