Memory, identity and the politics of history of Ethiopia in the 20th and 21st century 3600-PTPHE(Z)-OG

The purpose of this lecture is to provide students with an understanding of issues related to history and memory in contemporary Ethiopia. Issues of historical politics and memory culture play a significant role in the current dynamic situation in the Horn of Africa. Disputes over the evaluation of historical figures and events occur regularly in Ethiopian public debate, private conversation, and pop culture. They also resonate in the conflicts taking place in the Horn of Africa.
These courses will ask questions about the history of politics pursued by successive Ethiopian governments and by opposition groups in the 20th and 21st centuries. The most important Ethiopian myths of nation-building, which shape the collective memory of Ethiopia and the identity of its ethnic and national groups, will be presented, as well as historical figures and events which have aroused controversy among Ethiopians. The issue of conflicts of memory in internal and international disputes will also be addressed. Issues of forgetting, exclusion and amnesia in Ethiopian collective memory will also be presented.

Lecture topics will focus on:

1. memory studies in the humanities and social sciences - a methodological introduction
2. introduction to memory studies in Ethiopia - basic facts about the country, its history and culture
3 How Ethiopians remember - from azmari to modern media and memorials
4. memory and the politics of history during the reign of Emperor Haile Sellasie (1930-1974)
5. memory and politics of history during the Derg (1974-1987/1991)
6. memory and politics of history - disputes over the shape of the state (1991-1998)
7. the politics of history in Ethiopia 1998-2018
8. between victory and defeat - the memory of two Italian wars
9. the Ethiopian-Eritrean relations in the collective memory of both nations
10. the collective memory of the Red Terror in Ethiopia
11. non-Habesha memory - disputes over memory and identity among Ethiopians from eastern and southern Ethiopia
12. disputes over historical figures - who was the greatest Ethiopian
13. memory and forgetting - white spaces in Ethiopian collective memory
14. politics of history in Ethiopia after 2018
15. around disputes over history - the conflict in Tigray

Type of course

general courses

Learning outcomes

Knowledge: the student
- has in-depth and detailed knowledge (including terminology and methodology) of major historical events in Ethiopia
- has an extended knowledge of selected issues concerning the politics of history and the memory culture in the Horn of Africa

Skills: the student
- can identify the sources of conflicts of memory in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and their influence on identity-forming processes
- can use the knowledge about politics of history and culture of remembrance to broaden his/her knowledge in the field of humanities
- can analyze relations between historical, social and cultural processes and transformations of cultural memory in the region

Social competence: the student
- is able to actively work on the creation of relations and cooperation with representatives of other cultures
- is aware of cultural diversity and its religious, philosophical, moral and historical sources, as well as its significance for the understanding of the contemporary world

Assessment criteria

Exam

Bibliography

Literature:
Antropologia pamięci. Zagadnienia i wybór tekstów, Majewski P., Napiórkowski M., (red.) Warszawa, 2018.
Assmann A., Między historią a pamięcią, Warszawa 2018.
Chwedoruk R., Polityka historyczna, Warszawa, 2018.
Connerton P., Jak społeczeństwa pamiętają, Warszawa, 2012.
Erll A., Kultura pamięci. Wprowadzenie, Warszawa, 2018.
Kula M., 2002. Nośniki pamięci historycznej, Warszawa, 2002.
Modi memorandi. Leksykon kultury pamięci, Saryusz-Wolska M., Traba R., Kalicka J., (red.) Warszawa, 2014.
Szpociński A. Miejsca pamięci (lieux de mémoire), „Teksty Drugie”, z. 4, 2008, s. 11–20.

Primary references on Ethiopia:
Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855-1991, Addis Ababa, 2002.
Krawczuk M., Oblicza separatyzmu etnicznego w Etiopii, [w:] Ruchy separatystyczne, Marczewska-Rytko M., Pomarański M., (red.) s. 331-346, Lublin, 2019.
Róg Afryki : historia i współczesność, Mantel-Niećko J., Ząbek M., (red.) Warszawa, 1999.
Rubinkowska-Anioł H., Wołk-Sore E., Etiopia pomiędzy mową a pismem. Spór nie tylko intelektualny pomiędzy cesarzem i pisarzem o koncepcje państwa, „Afryka”, 2015, t. 41, s. 31–51.
Rubinkowska-Anioł H., Etiopia pomiędzy tradycją a nowoczesnością. Symbolika koronacji Cesarza Etiopii Hajle Syllasje I, Warszawa 2016.
Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia: Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi, Prunier G., Ficquet E., (red.) London, 2015.
Zeleke E. C., Ethiopia in theory : revolution and knowledge production, 1964-2016, Leiden-Boston, 2019.

Additional literature:
Bach J.-N., Compromising with Ethiopianness After 1991: The Ethiopian Festival of the Millennium, „Northeast African Studies”, t. 13, z. 2, 2013, s. 93–122.
Bach J.-N., EPRDF’s Nation-Building: Tinkering with convictions and pragmatism, „Cadernos de Estudos Africanos” [Online], t. 27, 2014, s. 1-18.
Marzagora, S., History in twentieth - century Ethiopia : The ‘ Great Tradition ’ and the counter - histories of national failure, „The Journal of African History”, t. 58, 2017, s. 425–444.
Merera Gudina, Ethiopia: Competing Ethnic Nationalisms and the Quest for Democracy: 1960–2000, Addis Abeba, 2003.
Michael Woldemariam, Partition problems: Relative power, historical memory, and the origins of the Eritrean-Ethiopian war. „Nationalism and Ethnic Politics”, t. 21, z. 2, 2015, s. 166–190.
Orlowska I., Forging a nation: The Ethiopian millennium celebration and the multiethnic state. „Nations and Nationalism”, t. 19, z. 2, 2013, s. 296–316.
Rubinkowska H., The History that Never Was: Historiography by Hayle Sellase I, w: Verena Boll et al. Studia Aethiopica. In honour of Siegbert Uhlig on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004, s. 221-231.
Toggia P., History writing as a state ideological project in Ethiopia, „African Identities”, t. 6, z. 4, 2008, s. 319–343.
Yohannes Gedamu, Transitional Justice and Memory Politics in Contemporary Ethiopia, „Interdisciplinary Political Studies”, t. 6, z. 1, 2020, s. 139–166.
Záhořík J., Ethnicity and Nationalism in Ethiopia: Some Recent Reflections, „The Annual of Language & Politics and Politics of Identity”, t. 5, 2011, s. 91- 108.
Záhořík J., The Oromo and Their Place in the History of Ethiopia, „Ethnologia Actualis Slovaca”, t. 9, 2009, s. 8-19.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3600-PTPHE(Z)-OG in USOSweb