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Negotiating Indigenous Metaphysics as Educational Philosophy in Ethiopia

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Abstract

In Ethiopia, the history of the use of modern philosophical categories in education is short. This is because the country’s modern education itself is barely 100 years old. What is not so short, however, is the history of the use of indigenous metaphysics in temehert (traditional education), which goes back as far as the introduction of Christianity to Ethiopia—to the fourth century A.D. Since its inception, education has had a close, if ambivalent, relationship with different philosophical tenets, with the advocates of each tenet trying to formulate educational philosophy around its own unique metaphysical narrative. While some narratives arose from indigenous legends, others were imported (and domesticated in some cases) from abroad. The recent tendency of educational philosophy in Ethiopia has a slightly ‘(post)modernist’ philosophical flavor to it, even though it might not be self-consciously postmodernist in nature. In this essay, I intend to show how a deliberate, or unwitting, de-link with indigenous metaphysics could affect the trajectory, and also the success, of the educational system in Ethiopia. After a brief paradigmatic characterization of two metaphysical categories and their underlying narratives, I critically unravel the ethno-federalist metaphysics of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). I focus on the ethno-federalist system because it is an incumbent philosophy. After discussing a nascent remedy proposed by Maimire Mennasemay, viz., the notion of ‘nostalgic memory,’ best known as tezeta, I argue for the primacy of the notion of ‘covenant thinking,’ also known as qal-kidan, as a better alternative.

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Notes

  1. J. Mercier, ‘Ethiopian Art History,’ in Deborah E. Horowitz et al. (eds.), Ethiopian Art: The Walter Art Museum. (London: The Third Millennium Information, Ltd, 2001), 45–6.

  2. Bushell, W. ‘Psychological and Comparative Analysis of Ascetico-Meditational Discipline: Towards a New Theory of Asceticism’ in V. Wimbush and R. Valantasis, eds. Asceticism. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 553.

  3. A. Ferenc, ‘Writing and Literature in Classic Ethiopic (Giiz).’ In: B.W. Andrzejewisky et al. (eds.), Literature in African Languages: theoretical issues and sample survey. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 258–60.

  4. C. Chaillot, The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Tradition: a brief introduction to life and spirituality. (Paris: Inter-Orthodox Dialogue, 2002), 97.

  5. Tekeste Negash, Education in Ethiopia: From Crisis to the Brink of Collapse. (Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2006), 12.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Messay Kebede, Radicalism and Cultural Dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960–74. New York: University of Rochester Press, 2008), 1–2.

  8. Messay, 13.

  9. W. Saint, ‘Higher Education in Ethiopia: The Vision and Its Challenges.’ JHEA/RESA Vol. 2, No. 3, 2004, pp. 83–113

  10. See Amare Asgedom’s article ‘Debates in Research Paradigms: Reflections in Qualitative Research in Higher Education,’ The Ethiopian Journal of Higher Education Vol. No. 1. June 2004, pp. 41–61.

  11. Mohammed Girma, Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia: towards a hermeneutic of covenant. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) p.91–135.

  12. R. Marrow & C. Torres, Social Theory and Education: a critique of theories of social and cultural production. (New York: SUNY Press, 1995), 409.

  13. Levinson, D. & P. Cookson, Education and Sociology: encyclopedia. (London: Taylor and Francis, 2002), 607.

  14. Nero, Shondel J., ed. Dialects, Englishes, Creoles, and Education. (London: Routledge, 2012). p. 58.

  15. Y. Moges, Language Ideologies and Challenges of Multilingual Education in Ethiopia: the case of Harari region. (Addis Ababa: OSSREA, 2010). 23–24.

  16. R. Usher and R Edwards, Postmodernism and Education: Different Voices, Different Worlds. (London: Routledge, 1994), 215.

  17. Steven Kaplan. ‘Dominance and Diversity: Kingship, Ethnicity, and Christianity in Orthodox Ethiopia.’ Church History and Religious Culture 89.1–3 (2009): 291–305.

  18. John Willis Harbeson. ‘Ethiopia’s extended transition.’ Journal of Democracy 16.4 (2005): 144–158.

  19. Haberson, p. 149.

  20. S. Clegg, & C. Hardy (1999) Studying Organization: theory & method. (London: Sage Publications, 1999), 189.

  21. Lovise Aalen (2006): ‘Ethnic Federalism and self Determination for Nationalities in a Semi-Authoritarian State: the Case of Ethiopia.’ International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 13 (2–3), pp. 243–261

  22. Seven Ellis & Gerrie. Ter Haar. 2004. Worlds of Power: religious thought and political practice in Africa London: C. Hurst & Co. and New York: Oxford University Press.

  23. For more on this, see Steven Ellis & Gerri ter Haar’s ‘Religion and politics: taking African epistemologies seriously.’ Journal of Modern African Studies, 45, 3 (2007), pp. 385–401

  24. Samuel Huntington. ‘Political Development in Ethiopia: A Peasant-Based Dominant-Party Democracy.’ Report to USAID/Ethiopia, (1993), p. 15.

  25. Amare 2004, p. 42.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Ulrich Braukämper, Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. Munister: Lit Verlag, 2004). p. 4.

  28. Jan Abbink. ‘Ethiopian Islam and the Challenge of Diversity.’ ISIM Newsletter 4 (1999): 24.

  29. Eva Poluha, ‘Ethnicity and Democracy—A Viable Alliance?’, in Mohammed Salih & John Markakis (eds.), Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa. (Nordiska Africa Institutet: Stockholm, 1998), 39.

  30. Paul Ricouer. Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. (Fort Worth: Texas Christian Press, 1976). 28.

  31. Maimire Mennasemay, ‘Towards a Critical Theory of Ethiopian Education,’ in P. Milkias and M. Kebede (eds.), Education, Politics and Social Change in Ethiopia. (Hollywood, CA: Tsehai Publishers, 2010), 87.

  32. Maimire, 86.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Mohammed Girma, ‘Whose Meaning?: The Wax and Gold Tradition as a Philosophical Foundation for Ethiopian Hermeneutics’ in Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics. Vol. 50, No. 1 (2011)175–187.

  35. Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: resistance and resilience. (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2009), 19.

  36. John Markakis Ethiopia: anatomy of traditional polity. (Addis Ababa: Shama Books, 2004), 45.

  37. Eward Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish Elements in Abyssinian (Monophysite) Christianity,’ in Journal of Semitic Studies (1956) 1 (3):216–256.

  38. Mohammed Girma, ‘The Ethiopian Concepts of Human Person and Their Implications to Development: Covenant Revisited.’ In: International Journal of Public Theology 3 (2009) 480–497.

  39. Ulrich Braukamper, Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: a collection of essays. (Munster: Lit Verlag, 2004), 4.

  40. Maimire, 78.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Billitonstraat 12, 2585 TZ, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Mohammed Girma

  2. ETF, Leuven, Belgium

    Mohammed Girma

  3. UFS, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    Mohammed Girma

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  1. Mohammed Girma
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Correspondence to Mohammed Girma.

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I would like to thank Jagtspoelfonds for financial support and the Canadian Center for Science and Education for allowing me to reproduce parts of this essay.

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Girma, M. Negotiating Indigenous Metaphysics as Educational Philosophy in Ethiopia. SOPHIA 53, 81–97 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-013-0380-2

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