The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Lecture - Competing Nationalisms in Ethiopia: the case for Trans-national Solidarity
Centre for the Study of Human Rights
Thursday 25th August 2016
Event organised by the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE
6:30pm to 8:00pm, The Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building (NAB), London School of Economics and Political Science, 54 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ
Speaker: Dr Awol Allo, LSE Fellow in Human Rights.
Chair: Dr Ayça Çubukçu, Assistant Professor in Human Rights.
In a memorable formulation, sociologist Donald Levine described the making of "Greater Ethiopia" as "the Amhara thesis and the Oromo anti-thesis". The two groups, which constitute about two-thirds of Ethiopia's 100 million people, hold radically different views about Ethiopia's past and future. Their re-collection and re-narration of major events – history, memory, society, and the state – are almost irreconcilable.
This lecture will evaluate mainstream conceptualizations of two competing forms of nationalisms, Ethiopian-ness and Oromo-ness, and their impact on contemporary Oromo-Amhara relations. The lecture will conclude with some proposals for trans-national solidarity between the two groups.
This event is free to attend and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come first served basis. You can register for a place on Eventbrite - but this will not necessarily guarantee a place. The Wolfson Theatre seats 130 people. The New Academic Building is on the corner of Sardinia Road and Lincoln's Inn Fields, with the entrance on Lincoln's Inn Fields.
