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The History of the Ethiopian Army

Richard Pankhurst made innumerable contributions to the history of Ethiopia. I found an original copy of “An Introduction fo the History of the Ethiopian Army”, published by the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force, 101st Training Centre, in 1967. The Forward (of only 2 pages) by Colonel Aberra Wolde Mariam provide interesting insight into the thinking of […]

Thought Provokers

Collective Choice and Social Welfare

Amartya Sen has made significant contributions to economics, development studies and philosophy. His early work actually focused on collective choice, which was the the topic of his 1970 book “Collective Choice and Social Welfare” (re-printed with significant additions in 2017). In the 2017 Introduction, Sen outlines what social choice theory is and the broad array […]

Thought Provokers

Civil Resistance and Power Politics

Over the last decade there have been quite a number of books published on non-violence action (under a wide range of terminologies: people power, poor people’s movements, civil resistance, collective action, etc). A good number of these works start out with the premise that non-violence is the best / only way for political change to […]

Thought Provokers

Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom

Taiaiake Alfred’s “Wasase: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom” (2009) was recommended to me, as I sought out a book (or parts of a book) that might be used to introduce undergraduate students to ethical and justice issues of colonialism in Canada. In some ways, it is similar to Ngugi’s work on decolonizing the mind, […]

Thought Provokers

The Violence of the Green Revolution

Vandana Shiva has long been one of the key actors and advocates promoting locally-driven and owned, agroecologically-oriented and opposing corporate control of the agricultural and food sector. Although it was not her first publication, this message gained a global audience with “The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics” (1989). With […]

Thought Provokers

Why Some Social Movements Succeed While Others Don’t

This is the question that drives the recent book by Leslie Crutchfield, “How Change Happens: Why Some Social Movements Succeed While Others Don’t” (2018). This book is about social movements in the US, or that are primarily US-led. It offers some interesting case studies, quite descriptive throughout. The author summarizes the objective as seeking to understand […]

Thought Provokers

Land Tenure in Eritrea (1966)

An earlier post highlighted the first land tenure survey in Ethiopia, this post presents “Land Tenure in Eritrea (Ethiopia)” (1966) by Ambaye Zekarias. This publication is part of a broader set of literature that emerged during the 1960s (see broader literature here, with historical studies being a particular strength). The forward of this particular book […]

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Factfulness – Hans Rosling

Hans Rosling passed away in 2017, but his “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things are Better than You Think” (2018) carries his legacy on. For those familiar with Hans and his work, this is a good summary of a career working to educate. For those unfamiliar with Hans, this […]

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Fictions of Feminist Ethnography

Some of the strengths of feminist scholarship and feminist critique have become more widely utilized and adopted, often without recognition of their origins. Intersectionality and positionality are two examples of approaches of this sort. In many ways, Kamala Visweswaran’s book “Fictions of Feminist Ethnography” (1994) is a reflection of the time period of its authoring […]

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Somalia – The Problem Child?

In September of 1977 Mesfin Wolde Mariam published “Somalia: The Problem Child of Africa”, near the outset of the Ogaden War (which lasted from July 1977 to March 1978). As much as I respect Mesfin Wolde Mariam, this is a problematic book. Essentially, Mesfin challenges the claims that Somalis make with regard to their right […]

Thought Provokers