Arsi-Oromo
The Arsi ( Ethiopian script : አርሲ) are a subgroup of the Oromo , the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia .
They belong to the numerically largest Oromo groups and live in the south and southeast of the country mainly in the highland areas of Arsi and Bale , as well as in the lowland areas adjacent to the south, in the Great African Rift Valley , in the east of Sidamo and in the west of Harerge . Since the reorganization of the administrative structure of Ethiopia in 1991, most of its areas have been in the Oromia region .
history
In the course of the Oromo expansion from the 16th century onwards, the Arsi penetrated into the areas of the Muslim states of Bale, Hadiyya , Wag, Gänz and Sharkha , in which predominantly Muslim highland Eastern Cushite-speaking groups ("Hadiyya-Sidama") lived. The Arsi assimilated much of this population. At present, “pure” Oromo probably make up no more than a third of all Arsi. The distinction between the pure Oromo or Borana and the moggaasa ("adopted") or garba ("conquered") also had cultural, political and social significance until the middle of the 20th century.
The advance of the Arsi was associated with the decline of Islam in the previously Muslim areas, but smaller areas remained in the more eastern parts where elements of Islam were still practiced. In and around Annajina in particular , the Arsi took over the cult of Sheikh Nur Hussein from the 13th century and continued to look after his grave.
It is unclear when the name Arsi came up for this group and was adopted as a self-name. It seems to appear in writing for the first time in the 19th century, with the Amharic form Arusi dominating for a long time. An older written foreign name is warantič̣a ("warrior"), which refers to their fame in warfare.
As one of the Oromo groups with the strongest internal cohesion, the Arsi long resisted the attempts at conquest by Ethiopia and Shewa in the 19th century. The events in Anole played an important role in their incorporation into Ethiopia . There, in 1886, male prisoners Arsi had their right hand amputated and women had their breasts amputated in order to get the Arsi to give up more quickly. During the severe famine of 1888-1892 caused by drought, rinderpest and pests, the fertile province of Arsi was raided three times by various Ethiopian governors to steal food.
After the conquest, settlers from more northerly parts of Ethiopia came to the Arsi in the late 19th and 20th centuries (especially in the 1930s). The various Ethiopian governments supported this immigration. The Arsi refer to all immigrants or their descendants - Amharen as well as Gurage and Oromo from Shewa - with the word Näfṭäñña , which means something like "armed settlers".
From the east, Somali from the Ogadeni- Darod clan penetrated from the 18th century . They mostly waged war against the Arsi and pushed them back from lower-lying areas, but there was also intermingling and cultural influence. From the middle of the 18th century Somali missionaries spread Islam among the easternmost Oromo groups. After the conquest by Ethiopia, most of the Arsi adopted Islam as a form of passive resistance.
1963–1970 there was the Bale revolt , in which mainly Arsi farmers in the highlands of the province of Bale took part.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was active in the provinces of Arsi, Bale and Sidamo. Most of the residents of the highlands of Bale and parts of the population of Arsi have been forcibly relocated to government-controlled villages for the purposes of counterinsurgency .
Society and culture
The area inhabited by Arsi includes diverse topographical and climatic areas, from the highlands with mountains such as the Batu to dry river valleys.
Traditionally, the Arsi were ranchers and practiced transhumance . In the 19th century they switched to agropastoralism after losing land and dwindling herds as a result of the Ethiopian conquest. Cattle are still socially and ritually important, and in drier regions the Arsi remained pure cattle breeders.
The Arsi are divided into two subgroups ( moieties ) Sikko and Manda , which in turn comprise at least 200 patrilineal clans or gosa . The clans are further divided into hundreds or thousands of "lineages" ( balbalä ) and families ( warra ). The clans were traditionally exogamous , but the influence of Islam means that more marriages occur within a clan or even between cousins. Complex family relationships, marriage alliances and friendships contribute to the cohesion of the Arsi.
swell
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Abbas Haji Gnamo: Arsi ethnography und Anole , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 1, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04746-1
- ↑ a b c Ulrich Braukämper: Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Collected Essays , Göttinger Studien zur Ethnologie 9, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7 (pp. 125–165)
- ↑ a b Alex de Waal, Africa Watch: Evil Days. 30 Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia , 1991 (PDF; 3.10 MB), pp. 28f., 66f., 85, 90, 232, 320
- ↑ Braukämper 2003, p. 15, 136f.