Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Maps, Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations

Introduction
Günther Schlee

Space and Time: Introduction to the Geography and Political History
Günther Schlee and Elizabeth E. Watson

Part I. Identification and Insecurity in the Lower Omo Valley

1. The Fate of the Suri: Conflict and Group Tension on the South-West Ethiopian Frontier
Jon Abbink

2. Resistance and Bravery: On Social Meanings of Guns in South-West Ethiopia
Ken Masuda

3. Modernization in the Lower Omo Valley and Adjacent Marches of Eastern Equatoria, Sudan: 1991–2000
Serge Tornay

Part II. Institutions of Identification and Networks of Alliance among Rift Valley Agriculturalists

4. Burji: Versatile by Tradition
Hermann Amborn

5. The Significance of the Oral Traditions of the Burji for Perceiving and Shaping their Inter-ethnic Relations
Alexander Kellner

6. Mobility, Knowledge and Power: Craftsmen in the Borderland
Hermann Amborn

Part III. Land, Identification and the State in Ethiopia

7. ‘We Have Been Sold’: Competing with the State and Dealing with Others
Tadesse Wolde Gossa

8. Identity, Encroachment and Ethnic Relations: the Gumuz and their Neighbours in North-Western Ethiopia
Wolde-Selassie Abbute

9. Debates over Culture in Konso since Decentralization (1991)
Elizabeth E. Watson

10. Changing Alliances of Guji-Oromo and their Neighbours: State Policies and Local Factors
Taddesse Berisso

Part IV. Pastoralists in the Kenya-Ethiopia Borderlands

11. Changing Alliances among the Boran, Garre and Gabra in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia
Günther Schlee

12. Roads to Nowhere: Nomadic Understandings of Space and Ethnicity
John C. Wood

Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

List of Maps, Plates, Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations Notes on Contributors Introduction Gunther Schlee Introduction: Space and Time: Introduction to the Geography and Political History Gunther Schlee and Elizabeth E. Watson Part I: Identification and Insecurity in the Lower Omo Valley Chapter 1. The Fate of the Suri: Conflict and Social Decline on the South-west Ethiopian Frontier Jon Abbink Chapter 2. Resistance and Bravery: On Social Meanings of Guns in South-west Ethiopia Ken Masuda Chapter 3. Modernization in the Lower Omo Valley and Adjacent Marches of Eastern Equatoria, Sudan: 1991-2000 Serge Tornay Part II: Institutions of Identification and Networks of Alliance among Rift Valley Agriculturalists Chapter 4. Burji: Versatile by Tradition Hermann Amborn Chapter 5. The Significance of the Oral Traditions of the Burji for Perceiving and Shaping their Inter-ethnic Relations Alexander Kellner Chapter 6. Mobility, Knowledge and Power: Craftsmen in the Borderland Hermann Amborn Part III: Land, Identification and the State in Ethiopia Chapter 7. 'We Have Been Sold': Competing with the State and Dealing with Others Tadesse Wolde Gossa Chapter 8. Identity, Encroachment and Ethnic Relations: the Gumuz and their Neighbours in North-Western Ethiopia Wolde-Selassie Abbute Chapter 9. Debates over Culture in Konso since Decentralization (1991) Elizabeth E. Watson Chapter 10. Changing Alliances of Guji-Oromo and their Neighbours: State Policies and Local Factors Taddesse Berisso Part IV: Pastoralists in the Kenya-Ethiopia Borderlands Chapter 11. Changing Alliances among the Boran, Garre and Gabra in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia Gunther Schlee Chapter 12. Roads to Nowhere: Nomadic Understandings of Space and Ethnicity John C. Wood Bibliography Index

About the Author

Günther Schlee is currently the director of the Department of Integration and Conflict at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. His publications include Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya (International African Institute, 1989), How Enemies are Made (Berghahn, 2008), Rendille Proverbs in their Social and Legal Context (with Karaba Sahado) and Boran Proverbs in their Cultural Context (with Abdullahi Shongolo) (both Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe).

Reviews

“With contributions by many of the leading scholars of the region, these volumes convey both the distinctiveness of these diverse communities and their mutual relationships and reciprocal influences, thus providing an analytical handbook to this important region.”  ·  African Studies Review “…both theoretically and ethnographically, these volumes present a major contribution to contemporary anthropology, as well as social sciences in general.”  ·  Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology “… an excellent introduction to the region and its interconnected peoples, as well as a useful guide to ethnographical approaches applied by international scholarship. ... It brings sharp insights into the pragmatism of ‘traditional identities’ as small-scale societies cope - mostly remarkably successfully - with historical values, the vicissitudes of daily life, and the deep but varying impact of modern states that claim them as ‘subject-citizens.’ ... This is a really worthwhile volume with much to offer at first reading, and as a future reference source of ethnographic description of great historical value.”  ·  Cedric Barnes, SOAS/Africa Research Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office