Ethnicity
and National Identity in Ethiopia
November 12, 2006
Harvard Law School, Pound
Hall, Room 101
1563
Massachusetts Ave.
Schedule:
09:30 - 09:40
Introductory remarks from ESAH and
Harvard-GSAS by Prof. Kay Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard
University
09:40 - 10:00
Presentation: Prof. Teshale Tibebu
10:00 - 10:10
Comments on Prof. Teshale's presentation from panelists
10:10 - 10:30
Presentation: Prof. Mohammed Hassen Ali
10:30 - 10:40
Comments on Prof. Mohammed's
presentation
10:40 - 11:00
Presentation:
Dr. Sarah Vaughan
11:00 - 11:10
Comments on Dr. Vaughan's
presentation
11:10 - 12:30
Questions and answers with audience
12:30
- 02:00
Lunch
for panelists with forum organizers
02:00 - 02:20
Presentation: Prof. Messay Kebede
02:20 - 02:30
Comments on Prof. Messay's presentation from panelists
02:30 - 02:50
Presentation:
Prof. Ghelawdewos Araia
02:50 - 03:00
Comments on Prof. Ghelawdewos's presentation
03:00 - 03:20
Presentation: Prof. Asafa Jalata
03:20 - 03:30
Comments on Prof. Asafa's presentation
03:30 - open
Questions and answers with audience
LIST OF PANELISTS
Asafa Jalata: Is a professor at University
of Tennessee, Knoxville,
in the department of sociology. His research agenda is focused on investigating
and understanding the dynamic interplay between the racialized/ethnicized
and exploitative global and regional economic structures and the human agencies
of the colonized/indigenous peoples. He has been identifying and
explaining the chains of historical and political economic forces shaping
racial/ethno national inequality, development and under-development, and
national and social movements on global, regional, and local levels. He
is the author of Oromia
& Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethno national Conflict, 1868-1992 (2004) (1993, 2005),
Oromo nationalism and the Ethiopian Democracy: The Search of Freedom and
Democracy (1998), Fighting against the Injustice of the State and
Globalization: Comparing the African American and Oromo Movements (2001), State
Crises, Globalization, and National Movement in North-East Africa, (2004).
Mohammed Hassen Ali: Is a professor at Georgia
State University
in the department of History. His main research area is the history of the
Oromo people of Ethiopia,
focusing on the development of Oromo nationalism within the Ethiopian state. He
is the author of The Oromo of Ethiopia:
A History, 1570 to 1860 (Cambridge University Press, 1990), Arrested
Development in Ethiopia:
Essays on Underdevelopment, Democracy and Self-Determination, ed. By Seyoum Hameso
and Mohammed Hassen,
The Red Sea Press (June 2006), and numerous other
articles.
Messay Kebede: Professor
Kebede taught philosophy at Addis
Ababa University
from 1976 to 1993. He also served as chair of the department of philosophy from
1980 to 1991. He presently teaches several courses at the University
of Dayton including: African
Philosophy, Value and Economics, and Professional Ethics in a Global
Community. His research has focused on
writing articles on issues of development and culture change. He is the author
of The Survival of Modern Ethiopia.
Teshale Tibebu: Professor
Tibebu teaches history at Temple
University. His teaching and
research focuses on a critique of Eurocentrism in the
production of knowledge, especially pertaining to Africa.
The graduate and undergraduate classes he teaches are meant to produce an
alternative approach to African and Third World history
than the one informed by the Eurocentric paradigm. He is the author of: On the Question of Feudalism, Absolutism and
Bourgeois Revolution," Review, vol. xiii, no. 1, Winter,
1990, pp. 49-152; The Making of Modern Ethiopia, 1896-1974. Lawrenceville,
N.J. Red Sea Press,
1995; Ethiopia: The "Anomaly" and
"Paradox" of Africa, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 26, no.
4, March 1996. "Hegel and Anti-Semitism" (Forthcoming Spring 2007,
University of South Africa Press).
Sarah Vaughn: Professor
Vaughn is a Research Consultant and Honorary Fellow in Politics at the Centre
of African Studies at the University
of Edinburgh. Since her involvement
in humanitarian activities in the Horn of Africa in the late 1980s, she has
researched and written on issues in Ethiopian political history for a range of
government, multilateral and voluntary bodies, and has taught African politics
and social theory in Ethiopia
and in Scotland.
Her research interests include the sociology of knowledge, ethnicity and
political interest, decentralization and local government, transitional justice
and conflict. She is co-author of The Culture of Power in Contemporary
Ethiopian Political Life (Sida, Stockholm,
2003)
Ghelawdewos Araia: Studied first at Addis Ababa University (then
Haile Selassie University),
majoring in political science. After he completed three years of the
undergraduate program, the Ethiopian revolution of 1974 broke out, the
university was closed and his educational career was interrupted. After 8
years, he joined Columbia University to receive B.A. in political science, M.A.
in international studies, Ed.M. in International
Education, and ED.D (Doctor of Education) in comparative and International
Education, all from the same institution. He served as senior editor of African
Link magazine and wrote about 100 articles on Ethiopian and/or African issues
that were published on various journals. He is the author of 1) Ethiopia: The Political Economy of
Transition (1995); 2) "Africa in
the Global Economy" (2003); 3) Cultures
that We Must Preserve and Reject (2005) in Tigrigna;
the Amharic version will be out in 2007. Dr. G. Araia
is the founder and president of the Institute of Development and Education for
Africa (IDEA). He is currently Adj Associate
Professor of African Studies at the City University of New York; he taught
'World Cultures' at New York University (NYU), African and African American
courses at the School of Technology (New York) and Merritt College in Oakland,
California; he also taught Theories and Practices of International Affairs (via
correspondence) for Antioch University at Yellow Springs, Ohio, and served as
chair for the Individual Masters Program (IMP) for the same university.
Past
Events:
Oct.
8, 2006: Screening of Deluge - memories of the
revolution from Salem Mekuria, followed
by discussion with Prof. Salem Mekuria.
Apr. 16, 2006: Zara Yacob, 17th century Ethiopian Philosopher: presentation by Dr. Tedros
Kiros.
Mar.
5, 2006: The impact of brain drain on higher institutions in
Ethiopia/Africa: presentation by Prof. Damtew Teferra.
