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CASTE AND CLASS IN HISTORICAL NORTH-WEST ETHIOPIA: THE BETA ISRAEL (FALASHA) AND KEMANT, 1300–1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1998

JAMES QUIRIN
JAMES QUIRIN
Affiliation:
Fisk University
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Abstract

Peoples create their own histories by making choices within a framework of opportunities and constraints. In the historical interaction of small groups within a larger state and social formation, the context of constraints and opportunities changes over time, as do the choices and actions of the smaller groups. Such socio-ethnic historical processes must thus be analyzed both diachronically and dialectically.

This comparative study examines the actions of two small groups, the Beta Israel and Kemant, during three phases of Ethiopian history: the centralizing state to 1632; the urban-centered state, 1632–1755; and the regionalized but re-centralizing state, 1755–1900. In contrast to the assumptions of traditional Ethiopian historiography in which small groups were only objects of conquest and inevitable assimilation, this paper demonstrates the construction and reconstruction of group identities during several hundred years extending into the twentieth century.

Type
States, Exchange and Ethnicity
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , July 1998 , pp. 195 - 220
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Boston, 4–7 December 1993. It is based on research for my 1977 dissertation, 1992 book and 1993 article (see n. 1) and has been supported by grants from the Social Science Research Council, American Council of Learned Societies, United Negro College Fund, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society and Fisk University. In addition to the debts I have accumulated over the years, I would like to thank the anonymous readers of this manuscript for their suggestions. Furthermore I would like to dedicate this essay to the memory of my late colleague at Fisk, Professor William D. Piersen, who always provided a ready ear and was a sharp but sympathetic critic of my work. The transcription system is that used in my 1992 book.