Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations/Acronyms

Maps and Figures Abstract

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

CHAPTER 2 Introduction to the History and Economy of the Afar

CHAPTER 3 Social Organizations: Afar Definition of Descent and Kindship

CHAPTER 4 Change and Continuity: The Introduction of Irrigation Agriculture and Its Implications for Pastoral Afar

CHAPTER 5 Change and Continuity: The Development of Urban Centres in the Middle Awash

CHAPTER 6 Socio-Economic Change and Inequality among Pastoral Households

CHAPTER 7 Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendixes


Abstract:

The subject of this work are the Afar pastoralist communities of the Middle Awash, rather than the Aussa agro-pastoralists of the Lower Awash, an Afar “centre” with centuries of history of organised Sultanates. The fieldwork for this study was carried out in Ethiopia over a period of eighteen months during 1994-2995. The site of the work was the Amibara district of the Middle Awash, among the Debine and Weima sections of the Adohimarra Afar. The findings are presented in seven chapters. The first three describe the Afar ethnography, history, traditional economy and social organization, including the prescriptive patrilateral cross-cousin marriage (absuma). Chapters four to six demonstrate the challenges and impact of development, i. e., expansion of farming, sedentarisation, market integration, etc. The study concludes with a general summary and conclusion in chapter 6. The study challenges a range of stereotypes about pastoralists’ social life, pastoral economy, resource use and tenure, livestock raising, and ecology in the semi-arid lands in northeastern Africa.