Concepts for the Study of Ethiopian History

By Teshale Tibebu

Ethiopian Review, Nov-Dec 1998

Ethiopian history is by and large a history of interaction among three major social domains: what I call the Ge'ez civilization, or Ge'ez domain, the Islamic, and the Oromo. (One could add a fourth domain, the enset social complex of the Gurage-Kembata-Hadya region.) Each social domain is marked by a distinct social system: the Ge'ez by what I call the geber (Óx`) system, the Islamic by mainly pastoral/nomadic (later agrarian) system, and the Oromo by the Gada system. Ethiopian history is the history of collusion among these three major social domains. The task of the historian is to make intelligible the intricate tentacles of the various domains in their analytic distinction, as well as in their intertwining evolution over time.

The relation among the three domains took various forms at various times: violent and peaceful, assimilation and forced conversion, victory and defeat, mutual respect and supremacist disposition. The three chief protagonists of the drama that is Ethiopian history can be seen as the three main pillars of the Ethiopian house, together with other supporting pillars.

In ecological terms, the Ge'ez and Oromo domains divide the north-central and central-southern highlands between them, respectively, while the Islamic domain encompasses the eastern lowlands rubbing shoulders with the Red SeaAfar, Somali, the highlands of Harer and Ifat, and later Bale, Arsi, etc... Each domain expanded its territorial local in different directions at different times through trade, war, and/or establishing loose on and off tributary relations.

The Ge'ez domainmarked by a cultural universe of what I call tabot Christianity, encompassing the compact cultural zone from Debre Bizan to Debre Libanosexpanded in a north-south direction over a period of many centuries: Aksum, Zagwe, Shoa (and later Gonder), to use the official dynastic parlance. The Islamic domain expanded in an east-west and south-north direction, especially at its height of power during Ahmed ibn-Ibrahim al-Ghazi (also known as Gragn Muhamed). The Oromo domain expanded in south-north, east, and west directions at the height of Oromo expansion during the 16th and 17th centuries. In Wollo, the three domains rub shoulders with each other; nay more, they melted into each other's embrace. Wollo might as well be the clue for the study of Ethiopian history as a composite whole.  

With this introductory profile of Ethiopian history, let me come to my focus, i.e., how to write the social history (or historical sociology) of Ethiopia using the conceptual frameworks of Ethiopian languages, in this case Amharic. I thus enter the house of genius of ambiguity of the Amharic language, the beauty of its multiple layers of meaning, the mesmerizing power of its qene genre.

In this piece, I deal with the geber system only. (The concepts geber system, tabot Christianity, Aksumite paradigm, and Ge'ez civilization are all elaborated in detail in my book, "The Making of Modern Ethiopia, 1896-1974," (1995).

Geber System

The concept "geber system" is derived from the term giber, which has three different but interlocked meanings. First, geber means work, derived from the Ge'ez word gebir (Ñv&`), with extensions like gebere  (Ñv_, farm worker, peasant), and gebrina (Óx`, agriculture.) In Ge'ez, geber (Ñx`) means servant (See Kidane Wold Kifle, OéKï cªc« ¨Óe ¨O³Ñv nI| KÂe, p. 297).  The name Gebre (Ñx_) is given to servants and slaves. Gebre sega (Óx[ YÒ) means "work of flesh," and when the word ginignunet (ӏ'%|, relations) is added as suffix, it means sexual intercourse, i.e., the extended reproduction of human beings themselves. Hence the first meaning of the word geber pertains to the labor (production) process.

Secondly, geber means tax/tribute or labor service paid to the emperor and the various ranks of the imperial ladder below him. The second meaning of geber refers to the appropriation of tribute by the ruling classthe bete mengist (v+z-OÓY|,  house of state; house of kingdom is a better term to show the looseness of the state structure), and the bete kehnet (v+z-¡F|, house of clergy)from the gebbar (Ñw`, tribute provider). (Interestingly enough, unlike the other two, the gebbar has no house, as in bete gebbar.) Kidane Wold Kifle defines gebbar as: "peasant, worker, one on whom forced work is imposed, one who renders the fruit of his labor to officials, one who is under the arbitrary will of the powers that be, one who is a rist-holding slave" (translation mine). Kidane Wold Kifle's definition of gebbar as a rist-holding slave is a telling commentary on the condition of the rist-holding Ethiopian peasantry. It is also an eye-opener to the remarkable similarities in the conditions of the peasantry of the Ge'ez domain and that of the neftegna-gebbar system of the late 19th and first half of the 20th century in southern Ethiopia.

Thirdly, geber means banquet. This refers to the redistribution relations of the appropriated tribute among the various components of the ruling class in the form, among others, of provision of consumables like free food and drinks. If we tie together these three different meanings of the term geber and call the totality of the social complex geber system, we have the social history of Ethiopia at our fingertips.

The geber system consists of three classes, or three orders, based on the tripartite division of the Ge'ez domain: those who fight, organized as the bete mengist; those who pray, organized as the bete kehnet; and those who provide for material subsistence, disorganized as gebbar. Fighting, praying, and tilling land form the trinity of the social division and integration of labor of the Ge'ez domain. As the Amharic rendition has it: X&f I^j X&f HmÃj X&f IÒj (one-third for the tiller, one-third for the clergy, one third for the crown).

In the geber system, the production process, the appropriation process, and the redistribution process form a systemic whole, with the giving and taking of tribute knitting together the entire system.

There are two sets of tributary relations in the geber system:

(1) relations between gebbar, on the one hand, and tribute appropriators, on the other; and,

(2) relations among the different ranks of the tribute-appropriating class.

The former is the fundamental social relationship of tribute provision and appropriation between producers and appropriators; the latter is the mechanism of tribute distribution and redistribution within the appropriating class itself. The geber system resembles an inverted pyramid, with the bete mengist and bete kehnet as parallel power centers extracting tribute from the gebbar.

The geber system is not only a mode of production and appropriation of material life, but also a mode of production and distribution of social and moral etiquette. The three classes (or orders) of the geber system are also classes of ascribed manners, values, and moral expectations. They are the sites of hegemony: the elaboration, maintenance, and reproduction of social norms. These norms defining how each group is to behave illuminate the cultural contour of the Ge'ez domain.

Central to the social construction of etiquette of the geber system is the concept of honor (¡x`, keber). Honor entails name (eT), status, prestige, social standing, recognition, and reputation. Honor, or the lack of it, is what defines a person, the very place he/she occupies in the distribution of the social hierarchy. In honor-conscious, geber-system Ethiopia, to be kebre nek (¡x[ ¡, honor violator) is an insult to the person whose honor is violated. Sem atfi (eT Øò, name defamer) has the same negative connotation. The status given to names is such that to address a person by his/her first given name only, without including father's name, is itself considered an insult. To address a person without the full name is seen as if the person has no father, as in being a slave. People should be addressed with their full names, including all the status titles preceding the full names, from neguse negest down to Ato. 

To understand the place of the producing classes in the honor hierarchy, let us look at how the Amharic language defines words of social class and status. The Amharic words for the three producing classes of nomadic pastoralists (zelan, ±I), herders (eregnya, [") and cultivators (balager, wIÑ`) are also terms of status location in the honor hierarchy.

The word zelan refers to a mode of production of subsistence, as well as to a mode of ascribed moral conduct. It has a double meaning: nomadic pastoralist, on the one hand, and rude, uncultured, and uncultivated, on the other. The sedentary agrarian counterparts of zelan are eregnya and balager. Like zelan, eregnya and balager have double meanings. Eregnya means herder. It also means rude. Zelan and eregnya are both nouns, nomadic pastoralist and herder, respectively, and adjectives, meaning rude.

When we come to the word balager, it also has a double meaning. On the one hand, balager is made up of two words, bale ager (wH Ñ`), which means one with country, person of the soil, tiller of the land, peasant, country person. To this extent, balager is contrasted with wetader, whose meaning is discussed below. On the other hand, balager is related to balege (wHÑ+), which means rude.

In all this, there is a symbiotic relationship between class and etiquette, the "lower" the class, the ruder it becomes, and vice versa. The zelan, eregnya, and balager are all defined as rude and lacking in manners. We can indeed define the three pillars of the Ethiopian house as being composed of the balager, eregna, and zelan social systems.

On the ruling side of the class divide, whose power was based on the gult system and many other forms of tribute extraction mechanisms, the opposite of the balager-eregna-zelan trinity of the "rude" classesall of whom belong to the macro class of gebbaris the word chewa (Ûª). Chewa has four meanings:

(1) soldier, as opposed to balager, on the one hand, and clergy, on the other;

(2) free, as opposed to slave;

(3) layperson, as opposed to the learned ecclesiastical order; and,

(4) cultivated and civilized in manners, as opposed to the "rude" classes.

The chewa is teleq sew (|Jo c« - big man), the gebbar is tenesh sew (|j c« - little man). Teleq sew is getoch (Ñ+} - the wealthy one) and baletsega (wH ëÒ - one with grace), the tenesh sew is deha (ÀD- poor). As the saying goes, habtam begultu, deha beristu (The wealthy by their gult, the poor by their rist.) The very poor are known as dekuman (Åž#R - the weak), dewuyan (À«¼ - the incapacitated), and nedayan (ü, the destitute). Barya (w]¼) and honor are strangers. Merchants are looked down with contempt, referred to as mechagna nekash (OÞ" j). Weavers, blacksmiths, and leathersmiths are outcasts called teyib (Ö¾x), ostracized from "mainstream" society, for they are believed to be possessors of evil eye, buda (v#Ã).

The debterathe highest educated people in the ecclesiastical establishmentare immensely respected for their educationqene, aquaquam, metshaf, etc. And yet, they are feared. Amharic words like Ozz" eRz" OÅz" OéDõ ÑIà ØI ¨Ñ& ÒŽJ dv& etc., are no words of flattery. The very word debtera is associated with the underworld, with extraterrestrial connections. The Gojjames somehow scored the jackpot of being the jewel in the buda and debtera double crown.

When we come to women's place in the honor hierarchy, the female version of chewa is woyzero (¨¾±a). The application of the term woyzero to women in general is a recent phenomenon in Ethiopian history. One could not imagine a peasant woyzero, anymore than one could imagine a peasant chewa. Hence a woman who does no manual labor is said to have yewoyzero edj (¹¨¾±a Ï - hand of a woyzero), i.e., a hand soft for want of manual labor. Soft hands versus rough hands (HeId Ï h^ Ï). The female version of getoch is emebet (Ov+|). There is no peasant emebet anymore than there is peasant getoch.

The getoch is meant to be a generous redistributor. He is abba mestet (w OeÖ|), abba ayalqbet (w ¼Jov|). He is the one to fight and die for. When a teleq sew dies, people mourn and cry by citing his legendary generosity, with the musho, yechomaye geta (¹áR½ Ñ+{), yeteje geta (¹ÖÎ Ñ+{). The profoundly patrimonial-cliental nature of the geber system comes out most conspicuously in times of war. War criesfukera, shilela, and qererto are verbal expressions of cliental fidelity to the patrimonial teleq sew.

When we analyze the warrior class, the Amharic word for soldier is wetader (¨{À`). The word wetader is made up of two words, wetito ader. The word wetito has a double meaning: (1) it means ¨Ø} - one who goes out, as soldiers went out of their area during war; and (2) it also means ª|}. The second  meaning relates to the root word watete, (ªzz), meaning wandering from place to place, as soldiers went everywhere to fight and loot. Mewattet (Oªz|), the noun form of the verb watete, refers to something akin to homelessness. Other Amharic terms related to this specific meaning of Mewattet include, Ož^z| Owž Ow± ORc OÑI{| OÑ#II| etc. After all, soldiers were the first homeless people in Ethiopian history, just as members of royal and aristocratic families were the first inmates in Ethiopian history. Many an aristocrat or royal aspirant spent their lives in gizot (Ó´|) in some amba (Tw, mountain hideout). Lucky were those who were free before their death. Compared to the royal inmate, the peasant was indeed free! In Haddis Alemayehu's Feqer Eske Meqaber, Habtishyimer, the slave in Fitawrari Meshesha's house, had more freedom of movement than Seblewongel, Fitawrari Meshesha's daughter. Alas!

In both meanings of wetito ader, the word ader refers to livelihood, as in serto ader, one who works for living, arso ader, lab ader, setegna adari (peasant, proletarian, prostitute, respectively). The Derg called its soldiers dem ader, one who gives his blood for his country. The term ader also means spending a night, derived from the word mader RÀ` (to spend a night.)

It is in opposition to the ever-wandering warrior, the wetader, that the balager is defined as one with country, with a household, with a place of residence and, most importantly, with a known place of burial. The wetader dies anywhere and everywhere, his dead body does not get a decent burial and religious service. As the Amharic song has it:

¹Ôv³ JÏ | {Öm* vÑOÅ

JÏj U^ Ì

¾mx[«T ±OÅ""

When justice for the poor is trampled upon by the rich and powerful, the balager cries, ÀD zvÀH õ|F zÕÀH (The poor are suffering; there is no justice). When the burden of oppression becomes unbearable, when the demands of the wetader become unfulfillable, the balager calls it quits. He enters the world of Haddis Alemayehu's Abeje Belew of Feqer Eske Meqaber.

Ø^" Þ« Ø^" Á\

IzT ¾iJDJ x žRÀ\""

Wetader and balager: These are the two extremes of the social divide of the geber system. When war comes, as it did come more reliably than the kremt rains, hell breaks loose. The balager scramble to hide their belongings from the wetader. Since soldiers were not paid salaries, their livelihood in times of war, from subsistence to extravagance, was derived from looting the balager's belongings. War is at the very center of the explanation for the perennial contradiction in Ethiopian history: the abundant wealth of its historical and spiritual culture versus the abject material poverty of its people. And it is the wetader that makes war. The main cause of war is the categorical mandate of the ruling class, and the refusal to follow it: gebir, algebrim (Ñx` JÑx`T - pay tribute; I refuse to pay tribute). Every time the people of Ethiopia try to rise up from their material degradation, war wipes out  what they have achieved. Whatever is left is taken care of by epidemic diseases like typhoid and amoebic dysentery.

The lack of hope of improvement in peoples' lives is captured by that typical "thank God" saying, yibase ayamta (¹we ¼T×). The fear is that things might get worse; there is little hope that they can get any better. And we have the saying that a known devil is preferable to an unknown angel, the "comfort" with familiar misery.

There is one fundamental absolution to be made of the wetader, though. In times of foreign aggression against Ethiopia, the wetader stood up in defense of the country. Here, killing or dying for Ethiopia is seen as a national duty, as raising one's children is a family's duty. The highest ranks of the wetader classthe neguse negest, neguses, rases, dajazmatchs, fitawraris, kegnazmatchs, grazmatchs, etc.are right in the battlefield, ready to sacrifice their lives for the honor and sovereignty of Ethiopia. That was how Adwas were made. Atses Tewodros and Yohannes gave their lives in the battlefields defending Ethiopia's honor. In the Ethiopia of old, those who had the most, fought the most in defense of Ethiopian sovereignty. It was when Ethiopia began to be "Westernized", when the institutions of the modern army were created, when we started to drink from the fountain of Western modernity-cum-rationality that those who had the most, fought the least, while those who had the least, fought the most. And yet, the creation of the modern army is an immense release from the burden of loot that was imposed upon the Ethiopian peasantry for centuries.     

Organized thus in the honor hierarchy, the bete mengist-bete kehnat power bloc represents the free, civilized, cultured, cultivated, and well-mannered class; the balager-eregnya-zelan trinity, alongside slaves, merchants, and outcasts that of the uncivilized, uncultured, uncultivated, rude classes. The chewa, the leisure class par excellence, defines everybody else as worthy of contempt. 

Let me close with a reflection. In the last one century, Ethiopia came to the knowledge of the world four times, twice as hero, twice as victim. First, the March 1, 1896 Battle of Adwa made hero of Ethiopia. Second, forty years later (1935-36), Ethiopia became the victim of Fascist aggression. Emperor Haile Selassie's 1936 speech at the League of Nations was to become one of the most celebrated speeches of the twentieth century.  Third, in the 1960 Rome Olympics (and later 1964 Tokyo), Abebe Biqila made Ethiopia known worldwide, the very Rome that Zeray Deres fought for the Ethiopian flag a quarter of a century earlier.

Lastly, 1984-1985. The famine of the mid-80s, more than anything else, made Ethiopia a household name worldwide. Hunger and Ethiopia became synonymous for many people in many places.

What is our fifth claim to fame going to be? It is our generation's responsibility that Ethiopia's name as a hungry nation par excellence is erased for ever. For this, Ethiopian historians should contribute to the study of Ethiopian history by focusing on the lives of the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopian people, peasants. No matter what the official line of the powers that be is, we should uphold the principle that the people of Ethiopia have more in common than differences. As we study Ethiopian history using Ethiopian languages as conceptual frameworks, we will be pleasantly surprised to find out the many threads running through the different linguistic communities of Ethiopia, threads that knitted together the quilt that is Ethiopia.

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Teshale Tibebu, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of African History in the Department of History in Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.