Trajectories in the development of Amhara nationalism: Is it from rejection to embracement?

Abstract

Amhara nationalism emerged in the Ethiopian political discourse in the 1990s, and has appeared at varying paces across time. This article examines whether the trajectories in Amhara identity conceptions go from rejection to embracing Amhara ethnicity. A qualitative data analysis is used gleaned from various sources including archives, opinions expressed in social media platforms, and key informant interviews undertaken largely in 2020. The article revealed how Amhara ethnicity has been built under various political contexts in Ethiopia. In the last, nearly three decades’ actors and political parties shift their subscription from Ethiopian identity to Amhara and the other way around. This shows the situationality, and variability of ethnicity, and more importantly, the weight of context in the construction of identity discourses and practices. The practice of “Amhara democratic nationalism”, with its Bolshevik ingredients, aimed to “discipline” Amhara, accompanied by the attitude of many ethnonationalist elites which consider all Amhara as an oppressor gave way to reactive ethnicity, and Amhara political identity is already established with essential implications for the current political discontent and future of Ethiopia.