Saheed A. Adejumobi, The History of Ethiopia. Westport CT and London: Greenwood Press (hb $45/£25.95 – 978 0 31332 273 0). 2007, xix + 219 pp.
This book on Ethiopia is part of a new series by Greenwood Press on country histories. This accounts for the ambitious title, the format and the nature of the information presented in this book, obviously intended for general, non-specialist readers. The author is a US historian of Nigerian descent working at Seattle University and a relative newcomer to the subject of Ethiopian studies. He has written an original and interesting account which will stimulate readers to know more about Ethiopia, a complex country with a peculiar place in Africa due to its long tradition of independence in the political and religious domains, and its almost 1,700-year-old written literary tradition. After a brief introductory chapter, the book treats Ethiopia's history mainly from the late nineteenth century onwards. The country's symbolic role in Black diaspora liberation discourse and nationalism in colonial times is emphasized (‘Ethiopianism’) as well as Ethiopia's slow and ambivalent encounter with ‘modernity’.
The book is the latest contribution to a series of general histories of Ethiopia published in the last decade or so (by Bahru Zewde, Berhanou Abebe, Teshale Tibebu, H. Marcus, R. Pankhurst and P. Henze); it is different in that its approach is geared more to modern concerns with globalization, transnational influences, the role of Ethiopia in US African-American discourse, and issues of cultural identity. This is the advantage of the book: the explicit framing of Ethiopia's history in a wider context, away from the disciplinary perspective of ‘Ethiopian Studies’. The general survey of the historical patterns that shaped modern Ethiopia, from imperial rule through the Derg to today's regime is conventional and adequate. The book also gives cultural information on Ethiopian customs, naming, dress, and on its art and literature, although sometimes in fragmentary fashion. All this makes it perhaps less interesting for specialized scholars and researchers in Ethiopian history. Some chapter headings are a bit puzzling: the one on the period 1884–1935 is entitled ‘Afromodern aspirations’, perhaps an anachronistic designation. The seventh and last chapter, ‘Globalization and other postmodern configurations: Ethiopia at home and abroad’, is the most interesting, discussing the recent political era as well as the important issues of international challenges and the emerging role of the Ethiopian diaspora.
However, I am afraid I must be critical of this book in that it contains too many generalities, inaccuracies, mistakes and omissions, revealing a certain lack of necessary first-hand familiarity with the country and of ongoing historiographical debates.
Some interpretations and judgements are questionable, such as the one on Lij Iyasu, the designated heir to the throne ‘ruling’ from 1913–16. The author writes: ‘Historians have described Iyasu's reign as impressive …’ (p. 176). But rather the opposite is the case. Iyasu's reign is largely seen as a failed project, if not a disaster. ‘Yasu’ (p. 52) was not a ‘regent’, either. Neither did Ethiopia see any effects of ‘Bantu migration from the South’ (p. 11). And to say that the current post-1991 regime is one of ‘social democracy’ (p. 134) is puzzling.
There are too many mistakes and inaccuracies throughout the book, such as the wrong birth year of Lij Iyasu (1895 not 1887), the wrong year of death of Menelik II (1913, not 1914) and the repeated mentions of Emperor ‘Selassie’ instead of ‘Haile Selassie’. On p. 26 Emperor Tewodros's general is called ‘Dejazmatch’, but that is a title, not a name. To say that Ibede gudo-led spirit mediumship (a local phenomenon in Käfa region) had adherence among the Ethiopian masses as against Christianity among the ruling classes (p. 25) is stretching the assertion beyond its reasonable limits. Old derogatory ethnonyms such as ‘Shankila’ (p. 3), ‘Janjaro’ and ‘Gimira’ (p. 7) cannot be used any more, while the ‘Maji’ ethnic group (p. 7) does not exist. And is it correct to say that Ethiopian Christianity ‘to this day remained Coptic’? The Oromo migration history summarized on p. 8 is rather curious. On pp. 8–9, two main peoples of Ethiopia are presented: the Oromo and the Shoa, but the latter is the name of a region. While its population indeed is mixed and has a distinct character and tradition, it is not a people in the way the Oromo are a people. On p. 9 and passim, it would have been better to avoid the condescending word ‘Galla’, even if it might have been used locally in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and later, and to use ‘Oromo’. The view of Gambella's problems (pp. 144–5) is also unconvincing.
The glossary of ‘famous Ethiopians’ (pp. 167–89) is valuable, though it reflects a typical American bias of overestimating sports heroes and musicians. It is also somewhat imbalanced in that there are several persons of comparatively minor importance, such as Emperor Solomon II, Seru Gwangul, Sebestyanos or Senait Ashenafi.
While the call in Chapter 7 to give serious attention to the connections of Ethiopia to the wider world and to its ongoing integration in global flows and cultural reconfigurations is laudable, the book is a bit weak on actual history, and its inaccuracies of fact, especially in its early chapters, detract from the text as a whole and from its call (pp. 147–61) to rethink the country's great challenges.
There is a good general bibliography but there are some mix-ups in the book titles and author names (pp. 192, 193, 197). The map facing p. 1 is fine but very general and could have been augmented by others: one from imperial times, one indicating the current regions, and some linguistic and ethnic maps. Useful is a time line on Ethiopian history (xv–xix). A pity in this general history is the lack of any illustrations.
If we are prepared to ignore the historical inaccuracies and concentrate on the general account of Ethiopia's complex and intriguing encounter with unfolding modernity, this book can be a quite interesting read. But I am afraid that it cannot compete with the studies of the real specialists.
