Ethiopian Renaissance or How to Turn Dysfunctional into Functional
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.15.2018.56.07Keywords:
African Renaissance, Ethiopia, functioning state, Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, propagandaAbstract
African Renaissance is a term which is used to describe new era in African history and strongly serves propaganda reasons. The aim of the article is to analyse the role of this notion in terms of Ethiopia, i.e. how the term is being employed in Ethiopian politics and propaganda. It is stressed that even though the term itself is a new introduction, the idea of building a strong state on the basis of grand tradition has been used in Ethiopian history on several occasions. Nowadays, the best examples of references to Renaissance by the state’s propaganda are to be found in symbolical meaning of the widely discussed and controversial project of construction the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Blue Nile. Other aspects of how the term is being employed can be seen in a propaganda film material produced by the Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia in 2015 with the view to advertise the achievements of the government.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
“A Proclamation on anti-terrorism, Procalmation no. 652/2009”, Federal Negarit Gazeta, no. 57 (2009), at <http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ba799d32.html>.
Google Scholar
Abbink J., “New Configurations of Ethiopian Ethnicity: The Challenge of the South”, Northeast
Google Scholar
African Studies, vol. 5, no. 1 (1998), at < https://doi.org/10.1353/nas.1998.0013>.
Google Scholar
Abdulai D.N., African Renaissance. Challenges, Solutions and the Road Ahead, London 2001.
Google Scholar
Abtew W., Dessu S.B., The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, New York 2018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97094-3
Google Scholar
Asante M.K., An Afrocentic Manifesto. Toward and African Renaissance, Cambridge 2007.
Google Scholar
Dewell S., Addis-Abeba (Éthiopie). Construction d’une nouvelle capitale pour une ancienne nation souveraine. Tome 2 (1936-2016), Paris 2018.
Google Scholar
Diop C.A., Alerte Sous Les Tropiques. Culture et développement en Afrique noire, Paris 1990. (English translation: Towards the African Renaissance. Essays in Culture and Development, 1946-1960, London 1996).
Google Scholar
Fassil D. (ed.), Land Grabbing in Africa. The Race for Africa’s Rich Farmland, New York 2015.
Google Scholar
“Fragile States Index”, The Fund for Peace, at <http://fundforpeace.org/fsi/>.
Google Scholar
Jalata G.G., Mathews K., “Ethiopia and China. Changing Relations”, in A. Ylönen, J. Záhořík (eds.), The Horn of Africa since the 1960s. Local and International Politics Intertwined, London 2017.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315557083-6
Google Scholar
Makgoba M.W. (ed.), African Renaissance. The New Struggle, Cape Town 1999.
Google Scholar
Milas S.L., Sharing the Nile. Egypt, Ethiopia and Geo-Politics of Water, London 2013.
Google Scholar
Okpewho I., “Cheikh Anta Diop: The Search for a Philosophy of African Culture”, Cahiers d’Études africaines, vol. 21, no. 84 (1981).
Google Scholar
Okumu W.A.J., The African Renaissance. History, Significance and Strategy, Trenton 2002.
Google Scholar
Orlowska I., “Forging a nation. The Ethiopian millenium celebration and the multiethnic state”, Nations and Nationalism, vol. 19, no. 2 (2013), at < https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12021>.
Google Scholar
Persson J., Schibbye M., 438 dagar: vår berättelse om storpolitik, vänskap och tiden som diktaturens fångar, Göteborg 2013.
Google Scholar
Praeg B., Ethiopia and Political Renaissance in Africa, New York 2006.
Google Scholar
Rubinkowska H., “The History that Never Was: Historiography by Hailä Sellase I”, in V. Böll et al. (eds.), Studia Aethiopica. In Honour of Siegbert Uhlig on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, Wiesbaden 2004.
Google Scholar
Rubinkowska-Anioł H., Etiopia pomiędzy tradycją a nowoczesnością. Symbolika koronacji Cesarza Etiopii Hajle Syllasje I, “Języki i Kultury Afryki”, vol. 3, Warszawa 2016.
Google Scholar
Sherwood M., Origins of Pan-Africanism. Henry Sylvester Williams, Africa, and the African Diaspora, New York 2011.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203840375
Google Scholar
Toggia P., “History writing as a state ideological project in Ethiopia”, African Identities, vol. 6, no. 4 (2008), at < https://doi.org/10.1080/14725840802417869>.
Google Scholar
Woldetsadik T.K., International Watercourses Law in the Nile River Basin. Three States at a Crossroads, London 2013.
Google Scholar
Vaughan S., “Federalism, Revolutionary Democracy and the Developmental State, 1991-2012”, in G. Prunier, É. Ficquet (eds.), Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia. Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi, London 2015.
Google Scholar
Verhoeven H., Water, Civilisation and Power in Sudan. The Political Economy of Military-Islamist State Building, New York 2015.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107447769
Google Scholar
Yihdego Z., Rieu-Clarke A.,Cascão A.E., The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Nile Basin. Implications for transboundary water cooperation, London 2017.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315160122
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Hanna Rubinkowska-Anioł
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.