Transformations of hierarchies in Western Ethiopia: the case of the Mao

Küspert-Rakotondrainy, Sophie ORCID: 0000-0001-5984-5030 (2023). Transformations of hierarchies in Western Ethiopia: the case of the Mao. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis explores a social category called “Mao”, which conveys identity, ethnicity, and social positioning in an area at the border between the Benishangul Gumuz and the Oromia Regional States in Western Ethiopia. It investigates how “Mao” does not carry one unified meaning and how its consequences vary for different individuals who may all claim that their respective living conditions, languages, and cultural expressions represent “true Maoness”. I question why Mao is so nebulous, contested, and heterogenous and why this one identity is stigmatising for some groups yet honourable for others. To answer this, I combined ethnographic fieldwork and archival research. My analysis goes beyond an exclusive focus on ethnicity to examine the overlaps between various ethnic, linguistic, and hierarchical identifications and thereby provide a dynamic understanding of local power relations, social stratification, and positionality.

This study argues that being classified as “Mao” does not determine the lifestyle and social status of an individual. Instead, the position of an individual within the local hierarchies of their community affects what Mao means. Social hierarchies are shaped by logics from the past, particularly concerning the lingering memories of slavery, as well as newer disparities created by the division of the area into two regional states. The way in which Maoness interacts with other characteristics (socio-economic, racial or in terms of “ancestral purity”) may strengthen the persisting prestige of some individuals while it may deepen others’ experiences of marginality and exclusion. This research examines how Mao pervades people’s experience of everyday life in relation to political alliances and strategies, education, religion, marriage, and labour, and how different ways of being Mao in practice (“doing Mao”) influence its meanings. These perspectives illustrate how the concept of Mao at the local level interacts with changes at the regional and national level, and how the resulting historical transformation of hierarchies affects people’s realities.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):