History

From Poverty to Famine in Ethiopia

From Poverty to Famine in Ethiopia

Rural live in Ethiopian history is largely absent in the historical record – historians are able to work with a wealth of material from the long written record in the country, but these tends to only reflect a small segment of society. James McCann’s “From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: A Rural History 1900-1935” […]

Tags: #Ethiopia #Famine #History #Poverty #Resistance

Thought Provokers
Imagining Ethiopia – Identity in the Horn

Imagining Ethiopia – Identity in the Horn

John Sorenson’s “Imagining Ethiopia: Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa” (1993) presents portrayals of Ethiopia – domestic and foreign, historical and present – and in some ways is similar to “Famine and Foreigners” (2010) by Gill. The book is partially about identity, but more about portrayals and perceptions of Ethiopia, Ethiopians, […]

Tags: #Eritrea #Ethiopia #History #Identity #Narrative

Thought Provokers
From Bullets to the Ballot Box

From Bullets to the Ballot Box

Kinfe Abraham (1950-2007) was one of Ethiopia’s leading academics, although his books are not well known outside of the country. In this post I pull some though provoking quotes and ideas from his 1994 publication “Ethiopia from Bullets to the Ballot Box: The Bumpy Road to Democracy and the Political Economy of Transition”. The book […]

Tags: #Democracy #Ethiopia #History #Kinfe Abraham #Resettlement

Thought Provokers
Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia

Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia

Bahru Zewde has written an excellent book on the history of the student movement in Ethiopia, this book goes back further, to the late 1800s and early 1900s, exploring the activities and impact of the intellectuals of that time period. The book, “Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century” […]

Tags: #Bahru Zewde #Ethiopia #History #Pioneers of change #Reformists

Thought Provokers
The Ethiopian Borderlands

The Ethiopian Borderlands

Historians of Ethiopia have rich sets of materials to work with from the empires of the highlands, however the relative abundance of literature from the highlands results in comparatively limited literature on the the other areas (that would become part) of Ethiopia. Pankhurst writes: “Historical studies of Ethiopia, like those of other countries, often tend […]

Tags: #Borderlands #Ethiopia #History #Pankhurst #Periphery

Thought Provokers
State and Land in Ethiopian History

State and Land in Ethiopian History

Richard Pankhurst (1927-2017) is one of the most prolific historians of Ethiopia, described by the Foreign Minister as “one of Ethiopia’s greatest friends.” One of his earlier works is “State and Land in Ethiopian History” (1966). As expected from those familiar with Richard Pankhurst, the book offers insight into history that appears otherwise to be […]

Tags: #Ethiopia #History #Land #Law #Pankhurst

Thought Provokers
The Battle for Afghanistan

The Battle for Afghanistan

The way war is waged has significantly changed since the 1800s. One might assume the lessons for contemporary times from such a period would be limited as a result. William Dalrymple’s telling of the British attempt to conquer Afghanistan in 1839-1842 convincingly show the opposite. In “Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan” (2013), […]

Tags: #Afghanistan #Colonialism #Conflict #Dalrymple #History

Thought Provokers
The Quest for Socialist Utopia

The Quest for Socialist Utopia

Bahru Zewde’s “The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement c. 1960-1974” (2014) is brilliant. It is detailed, and may be of interest to a narrow audience as a result. However, this exploration of the student movement – leading up to the overthrow of the Imperial Regime in 1974 – is extremely well done, […]

Tags: #Ethiopia #History #Revolution #Socialism #Student Movement

Thought Provokers
A History Not Told: American Slavery & Capitalism

A History Not Told: American Slavery & Capitalism

What is the half of the story we’ve not been told about slavery? Baptist explains that “America’s first generation of professional historians were justifying the exclusions of Jim Crow and disenfranchisement by telling a story about the nation’s past of slavery and civil war that seemed to confirm, for many white Americans, that white supremacy was […]

Tags: #American slavery #Capitalism #History #Oppression #Slavery

Thought Provokers

Visiting Fellowships 2017/18 Shanghai University

The Center for the History of Global Development, Shanghai University, invites applications for fellowships for visiting scholars working on projects related to the history of policies, concepts, practices or debates related to socio-economic development on local, national, regional or global levels. The Center for the History of Global Development is a new research focus established at […]

Tags: #Development Studies #Fellowship #History #International development #international development studies

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