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" Ethiopianism, Africanity and repatriation: An Afrocentric social history of Shashemene Repatriation Community, Ethiopia: 1955–2004 "
Anthony Wayne Merritt
D. Davidson
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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52951
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| Doc. No
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TL22905
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3218103
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| Main Entry
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Anthony Wayne Merritt
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| Title & Author
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Ethiopianism, Africanity and repatriation: An Afrocentric social history of Shashemene Repatriation Community, Ethiopia: 1955–2004\ Anthony Wayne Merritt
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| College
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Union Institute and University
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| Date
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2006
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2006
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197
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| Abstract
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The story of the creation and evolution of Shashemene Repatriation Community is unique among the annals of Ethiopianism and has yet to receive a detailed treatment. This study argues that the uniqueness, as well as the relative success of the repatriation community of Shashemene is predicated on its world view. I identify and define this view as a fully actualized, modern Ethiopianism, predicated on the person of H. I. M. Haile Selassie I, emperor of Ethiopia, and expressed in the residents' particular relationship to him. This world view is the wellspring of their sense of identity and nourishes their psychological well being. The driving force in the formation of this community, I argue, was the determination of its residents to respond vigorously to the emperor's request for development assistance, in exchange for the opportunity to reside in Ethiopia and be given free land on which to live. They understood this imperial arrangement to be the stepping stone to their longed for identity as full Ethiopians/Africans---the attainment of which would engender spiritual and psychological well being. They adamantly referred to their coming to Ethiopia as repatriation, as the word's definition, "to return to one's own country, especially after having lived abroad," more accurately expressed their sentiments, than the word immigration---the act of coming into a country of which one is not a resident. Definitively then, the intent of fully actualized modern Ethiopianism is to give to its proponents a sense of psychological well-being through praxis. For Shashemene repatriates, this is accomplished by being spiritually and physically rooted in the land, and manifested through their establishment of essential, humanitarian oriented social institutions designed to improve the life chances of the local Ethiopian people. Participant observation and in-depth interviews are used to investigate and draw conclusions regarding the world view and community institutions of Shashemene repatriates. The repatriates maintain that their relocation to Ethiopia and their humanitarian works contribute to their Africanity---that is, their sense of identity, purpose, and well-being as an African people.
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| Subject
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Social sciences; Africanity; Ethiopia; Repatriation; Shashemene Repatriation Community; Social history; African history; 0331:African history
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D. Davidson
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Union Institute and University
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