The origin of the name Galla is unknown. Many writers and travellers offered different and contradictory hypotheses. Huntingford (1969) assumed that the name Galla was probably given to strangers by the Sidamas, since the Sidama word Galo means stranger, that is, non-Moslem. Cerulli (1992) interpreted the phrase "Gala-lencada" as wandering lion. The Jesuit historian Father Balthezar Tellez thought that the name Galla was derived from Hebrew and Greek word "milk" ( Beke 1848, 3). Beke thought that it was probably because of the fairness of the Galla that the Jesuits designated them as milk. According to Braukamper "the name Galla was not restricted to the Oromo, but was also transferred by the Amhara and European authors to a number of neighboring groups such as Hadiya--Kambata--East Gurage" (1986, 1). Although there is no evidence that indicates that the word Galla is a bad word, it was given negative and derogatory meanings by Abyssinian rulers. The Oromo "usually adopt the proud title of `Ilm Orma' the son of men; and they call their language Afan Oromo" (Beke 1848, 3).
2 The "Modern" period in the history of philosophy is conventionally supposed to begin in the 17th Century with the works of Sir Francis Bacon (C. 1561-1626) and of Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Bacon and Descartes initiated modern philosophy by destroying the previous philosophical assumptions and methods which had been dominant since the early Middle Ages. In this paper, however, modern environmental ethics does not refer to ideas or systems originating in the period from the time of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes to the present period. Although many writers have already raised environmental issues in different ways, it is only in the 20th Century that Aldo Leopold and other environmental ethicists proposed an extension of ethics to cover all the species of the living systems of the Earth. Consequently, modern environment ethics appeared as a distinct branch of ethics in the 20th Century. Thus, I use the phrase "modern Environmental ethics" to refer to twentieth century ethical theories relating to the human relationship to the natural environment.
3 The indigenous knowledge Vs modern scientific knowledge is an ideological construction. Some western scholars and modernizing groups consider modern knowledge as a universal horizon for humanity. On the other hand, they marginalized and disenfranchised indigenous knowledge. In this study, my intention is not to reverse the binary opposition and to favor tradition over modernity. Instead, I would argue that indigenous and modern knowledge are not rigidly hierarchical and mutually exclusive. Modern knowledge is an extension and development of indigenous knowledge. In some instances, they are parallel and convergent.
4 Environmental ethics is a critical study of the normative issues and principles relevant to the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. It is primarily concerned with how human beings can live responsibly with the natural environment. "The scope of environmental ethics is as extensive as its sphere: the realm of actions, policies, and lifestyles which impact on the natural environment, together with their contexts and their consequences, and the principles and attitudes which underlie these actions, lifestyles, and policies" (Attfield 1998, 74).
There are two main approaches in modern environmental ethics: human-based (anthropocentric) and non-anthropocentric. The adherents of these approaches disagree on the question as to whether there is value beyond human environment. Environmental theorists have made a distinction between intrinsic (non-instrumental, non derivative) and instrumental value. "The distinction between these two kinds of value has intersected interestingly with two general approaches to value theory, on human-centered and the other not" (Brennan 1995, xxi). A thing is of intrinsic value if it has value in its own right, or for its own sake. Intrinsic value depends on the nature of its bearer. A thing is of instrumental value if it serves as a means to some other ends. A thing that serves as a means to release to some other value may also be of value in its own right. Thus, "the categories of instrumental and intrinsic value are not exclusive" (Brennan 1995, 563).
According to the human-based ethics, all, and only, humans count or are valuable in themselves. Human beings are both the actors and the proper subjects of morality. In this case, then, the natural environment has instrumental value. In contrast to the human-based ethics, the non-anthropocentric ethics stresses that things, apart from humans, should be the proper subjects of moral concern. There are different strands of thought within the two approaches. A detailed study of these strands is beyond the scope of the present study. Readers are advised to read the works of some environmental ethicists that are listed in the bibliography.
In this study, I will discuss how modern environmental ethicists treat the concept of sustainable development, and the lessons to be derived from indigenous environmental ethics.
Some people might debate whether there is such a thing as indigenous environmental ethics. The evidence at our disposal confirms that indigenous knowledge is not just a passing on of folk wisdom in a static way from one generation to the next. Peasants do not passively follow the course of nature. Many peasants critically and rationally evaluate the commonly accepted opinions and practices of their people and thereby develop their own independent views about society and the natural environment. When they are affected by what is going on in the society, they come up with quotable proverbs, which originate from their reflective remarks. There are principles of thought in peasants' knowledge. It is on this basis that one can talk about indigenous environmental ethics.
5 The cleavage between developed and developing countries is misleading. I acknowledge what David Slater refers to as a "persuasion of the post-modern turn" which contends that in a world of fragmentations, pluralities and hybridization, the older, modern terms of North and South, West and East, First World and Third World, Developed and Underdeveloped, seem intrinsically obsolete. However, throughout this study, I will interchangeably use this "old and modern" terms both because of a lack of better terms and, as many writers stress, because I need to re-think patterns of inequality and power relations, rather than neglect or deny their continuing significance under the guise of plurality and difference.
6 Unless otherwise stated, all proverbs in this study were gathered from the study sites.
7 It may be argued that the very word "Mowata" is derived from the Gurage word "Mweyata" though the two words do not seem to convey the same meaning. In Gurage culture, "the passage of girls into adolescence is signaled by initiation into an age group called mweyat...The initiation ceremony which, expressed in Gurage linguistic idiom, is to `throw the mweyat girls', is conducted yearly in each maximal lineage distinct by the Fuga chief mweyat. Once the chief has `thrown' the girls, they remain under his ritual authority, and together with his Fuga assistants they attend the ritual needs of women" (Shack 1966, 132-133). It is worth mentioning that the Fugaa can also be the ritual leader of Mowata cult.
Participants in Mowata spirit possession also use the word Damaamitii that is close to the Gurage word Damwamwit. For the Gurage, Damwamwit is a female deity, which can be called a `guardian spirit', which concerns the welfare of the Gurage. "The Gurage concept of Damwamwit is realized in the manifold expressions of her supernatural power to inflict harm; the consequences evoked if anyone fails in his or her social and ritual duties are epitomized and manifested in the ritual illness of the zitana" (Shack 1966, 185). The fact that the relatively disadvantaged Fugaa has participated in both the Mowata cult in Ambo and the Mweyat in Gurage gives the clue that probably the Mowata cult is rooted in Mweyat initiation rites. Further anthropological study is required to understand the differences and similarities between the two traditions.
The occupational specialists of the Gurage, collectively known as Fuga, are divided among themselves into woodworkers (who fell trees, chop wood, assist in house building, and aid in burials and other important rituals), blacksmiths, and tanners (Shack 1964, 50-52).
8 It is worth noting that among the Amhara people there is a tradition of hiring women whose job is to stimulate crying at a funeral.
9 Similarly, the Qaalluu leaders and the Gadaa officials consider a whip made from the skin of a hippopotamus sacred and used during religious, social and cultural ceremonies. They are not allowed to use other types of whip.
0 Fichti and Adi (1994) identified 400 herbs and shrubs for bees and 100 trees for bees in Ethiopia from about 6000-7000 species of the flora of Ethiopia.
1 Genetic erosion is also caused by the replacement of native seed stocks by the grains introduced as food aid by relief agencies in the places hit by drought (Melaku 1992, 83).
Shiva also identified habitat destruction due to internationally financed mega projects, such as the building of dams, highways, mines, and aquaculture, in areas rich in biological diversity, and the technological and economic push to replace diversity with homogeneity in forestry, agriculture, fishery, and animal husbandry as the two primary causes for the large-scale destruction of the tropics' biological diversity. In particular, biological diversity was replaced with biological uniformity and monocultures through the green revolution (Shiva 1997, 65).
2 For instance, Mbiti reports that Africans conceive time as a composition of those events, which have occurred, those, which are taking, place now, and those, which are immediately to occur. For him, the Africans do not seem to have the concept of the distant future. For traditional Africa, time is only a two--dimensional phenomenon, with a long past, or Zamani, a present, or Sasa ( Mbiti 1969). As Masolo (1994) noted, Mbiti's view endorsed Levi-Bruhl's view that the concept of the future is indifferent to primitive people because of their inability to abstract from the series of events of experience in order to conceive a lineal order of succession, in which such events occur (Levi-Bruhl 1923, 123-24, 445-46). The theory advanced by the proponents of this line of thought is at variance with the evidence at our disposal. As I will show further down, the Oromo have the concept of distant future.
13 Arne Naess, the Norwegian philosopher, coined the term "deep ecology" in 1972. Naess reported, at the Third World Futures Conference in Bucharest in 1972, that there were two environmental movements in the 1960s: a shallow anthropocentric technocratic environmental movement and an eco-centric deep, long-range ecology movement (Sessions 1995, xii). Naess explains that shallow and deep ecology are different in the sense that the former is concerned with the traditional moral framework--avoiding pollution to our water supply and preserving wilderness for man's use. Deep ecology, however, stresses that the biosphere has intrinsic value independent of human beings.
Social ecology appeared earlier than deep ecology. The American ecologist E. A. Gutkind used the term social ecology for the first time in 1954. Social ecology is conceived as comprehensive holistic conception of the self, society and nature (Bookchin 1982; Clarke 1992).
Francoise d'Eaubonne, the French feminist writer, coined the term "eco-feminism" in 1974. She advocated that women could lead an ecological revolution, and contribute to the protection of the Earth. Eco-feminists believe that patriarchy is the root cause of exploitation and the environmental crisis. They propose that the social and political institution should be radically restructured in order to solve environmental problems ( Merchant 1992).
