Transforming Identities and New Representations of Muslims in Contemporary Ethiopia. Workshop, September 2010

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1 Transforming Identities and New Representations of Muslims in Contemporary Ethiopia Workshop, September 2010 Introduction Whereas the religious dimension in conflicts on the Horn of Africa has gained renewed attention in recent years, particularly with reference to Islam in Somalia, little interest has been paid to Islam in Ethiopia. This is rather surprising, given the fact that Ethiopia is a major player at the Horn, and that Muslims constitutes a significant part of the country s population. The long history of Islam in Ethiopia and the rich diversity of Muslim cultures is in itself a reason for scholarly attention. However, the need for further investigations on the Muslim community in Ethiopia can be justified by two additional parameters. First, Islam in Ethiopia has in recent history undergone dramatic changes, seen through increased religious activities, the emergence of alternative religious movements and more intense discourses within the Muslim community. Secondly, Ethiopia s Christian legacy is a particular feature and has proven to be a lasting force; affecting Muslim self-definitions, images of Islam and patterns for inter-religious relations. These two parameters as interlinked have produced a particular complex picture, making clear impacts on the formation of Muslim identities and representations of Islam and Muslims in Ethiopia. Main Perspective and Conceptual Frame The proposed workshop aims to analyse the transformation of Muslim identities and the production of new representations and imaginations of Islam and Muslims in Ethiopia. Integrated in the research questions are how recent socio-political dynamics have shaped new patterns of integration and translocal entanglements, while at the same time contributing to new practices of boundary-making. Such reciprocal and dynamic processes explain how new trajectories of communications may trigger old as well as new possible lines of conflict. Overall, the workshop seeks to fill a neglected aspect of Ethiopian Studies. It intends to collocate recent research on Islam in contemporary Ethiopia, as well as to identify areas in need for further investigations. Current trends within the Muslim community will be treated in relation to contemporary political, economical, social and cultural developments. This is both related to discourses within the Muslim community and with reference to the wider Ethiopian society. In order to address these questions, the workshop will draw on international and multidisciplinary expertise related to Muslim cultures in Ethiopia. We welcome contributions from the social sciences and humanities, and will seek to facilitate fruitful discussions and exchange of views that would produce new approaches to this complex topic. Subtopics The workshop will be organised into three sessions with four papers presented in each one. There will also be a discussant in each of the sessions, commenting the papers and facilitating the general discussion. The three sessions will be structured under the following subtopics: A. Transforming Muslim Identities: Reform, Appropriation and Resistance The aim is here to provide new insights into current discourses about transformations of Muslim identities in Ethiopia linked to the increased diversity and fragmentation within the Muslim community. This includes issues related to appropriation and resistance of Islamic reform, and entails approaches which recognise the reciprocal nature of such forces. Relevant questions to be addressed would be: What are the dynamics imbedded in the emergence of new Islamic movements and what are the consequences for the production of new religious identities? How do we understand debates about legitimate religious symbols and practice, and how do they affect self-definitions and representations 1

2 of Islam? How are they played out locally? What are the topographical features of the religious landscape being produced through such developments, and what impacts do they have for the demarcation of intra-religious boundaries? Chair: Dr. Lovise Aalen Discussant: Dr. Benjamin Soares Presenters: Dr. Patrick Desplat: The Sacralization of Space: Islamic Shrines, Place-Making and the Heritage Industry in Harar Zerihun A. Woldesellassie: Identity, Islam and Ethnic Politics among the Siltie of Ethiopia Dr. Minako Ishihara: The Formation of a Muslim Regional Cult in Eastern Ethiopia Sitti Momina and the Faraqasa Connection Dr. Terje Østebø: Youth, Islam, and Ethno-nationalism in contemporary Bale B. Capacities and Constrains: Muslim Representations in the Ethiopian Public Sphere The focus is here on how Ethiopia s current political climate, reversing former restrictions on religious representations has produced a far more visible Muslim community carving out public space. It includes enquiries into issues such as Islam in relation to politics (in a wide sense), changes in the ways Muslims relate to the wider Ethiopian society, and the dynamics imbedded herein as well as on the issue of re-demarcation of religious (and other) boundaries. Relevant questions to be addressed are: What kind of leeway exists, what kind of restrictions emerge with regard to Muslim representations and activities in the Ethiopian public sphere? In which ways does this affect the Christian-Muslim relations in Ethiopia? How does this influence self-images and representations of Islam and the Muslim community in Ethiopia? How is the religious dimension interacted with issues such as ethnicity? Chair: Dr. Patrick Desplat Discussant: Dr Kjetil Tronvoll Presenters: Dr. Dereje Fayissa: Islam in Contemporary Ethiopia: New Possibilities and Enduring constraints Samson A. Bezabeh: Living Across Digital Landscapes: Indian Guru, Hadrami Diaspora and Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia Dr. Simone Rettberg: The production of social and territorial boundaries in a context of increasing external influences: Adaptation and resistance to change among Muslim Afar pastoralists C. Ethiopian Muslims and the Horn of Africa 2

3 The aim is to situate Islam in Ethiopia in the near regional context as well as connecting it to wider discourses. The subtopic will analyse the scope and nature of relations between Muslims in the different areas of the Horn, and how the geo-political developments reciprocally have affected relations between the different Muslim communities. Relevant questions to be addressed would be: How have Ethiopia s military operations in Somalia affected such relationships? What kinds of representations of Islam are being produced in the region? What could be the role of Islam and the various Muslim communities in seeking to establish peace and reconciliation on the Horn of Africa? Chair: Dr. Terje Østebø Discussant: Dr. Leif Manger Presenters: Dr. Cedric Barnes: Genealogies of Somali Islamic Politics: The contribution of Ethiopian Somalis Dr. Haggai Erlich: Islam, War and Peace in the Horn of Africa Dr. Stig Jarle Hansen: The ideologies of Al-Shabaab Dr. Roland Marchal: Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama a and Somali Sufism in the Horn of Africa Output The workshop aims at compiling the contributions for the publication of an anthology. As stated, the study of Islam in Ethiopia is still on an embryonic stage, and there is a clear need for a more comprehensive publication. In addition to an introductory chapter and a conclusion, the anthology will, as according to the subtopics outlined above, be organised into three parts, each with four chapters. The anthology will be edited by Patrick Desplat and Terje Østebø. Participants Lovise Aalen Is a Political Scientist and a Senior researcher at the Christian Michelsen Institute. Her research interests include ethnic political mobilization, institutional solutions in multiethnic states, democratization and informal politics. The geographical foci are on Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and Sudan. Aalen s recent publications include "The End of Democracy? Curtailing Political and Civil Rights in Ethiopia", in Review of African Political Economy 36 (2009) (co-written with Kjetil Tronvoll). Cedric Barnes Is a Historian and a Senior Research Analyst in the Africa Research Group, Foreign & Commonwealth Office and a Research Associate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. He has several publications on Somali political history, including: The Somali Youth League, Ethiopian Somalis, and the Greater Somalia idea circa , Journal of East African Studies, I, 2, (2007); Gubo Ogaadeen poetry and the aftermath of the Dervish wars in Cedric Barnes (guest editor for the special issue: Language, Power and Society in North East Africa, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 18, 1, (2006); The Rise and Fall of Mogadishu s Islamic Courts (co-authored with Harun Hassan), Africa Programme, Chatham House, (2007). Dereje Feyissa Is a Social Anthropologist, currently affiliated to the University of Bayreuth. His area of interests includes Islam in contemporary Ethiopia; diaspora; ethnic federalism in Ethiopia; the political economy of development. He has published extensively on this issues and is the author of the 3

4 forthcoming book; Playing Different Games: The Paradox of the Identification Strategies of the Anywaa and the Nuer in the Gambella region (Berghahn Publishers, 2010); and co-editor (together with Markus Hohene) of the volume Borders and Borderlands as resources in the Horn of Africa (James Currey, 2010). Patrick Desplat Is a Social Anthropologist at the Institute of Anthropology, University of Cologne. His research interests include religion, mobility and migration, place and space, urban anthropology, and his geographical focus are on East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya), Indian Ocean (Madagascar). Recent publications include Heilige Stadt Stadt der Heiligen. Ambivalenzen und Kontroversen islamischer Heiligkeit in Äthiopien (in print: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 2010); The Making of a Harari City in Ethiopia. Constructing and Contesting Saintly Places. In Stauth, G. & S. Schielke (Hrsg.) Dimensions of Locality: The Making and Remaking of Islamic Saints and their Places. (Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam 8, 2008); The Articulation of Religious Identities and their Boundaries in Ethiopia: Labelling Difference and Processes of Contextualisation in Islam, Journal of Religion in Africa 35, 4 (2005) Haggai Erlich Is a Historian (SOAS, London University) and Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University & Academic Adviser, The Open University of Israel. His research focuses include the histories of Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia s relations with the Middle East, Egypt, the Nile valley, Red Sea Basin, as well as the history of higher education and students in the Middle East. Erlich has written numerous books, book-chapters and articles, and his most recent publications are Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia Islam, Christianity and Politics Entwined (Lynne Rienner, 2007); Islam and Christianity in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan (Lynne Rienner, 2010). Minako Ishihara Is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology and Philosophy, Nanzan University. Her research interests include the indigenization of Islam / Islamization of indigenous culture and Muslim regional cults in Ethiopia. Recent publications include Beyond Authenticity: Diverse Images of Muslim Awliya in Ethiopia African Study Monographs, Suppl. no.41 Kyoto University: ASAFAS (2010); The Formation of the Modern State of Ethiopia and the Co- existence of Religions: Emperors, Spirit Mediums and Dancing Spirits, in Chihiro Miyazawa (ed), Social Change and Reselection of Religion: Anthropological Studies in the Post-colonial World (Fukyosha, 2009) (in Japanese). Stig Jarle Hansen Is a Political Scientist and an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway. He has previously worked as a senior analyst for Risk Intelligence, as well as the Nibr institute in Norway, and as a Lecturer at the University of Bath. Hansen has published in journals as Review of African Political economy, Cambridge Journal of International Affairs, Journal of Terrorism Research, Peace Research and Journal of Conflict studies. He has appeared frequently in the global media and had his own miniseries on Mogadishu on the BBC world service in Leif Manger Is a Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen. His regional focus is on Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, with long-term field research in the Sudan, and shorter fieldworks in Yemen, Hyderabad, India and Singapore. His research interests include economic and ecological anthropology, development studies, Arabization and Islamization, migration, diaspora and transnationalism. His publications include Muslim Diversity. Local Islam in Global Contexts (ed) (Curzon, 1999); The Hadrami Diaspora. Community-building on the Indian Ocean Rim (In press, Berghahn, 2010). Roland Marchal Is a Political Scientist and a Senior Research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), based at the Center for International Studies and Researches (CERI/Sciences-Po, Paris. Moreover, he was the chief editor of the French academic quarterly, Politique africaine from 2002 to 4

5 2006. He has been researching and published extensively on the conflicts and politics in the Horn of Africa. Among his publications are A tentative analysis of Haraka al-shabaab al-mujaheddin, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 3, 3 (2009); Islamic political dynamics in the Somali civil war, in Alex de Waal (ed.), Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn of Africa (Hurst, 2004). Terje Østebø Is a Scholar of Religion and is an Assistant Professor at the Center for African Studies & Dept. of Religion, University of Florida. His research interests are Islam in Southern Ethiopia, contemporary Islam and Islamic reform in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, ethnicity and ethno-nationalism. Recent publications include "Une économie salafi de la prière dans la région du Balé en Éthiopie", in Afrique Contemporaine, 231 (2009); Growth and Fragmentation: The Salafi Movement in Contemporary Bale, Ethiopia, in Roel Meijer (ed.): Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement (Columbia University Press, 2009); The Question of Becoming: Islamic Reform Movements in Contemporary Ethiopia, in Journal of Religion in Africa, 38, 4 (2008). Simone Rettberg Is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Her research interests focus on topics of development geography and political geography with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. In recent years she worked specifically on questions of vulnerabilty/resilience and dealing with risks among pastoralists in East Africa. Recent publications include the book The risk of the Afar Livelihood protection of Ethiopian pastoralists under conditions of famine crises, violent conflicts and development interventions (2009); Contested narratives of pastoral vulnerability and risk in Ethiopia s Afar region, in: Pastoralism - Research, Policy and Practice 1, 2 (2010); Pathways and dead ends of the development of nomadic pastoralism in Ethiopia (co-authored with D. Müller-Mahn and Girum Getachew), forthcoming in the European Journal of Development Research (2010) Samson A. Bezabeh Is a Social Anthropologist and a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Bergen, where he is working on Yemeni communities and their interactions with state-powers in Northeast Africa. His research focus is much related to migration of people, ideas, and commodities in the Western Indian Ocean region. Recent publications include Muslim Hadramis in Christian Ethiopia: Stereotype and Boundary Making Processes in Historical Persepctive, forthcoming in International Journal of Muslim Minority Studies; Yemeni Families in the Early History of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ca : A Revisionist Approach in Diasporic Historiography, forthcoming in Cahiers d Études africaines. Benjamin Soares Is a Social Anthropologist and a Senior Researcher at the Afrika-Studiecentrum in Leiden, The Netherlands. His publications include Islam and the prayer economy (Edinburgh & Michigan, 2005) and the edited/co-edited volumes, Islam and Muslim politics in Africa (Palgrave, 2007); Muslim- Christian encounters in Africa (Brill, 2006); Islam, État et société en Afrique (Karthala, 2009); Islam, politics, anthropology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Kjetil Tronvoll Is Professor of human rights at the University of Oslo and Senior Partner of International Law and Policy Institute, a Norwegian based international think-tank. He has his PhD in political anthropology from London School of Economics. His research focuses include Human Rights, politics/election, conflicts and questions related to identity (ethnicity, nationalism) in the Horn of Africa and East Africa. He has published extensively, among others; The Lasting Struggle for Freedom in Eritrea: Human Rights and Political Development, (Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, 2009); War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia: The making of enemies and allies in the Horn of Africa. James Currey, 2009). 5

6 Zerihun Abebe Woldeselassie Is a Social and Visual Anthropologist. Currently he is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Bergen, Norway and affiliated as a Research Fellow at Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre, Ku Leuven, Belgium. His research focuses include Cultural Identity and Islam in Ethiopia. He has taught at the Bahir Dar University and the Addis Ababa University. Relevant publication: Contested Popular Islamic Practices among Ethiopian Muslims: The Case of warrie among the Siltie, Kolor: Journal on Moving Communities, 7, 1 (2007). 6