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Abstract
How do the Kara, a small population residing on the eastern bank of the Omo River in southern Ethiopia, manage to be neither annexed nor exterminated by any of the larger groups that surround them? Through the theoretical lens of rhetoric, this book offers an interactionalist analysis of how the Kara negotiate ethnic and non-ethnic differences among themselves, the relations with their various neighbors, and eventually their integration in the Ethiopian state. The model of the “Wheel of Autonomy” captures the interplay of distinction, agency and autonomy that drives these dynamics and offers an innovative perspective on social relations.
“This is a superb book, which regarding theories of culture, the epistemology of ethnographic research, and the evolution of our understanding of South Omo societies is path-breaking… The writing is fresh, clear and evocative.” • John G. Galaty, McGill University
Felix Girke is a social/cultural anthropologist and a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz, Germany. His publications include the edited volumes Ethiopian Images of Self and Other (UVHW, 2014) and The Rhetorical Emergence of Culture (Berghahn Books, 2011). He currently studies the politics of cultural heritage in Myanmar.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
The Wheel of Autonomy | iii | ||
Copyright Page | iv | ||
Contents | v | ||
List of Illustrations | vi | ||
Acknowledgements | viii | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
Chapter 1. A Rhetorical Approach to Groups and Ethnicity | 25 | ||
Chapter 2. Categories of Being Kara | 46 | ||
Chapter 3. Ethnicity within Kara | 83 | ||
Chapter 4. The Moguji | 104 | ||
Chapter 5. The Schism and Other Predicaments of the Moguji | 132 | ||
Chapter 6. The Regional Other in the Cultural Neighbourhood | 148 | ||
Chapter 7. South Omo in Kara Terms | 166 | ||
Chapter 8. The Cleverness of the Kara | 194 | ||
Chapter 9. Seeing Like a Tribe | 226 | ||
Conclusion | 250 | ||
Glossary of Non-English Terms | 261 | ||
Glossary of Places and People | 266 | ||
References | 271 | ||
Index | 287 |