Reading Ethiopia (Books)

Suggested reading on Ethiopia. Feel free to send me your additions and I'll add them to the list.


In chronological order:

The Ethiopia Books of Travels (1904, translated in 2021) Pasha

Ex-Italian Somaliland (1951) S Pankhurst

Ethiopia: A Cultural History (1955) S Pankhurst

Indo-Ethiopian Relations for Centuries (1961) Muthanna

The Blue Nile (1962) Moorehead

Wichale XVII: The Attempt to Establish a Protectorate Over Ethiopia (1964) Rubenson

Wax & Gold (1965) Levine

Land Tenure in Chore (Shoa) (1965) Mann

Islam in Ethiopia (1965) Trimingham

State and Land in Ethiopian History (1966) R Pankhurst

Land Tenure in Eritrea (1966) Zekarias

Tewodros of Ethiopia (1967) Rubenson

History of the Ethiopian Army (1967) Pankhurst

Economic History of Ethiopia (1968) R Pankhurst

Anatomy of a Traditional Polity (1974) Markakis

Ethiopia: Political Contradictions in Agricultural Development (1974) Stahl

Ethiopian Philosophy Vol 1 (1974) Sumner

The Italo-Ethiopian War (1975) Ministry of Information

Ethiopian Philosophy Vol 2 (1976) Sumner

Somalia - The Problem Child of Africa? (1977) Wolde Mariam

Ethiopian Philosophy Vol 3 (1978) Sumner

Ethiopian Philosophy Vol 4 (1981) Sumner

Ethiopian Philosophy Vol. 5 (1982) Sumner

A Social History of Land Reform in Ethiopia (1983) Pausewang

Victorious Struggle Against Fascism (1985) Ministry of Information

Classical Ethiopian Philosophy (1985) Sumner

The History of Famines and Epidemics in Ethiopia Prior to the Twentieth Century (1985) R Pankhurst

Agrarian Reform in Ethiopia (1985) Rahmato

The Challenges of Drought (1985) RRC

From Poverty to Famine (1987) McCann

Surrender or Starve (1988) Kaplan

Ethiopia Engraved, 1681-1900 (1988) Pankhurst and Ingrams

Red Tears (1989) Dawit Wolde Giorgis

People of the Plow (1990) McCann

A Social History of Ethiopia (1990) R. Pankhurst

Options for Rural Development (1990) Pausewang, Cheru, Brune and Chole

Kasa and Kasa [Tewodros II and Yohannes IV] (1990) Taddese Beyene, R Pankhurst, Shiferaw Bekele

The Survival of Ethiopian Independence (1991) Rubenson

Evil Days (1991) de Waal

A History of Modern Ethiopia (1991) Bahru Zewde

Peasant Households and their Resource Base (1993) Aspen

Imagining Ethiopia (1993) Sorenson

From Bullets to the Ballot Box (1994) Kinfe Abraham

Land Tenure and Land Policy in Ethiopia After the Derg (1994) Dessalegn Rahmato

Economy at the Cross Roads (1995) Getachew Diriba

State & Economy of the Early 20th Century Ethiopia (1995) Gabrahiwot Baykadagn

Ethiopia: Power and Protest (1996) Gebru Tareke

Ethiopia Photographed, 1867-1935 (1996) Pankhurst and Gerard 

The Ethiopian Borderlands (1997) R. Pankhurst

Marxist Modern (1999) Donham

Survival and Moderation (1999) Messay Kebede

The Ethiopians (2001) R. Pankhurst

The Challenge of Democracy from Below (2002) Bahru and Pausewang

Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia (2002) Bahru Zewde

Turning Conflicts to Cooperation (2003) Madhane Tadesse

Sweetness in the Belly (2005) Gibb (fiction)

Zara Yacob: Rationality of the Human Heart (2005) Kiros

Development Interventions in Wollaita (2007) Rahmato

Society, State, and History (2008) Bahru Zewde

The Peasant and the State (2008) Rahmato

Famine and Foreigners (2010) Gill

Minutes of an Ethiopian Century (2010) Taffara Deguefe

Education, Politics and Social Change in Ethiopia (2010) Milkias and Kebede

Philosophical Essays (2011) Teodros Kiros

Hope is Cut (2011) Mains

The Politics of Ethnicity in Ethiopia (2011) Aalen

Readings on the Ethiopian Economy (2011) Alemayehu Geda

Localising Salafism (2011) Ostebo

Ethiopian Discourse (2011) Teodros Kiros

Ethiopia: The Last Two Frontiers (2011) Markakis

Ethiopia: From Autocracy to Revolutionary Democracy, 1960s-2011 (2011) Gudina

Enlightened Aid – U.S. Development as Foreign Policy in Ethiopia (2012) McVety

Social Hierarchy of Dawuro (2012) Dubale

Food Security, Safety Nets and Social Protection in Ethiopia (2013) Rahmato and A. Pankhurst

The Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia (2014) McCann

Emperor Haile Selassie (2014) Bereket

Reflections on Development in Ethiopia (2014) Rahmato and Ayenew

The Massacre of Debre Libanos (2014) Campbell

The Quest for Socialist Utopia (2014) Bahru

The Last Post-Cold War Socialist Federation (2014) Abebe

Ethiopian Labour Migration to the Gulf and South Africa (2015) Asnake Kefale and Zerihun Mohammed

The Plot to Kill Graziani (2015) Campbell

A Decade of Ethiopia (2017) Abbink

The Khat Conundrum in Ethiopia (2017) Yeraswork

Native Colonialism (2017) Yirga 

The Lives of Community Health Workers (2017) Maes

The Horn of Africa (2017) Clapham

The Addis Ababa Massacre (2017) Campbell

The Wife's Tale (2018) Aida Edemariam

Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia (2018) Atakilte

Land, Landlessness and Poverty in Ethiopia (2018) Rahmato

Foreign Direct Investment in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa (2019) Persson

Land Tenure Security (2019) Ege

Rural Ethiopia in Transition (2019) A Pankhurst and Dom

Under Construction (2019) Mains

Ethiopia: Social and Political Issues (2019) Cochrane (Ed)

Ethiopia in Theory (2019) Elleni Zeleke

The Act of Living (2019) Di Nunzio

Oxford Handbook on the Ethiopian Economy (2019) Fantu, Cramer, Arkebe

Ethiopia in the Wake of Political Reform (2020) Desta, Dori, Mihrertu

Land to the Tiller (2020) Oosthuizen

Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia (2020) Ostebo

Love and Liberation (2021) Carruth

Ethiopia & Food Security (2021) Cochrane

Village Gone Viral (2021) Ostebo

Qine Hermeneutics and Ethiopian Critical Theory (2021) Maimire Mennasemay

Citizens, Civil Society and Activism under the EPRDF Regime in Ethiopia (2023) Pellerin and Cochrane


Constructing “Development” (Ferguson, 1990)
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