An open letter to an inquisitive young Ethiopian sister
28 DECEMBER 2013
Ethiopian history is not three thousand years!
Dear Beloved Ethiopian Sister,
Thank you very much for your important question about the origin and extent of Ethiopian history.
Thank you for inspiring me to write this response.
I am prompted to write the response to your question in a public forum.
I do so because many of your doubting friends to whom you refer would
also be able to see my answers.
You write, “Edeminot, I would
like to ask you something if you have [the] time. [Many] people …
specially the young…have doubts about our 3000 years history … they ask
[for] evidence... Some comment that[one ethnic group] wrote the history
like they want… [But] they doubt if our history is even 100 years…. Can
you suggest [to] me [a] good book… about Ethiopia?Thank you, Sir”[M.B.]
I have always known young Ethiopians to be bright and inquisitive. Over
600 years ago it was written in Mashafa Berhan (please see my own
translation The Book of Light, EJ Brill,1973) from Emperor Zar’aYa’eqob
(1434-68) time: “all the peoples of Ethiopia are thirsty for knowledge”.
So, I am really not surprised to know that our young continue the
ancient tradition of our people to be thirsty for knowledge. I am
especially happy that they are inquisitive about our common history. May
the Almighty bless them and open the door for them to learn and teach.
Right at the outset, let me tell you that the young people are right to
say that we do not have a 3000-year history. We have a 10,000-year
common history! Going back to about 10,000 years, all the peoples who
inhabit Ethiopia-Eritrea-Horn of Africa today had one single common
ancestry.
As you probably know, I am a student of ancient
Semitic and Afroasiatic languages. So, my answer here to your question
about a common Ethiopian ancestry and heritage is based on a sound
ground of the study of Ethiopian languages and conclusions reached by
the leading international experts of historical linguistics-- scholars
from Russia, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, USA, et.al. My own
Institute of Semitic Studies publishes the major scholarly publication
in this field: Journal of Afroasiatic Languages.)
About 10,000
years ago, one single nation or community of a single linguistic group
existed in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Horn of Africa. That nation had
one culture and one language. For lack of better terminology most
scholars call that language Proto-Afroasiatic (PA.)Most, if not all the
languages of Ethiopia today, definitely Ge’ez, Oromifa, Amharic,
Tigrigna, Afar, Gurage, Hadiya, Kambaata,Somali, Sidamo, and all the
other languages known as Semitic and Cushitic as well as Omotic that
including Wolaytta,Hamar, Amuru, Boro, Anfillo,Ari,et.al. are branches
of oneancient language spoken by one people.
This is not just
my view. As I said above,it is the view of impartial worldwide
linguists. They are scholars who study ancient languages and the origin
of languages objectively and scientifically. They do deep linguistic
research objectively and might have not even visited Ethiopia, like some
of the subjective (tiraaznataq) social scientists who think they know
everything about our country after a year or two of a visit and study,
and whose writings often mislead not only our youth but also our
educators.
My sister: the study of languages is not social
science speculation. The relationship of most of the languages of
Ethiopia today and the other languages of the world is based on serious
scientific research -- a systematic and in-depth comparative analysis of
languages and historical linguistics.
As an example, it is
easy to find words in Oromifa that are identical to Hebrew or Ge’ez, two
closely related Semitic languages. For instance, Oromifa words like ana
(I),ati (you), abba (father),lubbu (soul, heart), kalē (kidney), dīmā
(red),garā (abdomen, throat) baē (come out, come), simbro (bird), rēti
(goat), sa’a (cattle),jir ā (dwell, live),gibē/goba (hill),‘ol
(upward),‘akkam (how? like what?), māl (what, why) etc. are interesting
proto-Afroasiatic terms that have cognates found also in Hebrew and
other Semitic languages. Certainly such specific words point to a strong
relationship of one or two languages. They are important, but not even
definitive for our basic conclusion.
What really determine the
relationship of languages are not only similarities in core
vocabularies, but more importantly grammar. It is not the relation of
words but the formal analysis and identification of thestructure
(morphology) of the languages. In this regard, almost all Ethiopian,
Eritrean, and Horn of Africa languages of today originate from one
language, PA. We can conclude that the Ethiopian speakers of these
languages today descend from one primordial family.
Unfortunately, not on account of their own fault, our young people are
not up to date on the study of ancient languages and ancient world
history, particularly their own. On the contrary, some half-baked
foreign experts of Ethiopia and political philosophy condition them. I
elaborate these problems in the following three points: a) reading of
available social science writings that focus on our differences instead
of on our similarities and common heritage; b)the recent powerful
worldwide political philosophies that questioned the validity of our
past history and cultures and influenced the world view of the my
generation of Ethiopians; and c) the deficiency of our modern
educational system going back to the last century.
First the
question the youth raise about the origin of our Ethiopian history or
the assumption they make about its chronological extent is distorted
unfortunately by reading the books of some modern half-baked foreign
academic “experts” of Ethiopia,anthropologists, sociologists, and
political scientists. Unquestioning or trusting Ethiopian students and
teachers have transmitted the writings and thoughts of these mostly
foreign scholars to our generation of Ethiopians. Many of these fellow
Ethiopians, close friends of mine included, are educators in our schools
and professors in our universities and leaders in our institutions.
Social scientists make legitimate contribution in their respective
fields. However, most of them do not study ancient languages and literature. So, they often rush into historical, anthropological, and
sociological judgments. Their conclusions are based on “field research”
or translated documents, conclusions “lost in translation”.
Worse still, anthropologists and social scientists, even some
historians, focus on what superficially differentiates Ethiopian
ethnic/linguistic groups, not on what fundamentally unites them, or what
they have in common.
1. There are two incidents I still
remember vividly. In the mid-60s when I was a student at Harvard, I was
hired as an Amharic teacher for the Peace Corps. The first night at the
dinner for all the teachers, a sociologist asked me where I was from. Of
course “Ethiopia,” I said. “No”, he said,“are you Amhara, Oromo,
Gurage, or Tigre?” “I am an Ethiopian,” I repeated. “So what language do
you speak?” I responded, “I speak Oromo, Amharic, and Tigrinya, Hebrew,
know words in Gurage, and know many other foreign languages.” He went
on, “So, what is your religion?” I replied, “I believe in One God”.
Finally, he was frustrated with me and walked away. Some might say that
his motives were malicious. I cannot judge. He could have just been
naively inquisitive.
2. In 1967, when I was back home as
Director General of the National Literacy Campaign of Ethiopia, I was
invited by the students of the then Haile-Selassie I University to speak
at the annual meeting of Union of Ethiopian Students. After my talk I
was invited to sit for dinner at the table for the student leaders. Our
conversation quickly turned to the question of nationalities. One
student asked me whether I had read William Shack’s book, The Gurage. I
happened not only to have read the book but I even also knew the author
personally, so I told him. He said, “I am a Gurage, and I did not know
that we Gurages are an industrial people until I read this book”. It was
a pity that he had a foreigner to make him proud of his ancestry, as
all Ethiopian should know and be proud of their respective heritage or
ancestry.
In those days, there was a story that foreign social
scientists bait Ethiopians asking what Ethiopian national group they
originate from, ascribing to the different nationalities political
savvy, democratic idealism, or intellectual ability and the like to each
respective group. They then prod them, saying that their particular
ethnic group must be the leaders who must govern Ethiopia. I could be
wrong, but the whole objective appears not for our welfare but to
dominate us through “divide and control”.
Of course, there
exist many interesting and beautiful differences [I like to think so]
among our Ethiopian peoples. But there also exist many amazingly
interesting common cultural and historical features and essentials. For
instance, the Sidama, Hadiya, Kembata, etc. (of what is known in general
Highland East Cushitic group) beyond a thousand or even less years have
a common history.The history that we write today for each of these
languages/ people going back a thousand years also concerns the other.
Argobba and Amharic speakers share the same ancestor that dates about
1200 years ago. The Argobba history beyond 1200 years is also a history
of Amharic speakers and vice-versa. If we go back about 2500 years the
history of the Argobba-Amharic group also is the history of Harari,
Silte, Wolane, and Zay. Then,if we go back about 10,000 years all the
Cushitic, Semitic, and Omoticl anguages within our present borders, and
the other Afroasiatic languages, that are/ were spoken beyond our
current territory such as Berber, Chadic, Old Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic,
will share the same history as they descended from the same
proto-language.
One absurd theory that has taken deep root in
the thinking of most foreign and even Ethiopian historians is that the
Oromo came to Ethiopia in or about the 16th century. During any civil
war, as it happened in Ethiopia after the 16th century, and indeed as it
happens everywhere in the world even today, there is always a large
population movement. But there is no proof that the large great Oromo
population appeared in Ethiopia about five hundred years ago. I did once
attempt to answer this simplistic question with its self-evident answer
at a lecture I gave in 1972 at the then Haile Selassie I University
when I was on leave from Harvard. But, this is not the place to go into
it now.
In short, however, our study of the Afroasiatic
languages does not support the untenable 16th century migration story.
Oromifa is indeed one of the original Proto-Afroasiatic dialects of
Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The Oromo, like most of the peoples of
Ethiopia today, are among the first speakers of Proto-Afroasiatic and
contrary to the odd theory, one of the earliest inhabitants of Ethiopia
and the Horn of Africa. Their first ancestors can be said to be the
common ancestors of most of the peoples who inhabit Ethiopia today from
the North to the South, from the east to the west.
We
Ethiopians must all be proud of our present respective distinct
linguistic and cultural heritages -- as long as we do not preach our own
singular superiority. Indeed, we Ethiopians are a beautiful
multi-lingual and multi-cultural people who in a flower vase called
Ethiopia decorate the great continent of Africa.
Sadly, I have
yet to see any serious social science book that focuses on our common
heritage. (I once published an essay called Social Structure of the
Ethiopian Church in the Ethiopia Observer, edited by our distinguished
Ethiopisant, Richard Pankhurst, in 1972. Some similar ideas were
repeated in Donald Levin’s more well-known “Greater Ethiopia” but one
published a couple years later in 1974.) However, we still await more
comprehensive anthropological and sociological studies that would focus
on the key common heritage of the peoples of Ethiopia rather than always
focusing on what separate us and distinguish us from each other as some
social scientists tend to do.
Secondly, the generation of the
60’s and 70’s were exposed to foreign Marxist-Leninist thought. It is my
generation and many of the actors were personal friends. Some of the
leaders were my successors as Presidents of the Ethiopian Student
Association in North America. Even if I did not subscribe to their
philosophy, I had a lot of respect for them. They too were patriotic.
They loved Ethiopia and wanted the best for their country. They wanted
to see a modernized Ethiopia: democracy, justice, land to the tillers
with which we all agreed.
Beyond such admirable aspirations,
however, they were misguided and blinded by a zeal for the then
worldwide popular ideologies. I respectfully conclude that they knew
very little about Ethiopia and its history and culture. In addition to
being indoctrinated by the kind of anthropological works I referred to
above, they discovered Marx and Engels, Lenin and Mao- studied with
Marcuse—and became preoccupied with these rightly great political
thinkers whom they almost worshiped. With the exception of a handful,
the blind majority became even so negative about the value and greatness
of Ethiopian history and cultures. To be fair, it was not all their
fault as I indicate in the following.
Thirdly, the Ethiopian
Ministry of Education never developed a curriculum of rigorous study of
Ethiopian languages, literature, and history in our academic
institutions during my generation. During my two years at the then
University College of Addis Abba (1954-56), I took courses on medieval
and modern European history, as well as on USA history and geography.
Today, we live in a global cosmopolitan world. Therefore, of course, it
is important for us Ethiopians to study European, American, Indian,
Chinese, Near Eastern histories, languages and cultures and of all the
peoples of the world. That is not the problem. However, not a single
course was offered on Ethiopian history in our institutions as long I
remember. The problem thus became complicated not only by the dearth of
the study of Ethiopia, but also by what was being offered (on the
contrary)- the study of western history and philosophy without the
centrality of the study of our own Ethiopia in the context of its
relations to these other world cultures.
It was after I came to
the United States that I discovered Ethiopia. I started finding books
in the libraries of Harvard about Ethiopia and its ancient history. My
eyes got opened to the riches of Ethiopian languages and cultures. I met
Harvard professors who knew the Ge’ez language and had read the
Ethiopic Book of Enoch and Ethiopic Book of Jubilees. The fact that
distinguished Harvard scholars considered such Ethiopic works of such
great significance, of course, opened my eyes to the seriousness of
studying ancient Ethiopian languages and cultures.
As a person
even in my younger days fascinated by the ancient world I would have
loved to take a course on ancient or“medieval” Ethiopian history. But as
I said above no such courses were being offered at the University
College. After many years in the US and when I became one of the
promoters of the National Literacy Campaign of Ethiopia, I had the
opportunity to confront directly the then Minster of Education “why were
course not offered on Ethiopian history, languages and cultures in our
university?” His only answer to me was that the college curricula was
developed by foreigners who did not know Ethiopian history and that we
did not have professors who could teach these subjects. That is why my
first exposure to the study of Ethiopian languages and history, as I
alluded to above, was only when I became a student at Harvard in the
60’s.
In short, an educated Ethiopian must study other
cultures. But there is no reason why we should know more about them and
less about our own. It is not good enough to read uncritically books
about our own history and culture written by foreign social scientists
that focus on our differences, instead of on our common heritage. If we
read books written by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Lenin and Mao, why not
those attributed to Kristos Samra, Iyasus Mo’a, Zar’a Ya’eqob,
Ewestatewos, Onesimos Nasib, and our other ancient writers?We do we not
study Ge’ez poetry and literature?Why do we not study and research the
rich oral tradition of the Oromo and other Ethiopian peoples about human
wisdom and political democratic philosophy? Why do we not listen to or
learn from our own ordinary village elders about mutual respect,
humility of knowledge, and, love of peace and wisdom.
In
conclusion, my sister, it is true we have a one hundred year history. It
is true also that we have a 3000-year history, which can easily be
verifiable from various records: artifacts, inscriptions, etc. It is
also true that, leaving the further pre-historic period, we have at
least a linguistically proven history that we all share for 10,000
years!
(Someone might ask so why do we fight with each other
then? Well, have you not heard of brothers and sisters who are in
continual combat?)
Beyond our common ancestry, it is a fact
that there is a mixture of people in our country through intermarriage,
language shift, etc. If a genuine scientific study is done, I am sure
that the majority of our people will be of this mixed heritage/
ancestor. At one occasion, I remember that I respectfully joked to my
late great friend, our Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi (may the Almighty
bless his soul): if an Ethiopian says I am a pure Oromo, Amhara, Tigre
etc. he/she shouldn’t get a passport; he or she should prove to be
mixed! Ethiopia is not a country comprised of racially distinct peoples.
The differences among its people is only with languages that even
shrink whenever we go back in time until all become one (recall above)!
Even if we do not have this amazing blood-bonded 10,000-year common
history, we are together now. The earth under our feet is a single
united ground. It is a paradise that is hidden to us. Our country is a
sleeping giant -- as I heard recently from the former President of the
South African Bank.
Just focusing on the present linguistic
differences does not help our economic growth and strength. If we spend
our energy looking at our differences negatively instead of weaving a
beautiful mosaic together we go nowhere.
So should we not enjoy
our beautiful multi-color linguistic and cultural differences
aesthetically and be proud of our separate contributions and go forward?
Is it necessary to focus on our differences and become fragmented and
weak, fighting each other? Or, is it not better to try to accept our
mutual differences and then build together a strong united economic and
peaceful front that will benefit each and every Ethiopian whatever
his/her background?
In passing, let me also add that like our
beautiful ethnic differences, our political and religious differences
should also be respected. They should not stand in the way of our
economic progress. Our political and religious leaders, educators,
businesspeople, and civil servants deserve our respect and love. In turn
they should show love and respect to all our peoples. Let us not engage
in energy-wasting arguments about our differences, whatever they might
be. Instead let us patiently listen to each other and respect each
other, as our ordinary Ethiopian people actually do. The only way you
and I benefit even as individuals, whatsoever our differences, is when
all benefit! There is a Jewish saying, “every Jew leans on every other
Jew.” That way we can stand strong and do not fall. So, let us unite and
show each other love and respect. Let us focus our energy onto
overcoming poverty, disease, and illiteracy. That way, Mother Ethiopia
can show all Africa too the high way.
Ethiopia is a melting
pot. There are now two countries I know that are also melting pots, the
US and Israel. Both countries are economically at the forefront of world
history. Yet their people are ethnically and linguistically of more
different origins than we Ethiopians are. In spite of that, they focus
on their common heritage and work together to be socially and
economically strong. And they are strong!!! Can we learn from them?
My Sister: Please forgive me if my answer is a long letter. Indeed the
answer to your question is a book, not even a long letter. I hope that
our Universities will begin to focus on important linguistic,
historical, and cultural studies of our peoples to appreciate the
positive side of both our differences and similarities and to put them
to our economic strength and the prosperity of Ethiopia based on mutual
respect and love.
Ephraim Isaac, B.A., B.D., Ph.D., D.Litt, D.H.L.
eisaac@post.harvard.edu
http://www.thereporterethiopia.com/index.php/opinion/viewpoint/item/1415-an-open-letter-to-an-inquisitive-young-ethiopian-sister
