This paper examines the impact of conservation-induced displacement on the Bacha community resulting from the establishment of Chebera-Chuchura National Park in Konta Special Woreda, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). It attempts to reconstruct the customary functions that the forestland had played for the livelihoods of the Bacha community and its role in cementing reciprocal relations among different social groups in pre-eviction contexts. The study employed a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research tools including in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, field observations and household survey. Michael Cernea’s analytical framework to assess the risks associated with displacement – Impoverishment Risk and Reconstruction (IRR) – is employed to see the multifaceted aspects of conservation-induced displacement. The findings revealed that in spite of the fact that displaced Bacha people have enjoyed greater level of access to land they suffered loss of entitlements to forest-based assets such as honey and plants of enormous medicinal value. The community also faced loss of job opportunities due to restrictions imposed on access to forestland that supported beneficial biodiversity for the livelihood of the Bacha people. Also adversely affected are inter-community relations built on reciprocal exchange of goods and services between the Bacha and neighboring farming communities. Now, the Bacha have faced the difficult task of adapting to the land-based crop farming as a new source of livelihood since they lack the necessary farming skills to make a living out of crop farming.
{"title":"Effects of Conservation-induced Displacement on the Bacha of Southwest Ethiopia","authors":"D. Daniel, A. Berhanu","doi":"10.4314/ejossah.v14i2.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ejossah.v14i2.2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the impact of conservation-induced displacement on the Bacha community resulting from the establishment of Chebera-Chuchura National Park in Konta Special Woreda, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). It attempts to reconstruct the customary functions that the forestland had played for the livelihoods of the Bacha community and its role in cementing reciprocal relations among different social groups in pre-eviction contexts. The study employed a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research tools including in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, field observations and household survey. Michael Cernea’s analytical framework to assess the risks associated with displacement – Impoverishment Risk and Reconstruction (IRR) – is employed to see the multifaceted aspects of conservation-induced displacement. The findings revealed that in spite of the fact that displaced Bacha people have enjoyed greater level of access to land they suffered loss of entitlements to forest-based assets such as honey and plants of enormous medicinal value. The community also faced loss of job opportunities due to restrictions imposed on access to forestland that supported beneficial biodiversity for the livelihood of the Bacha people. Also adversely affected are inter-community relations built on reciprocal exchange of goods and services between the Bacha and neighboring farming communities. Now, the Bacha have faced the difficult task of adapting to the land-based crop farming as a new source of livelihood since they lack the necessary farming skills to make a living out of crop farming.","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132453125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Women's disproportionate engagement in housework and its determinants has been relatively well studied in the developed countries. There is, however, a serious lack of such research for less developed countries. Unless the barriers to women's participation in development efforts are understood and addressed, poverty reduction programs may not succeed. This paper used data from a household survey of 502 married women to analyze determinants of women's hours of housework in light of available theories and employing a multivariate hierarchical linear regression model. Results show that, in line with theory and past research, time availability (measured as women's employment status) and resources or bargaining power (measured as years of schooling and loan receipt status), and gender ideology/display (measured as traditional gender perception/practice) have statistically significant negative associations with a woman's housework time. Similarly, traditional gender perception/practice as a measure of gender ideology/display has the expected positive association with a woman's housework time, despite the weaker statistical significance level. Also, among control variables, housework and non-housework performed by other members, number of young children, and household asset values have the expected associations to women’s hours of housework. National strategies aiming at poverty reduction may need to pay more attention to educate women, help them overcome shortage of working capital, and improve employment opportunities since these may also empower women and thereby minimize traditional gender ideology/display and having too many young children.
{"title":"Resources, Time and Gender: Determinants of Women's Housework in Bahir Dar and nearby Rural Villages, Northwest Ethiopia","authors":"C. Getahun","doi":"10.4314/ejossah.v14i2.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ejossah.v14i2.1","url":null,"abstract":"Women's disproportionate engagement in housework and its determinants has been relatively well studied in the developed countries. There is, however, a serious lack of such research for less developed countries. Unless the barriers to women's participation in development efforts are understood and addressed, poverty reduction programs may not succeed. This paper used data from a household survey of 502 married women to analyze determinants of women's hours of housework in light of available theories and employing a multivariate hierarchical linear regression model. Results show that, in line with theory and past research, time availability (measured as women's employment status) and resources or bargaining power (measured as years of schooling and loan receipt status), and gender ideology/display (measured as traditional gender perception/practice) have statistically significant negative associations with a woman's housework time. Similarly, traditional gender perception/practice as a measure of gender ideology/display has the expected positive association with a woman's housework time, despite the weaker statistical significance level. Also, among control variables, housework and non-housework performed by other members, number of young children, and household asset values have the expected associations to women’s hours of housework. National strategies aiming at poverty reduction may need to pay more attention to educate women, help them overcome shortage of working capital, and improve employment opportunities since these may also empower women and thereby minimize traditional gender ideology/display and having too many young children.","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121433752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper is about the food security of people with disabilities in Hawassa town. The situations of people with physical, vision, and speech and/or hearing type of disabilities were studied on the basis of Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion and conducting exploratory household questionnaire survey. Food security indicators such as income, food self-sufficiency and frequency of meals per days were assessed. Coping Strategy Index (CSI) was the technique employed to assess food security status at household level. It was found that people with disabilities mostly depend upon family members’ compassion and charity to sustain their livelihoods. Likewise, a lack of awareness, self-interest, family and community members’ lack of knowledge and misperceived attitudes have prevented people with disabilities from being independent in their sources of livelihood and attaining food security. Disabilities made them somehow powerless in decision making. Majority of the sample respondents were chronically food insecure. Individuals with physical type of disabilities accounted for the largest proportion of those who are illiterate as well as unemployed. The same group was more vulnerable to food insecurity than their counterparts with other types of disabilities. PWDs cope with food shortage by limiting portion of size at meal, eating less preferred and cheap foods and begging on the streets. Improving the food security of PWDs should receive the attention of all concerned actors. It is important to create jobs that fit to the situation of PWDs, access them to training, credit, marketing facilities and treatment and increasing public awareness about the situations of the PWDs. Keywords: disability, food security, coping mechanisms, PWDs, Hawassa
{"title":"Food Security Status of People with Disabilities in Selassie Kebele , Hawassa Town, Southern Ethiopia","authors":"Fiseha Endale, D. Tolossa","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.5","url":null,"abstract":"The paper is about the food security of people with disabilities in Hawassa town. The situations of people with physical, vision, and speech and/or hearing type of disabilities were studied on the basis of Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion and conducting exploratory household questionnaire survey. Food security indicators such as income, food self-sufficiency and frequency of meals per days were assessed. Coping Strategy Index (CSI) was the technique employed to assess food security status at household level. It was found that people with disabilities mostly depend upon family members’ compassion and charity to sustain their livelihoods. Likewise, a lack of awareness, self-interest, family and community members’ lack of knowledge and misperceived attitudes have prevented people with disabilities from being independent in their sources of livelihood and attaining food security. Disabilities made them somehow powerless in decision making. Majority of the sample respondents were chronically food insecure. Individuals with physical type of disabilities accounted for the largest proportion of those who are illiterate as well as unemployed. The same group was more vulnerable to food insecurity than their counterparts with other types of disabilities. PWDs cope with food shortage by limiting portion of size at meal, eating less preferred and cheap foods and begging on the streets. Improving the food security of PWDs should receive the attention of all concerned actors. It is important to create jobs that fit to the situation of PWDs, access them to training, credit, marketing facilities and treatment and increasing public awareness about the situations of the PWDs. Keywords: disability, food security, coping mechanisms, PWDs, Hawassa","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116545437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cooperatives have been playing important roles in the socio-economic lives of communities for a long time during which they have also encountered challenges and weaknesses. These have made countries to have their own distinct histories of the development of cooperatives and of course sometimes having similarities. Based on a critical review of literature and analysis of secondary data, this article presents a brief history of the development of the Ethiopian cooperatives with a focus on agricultural cooperatives. It indicates that although modern cooperatives have rapidly increased and positively contributed to community development, several weaknesses and challenges still remain being rooted in the economic, social, institutional, political and environmental settings. Due to the importance given to agricultural cooperatives in today’s Ethiopia, sustaining the contributions of cooperatives to members and the larger community becomes vital that deserves policymakers’ attention. Towards that end and based on the key findings, the article proposes a framework that can help integrate sustainability principles into a cooperative structure right from the setup stage, as a future trajectory in the development of cooperatives in Ethiopia. Keywords : agricultural cooperatives, collective action, developing country, Ethiopia, sustainable development, framework
{"title":"The Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia: History and a Framework for Future Trajectory","authors":"D. Mojo, T. Degefa, C. Fischer","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.3","url":null,"abstract":"Cooperatives have been playing important roles in the socio-economic lives of communities for a long time during which they have also encountered challenges and weaknesses. These have made countries to have their own distinct histories of the development of cooperatives and of course sometimes having similarities. Based on a critical review of literature and analysis of secondary data, this article presents a brief history of the development of the Ethiopian cooperatives with a focus on agricultural cooperatives. It indicates that although modern cooperatives have rapidly increased and positively contributed to community development, several weaknesses and challenges still remain being rooted in the economic, social, institutional, political and environmental settings. Due to the importance given to agricultural cooperatives in today’s Ethiopia, sustaining the contributions of cooperatives to members and the larger community becomes vital that deserves policymakers’ attention. Towards that end and based on the key findings, the article proposes a framework that can help integrate sustainability principles into a cooperative structure right from the setup stage, as a future trajectory in the development of cooperatives in Ethiopia. Keywords : agricultural cooperatives, collective action, developing country, Ethiopia, sustainable development, framework","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125804774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper critically engages contemporary discussions in intercultural philosophy and critical theory in light of achieving a profound critique of grand ideological schemes, propounding a model for an emancipatory praxis and the inclusion of the other in the dominant discourse. Intercultural philosophy tries to deconstruct the Eurocentrism of the philosophical tradition and in return introduces a reconstructive project centered on the embedded nature of cognition and the culturally oriented nature of philosophy. Critical social theory constitutes a critique of grand metaphysical systems that divorce theory from praxis and the transcendent from the transient. In return it tries to introduce an emancipatory praxis inspired by Hegelian-Marxism, is dialectical, reflexive, analyzes the contradictions of modernity and is interdisciplinary. Intercultural philosophy and critical social theory share a common interest in standing against grand metaphysical systems and centering on everyday centers of learning. Through such a critical exposition of the confines of intercultural philosophy and critical social theory, this paper argues that both approaches, (1) fail to go beyond the Eurocentric grand narrative of modernity that legitimizes Western ideology and is antithetical to the lived experiences of the other, (2) both approaches ultimately run into the problem of value incommensurability and (3) both approaches fail to introduce a quasi-transcendental foundation that both translate contending worldviews while simultaneously affirming the place of the other. Finally I will introduce an alternative model founded on the idea of multiple modernities which situates modernity as being situated in diverse cultural backgrounds. Keywords : Otherness, Interculturality, Critique, Emancipation
{"title":"Intercultural Discourse, Critique, Emancipation and the Inclusion of the Other","authors":"F. Merawi","doi":"10.4314/ejossah.v13i1.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ejossah.v13i1.4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper critically engages contemporary discussions in intercultural philosophy and critical theory in light of achieving a profound critique of grand ideological schemes, propounding a model for an emancipatory praxis and the inclusion of the other in the dominant discourse. Intercultural philosophy tries to deconstruct the Eurocentrism of the philosophical tradition and in return introduces a reconstructive project centered on the embedded nature of cognition and the culturally oriented nature of philosophy. Critical social theory constitutes a critique of grand metaphysical systems that divorce theory from praxis and the transcendent from the transient. In return it tries to introduce an emancipatory praxis inspired by Hegelian-Marxism, is dialectical, reflexive, analyzes the contradictions of modernity and is interdisciplinary. Intercultural philosophy and critical social theory share a common interest in standing against grand metaphysical systems and centering on everyday centers of learning. Through such a critical exposition of the confines of intercultural philosophy and critical social theory, this paper argues that both approaches, (1) fail to go beyond the Eurocentric grand narrative of modernity that legitimizes Western ideology and is antithetical to the lived experiences of the other, (2) both approaches ultimately run into the problem of value incommensurability and (3) both approaches fail to introduce a quasi-transcendental foundation that both translate contending worldviews while simultaneously affirming the place of the other. Finally I will introduce an alternative model founded on the idea of multiple modernities which situates modernity as being situated in diverse cultural backgrounds. Keywords : Otherness, Interculturality, Critique, Emancipation","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127578344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
With the aim of reconstructing the Late Holocene palaeoenvironment and vegetation history of Kassala and its environs, archaeobotanical investigation was conducted on charred and desiccated fruit stones and seeds. These botanical remains were recovered by dry screening from various contexts in three excavation squares. The excavations were conducted by the Italian Archaeological Expedition in East Sudan (IAEES) at the site of Mahal Teglinos, Kassala, northeast Sudan in the years 1991, 2013 and 2014. Identification and comparative study was conducted in the laboratories of Addis Ababa University and the Bio-archaeological Research Center of the National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome. A total of 1771 (n=1771) charred and desiccated fruit stones and seeds are identified belonging mainly to five species: Adansonia digitata, Ziziphus spina-christi, Celtis integrifolia, Vigna unguiculata and Grewia bicolor. The botanical remains are dated to the early second millennium BC when the area was populated by several Gash Groups (along the Mereb river). The identification of the macrobotanical remains indicated that the site of Kassala and the Ethio-Eritrean and Sudanese low-lying border region was characterized by semi-arid and sub-humid tropical environmental conditions by the Late Holocene. Keywords: fruit stones, seeds, semi-arid, Late Holocene, Eritrea-Sudanese border
{"title":"Archaeobotanical Investigation of Charred and Desiccated Fruit Stones and Seeds from Late Holocene Contexts in Kassala and its Environs: Window to Past Ecology and Subsistence","authors":"Alemseged Beldados","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V13I1.1","url":null,"abstract":"With the aim of reconstructing the Late Holocene palaeoenvironment and vegetation history of Kassala and its environs, archaeobotanical investigation was conducted on charred and desiccated fruit stones and seeds. These botanical remains were recovered by dry screening from various contexts in three excavation squares. The excavations were conducted by the Italian Archaeological Expedition in East Sudan (IAEES) at the site of Mahal Teglinos, Kassala, northeast Sudan in the years 1991, 2013 and 2014. Identification and comparative study was conducted in the laboratories of Addis Ababa University and the Bio-archaeological Research Center of the National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome. A total of 1771 (n=1771) charred and desiccated fruit stones and seeds are identified belonging mainly to five species: Adansonia digitata, Ziziphus spina-christi, Celtis integrifolia, Vigna unguiculata and Grewia bicolor. The botanical remains are dated to the early second millennium BC when the area was populated by several Gash Groups (along the Mereb river). The identification of the macrobotanical remains indicated that the site of Kassala and the Ethio-Eritrean and Sudanese low-lying border region was characterized by semi-arid and sub-humid tropical environmental conditions by the Late Holocene. Keywords: fruit stones, seeds, semi-arid, Late Holocene, Eritrea-Sudanese border","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127948533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Archaeological reconnaissance sponsored by the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) was conducted under the direction of the author in February 2004 in Atsibi-Wemberta district (Wereda) in eastern Tigray Administrative Zone. The objective of the archaeological ground reconnaissance was to assess the archaeological and tourism potential of the same place and to prepare the ground for future research. The preliminary assessment survey resulted with the discoveries of several settlements, cemeteries and religious sites ascribable to the pre-Aksumite and Aksumite cultures dating to about the middle of the first millennium BC and the first seven centuries AD, respectively. Key words : cemetery, settlement, stelae, Tumulus.
{"title":"Preliminary Results of the Archaeological Reconnaissance carried out in Atsibi -Wemberta, Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia","authors":"T. Hagos","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V10I1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V10I1","url":null,"abstract":"Archaeological reconnaissance sponsored by the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) was conducted under the direction of the author in February 2004 in Atsibi-Wemberta district (Wereda) in eastern Tigray Administrative Zone. The objective of the archaeological ground reconnaissance was to assess the archaeological and tourism potential of the same place and to prepare the ground for future research. The preliminary assessment survey resulted with the discoveries of several settlements, cemeteries and religious sites ascribable to the pre-Aksumite and Aksumite cultures dating to about the middle of the first millennium BC and the first seven centuries AD, respectively. Key words : cemetery, settlement, stelae, Tumulus.","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130981642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores some of the livelihood strategies of rural women with emphasis on an income diversification and demographic adjustment in Olonkomi locality in the context of rapid population growth. The data used in the study came from selected 150 households’ socio-economic and demographic survey, group discussions, and interview and other secondary sources. Results indicated that the population of Olonkomi and its locality was growing at a rate of about 2.4 percent per annum, which leads to limited access to the scarce land and other resources. As a result, many rural people in general and women in particular have adopted diversified livelihood strategies that could enable them partly cope with livelihood problems. Therefore, women have involved in casual and unregulated labor of income generating activities such as processing and selling local beverages, selling fire wood, making hand crafts, petty trading etc., although their impact on livelihood improvement was minimal due to poor access to credit from financial institutions, lack of skill and training, and scarce labor supplies in case of femaleheaded households. Observation of women, especially female-headed households who diversified their household income sources as a survival strategy were more notable. Fertility showed a declining trend though the change was small. The change emanated from the fact that considering adjustment of family size as a strategy to mitigate livelihood tragedy, about 27% of the rural women respondents began to limit the number of children they could bear in their reproductive age span of 15-49. Landless young people, especially females, used to move away from home to look for employment opportunities. However, migration could not bring significant change on the livelihood condition of thepeople. The small amount of remittance that the households received from migrants was an indicator of the situation that it could not make difference in the livelihood situation. Some of the rural households used to send grains to support some of the out-migrants. Despite the observed little improvements in rural livelihood situation, as a survival strategy and means of improving livelihood, the rural communities in general and female-headed households in particular engaged in various non-farm and off-farm activities, migrated to the closest towns and city and made demographic adjustment by limiting the number of new born children. The new strategies (non-farm activities and demographic adjustment) can bear fruits and improve rural livelihood situations provided the local and regional governments in collaboration with local communities and other stake holders manage to improve rural households’ access to land, physical and social infrastructure as well as provision of microfinance institutions. Key words: demographic adjustment, income diversification, livelihood strategies, Olonkomi
{"title":"Livelihood Strategies of Rural Women with Emphasis on Income Diversification and Demographic Adjustment in Central Ethiopia: The Case of Olonkomoi1, Oromia Region","authors":"Sara Worku, Muluneh Woldetsadik","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V9I1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V9I1","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores some of the livelihood strategies of rural women with emphasis on an income diversification and demographic adjustment in Olonkomi locality in the context of rapid population growth. The data used in the study came from selected 150 households’ socio-economic and demographic survey, group discussions, and interview and other secondary sources. Results indicated that the population of Olonkomi and its locality was growing at a rate of about 2.4 percent per annum, which leads to limited access to the scarce land and other resources. As a result, many rural people in general and women in particular have adopted diversified livelihood strategies that could enable them partly cope with livelihood problems. Therefore, women have involved in casual and unregulated labor of income generating activities such as processing and selling local beverages, selling fire wood, making hand crafts, petty trading etc., although their impact on livelihood improvement was minimal due to poor access to credit from financial institutions, lack of skill and training, and scarce labor supplies in case of femaleheaded households. Observation of women, especially female-headed households who diversified their household income sources as a survival strategy were more notable. Fertility showed a declining trend though the change was small. The change emanated from the fact that considering adjustment of family size as a strategy to mitigate livelihood tragedy, about 27% of the rural women respondents began to limit the number of children they could bear in their reproductive age span of 15-49. Landless young people, especially females, used to move away from home to look for employment opportunities. However, migration could not bring significant change on the livelihood condition of thepeople. The small amount of remittance that the households received from migrants was an indicator of the situation that it could not make difference in the livelihood situation. Some of the rural households used to send grains to support some of the out-migrants. Despite the observed little improvements in rural livelihood situation, as a survival strategy and means of improving livelihood, the rural communities in general and female-headed households in particular engaged in various non-farm and off-farm activities, migrated to the closest towns and city and made demographic adjustment by limiting the number of new born children. The new strategies (non-farm activities and demographic adjustment) can bear fruits and improve rural livelihood situations provided the local and regional governments in collaboration with local communities and other stake holders manage to improve rural households’ access to land, physical and social infrastructure as well as provision of microfinance institutions. Key words: demographic adjustment, income diversification, livelihood strategies, Olonkomi","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128792541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores gender relations in access to and control over resources in Awra Amba Community of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The study employed primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were gathered through semistructured interviews with selected community members and key informants, focus group discussions with selected community and committee members and nonparticipant observation of gender roles and relations in the study community. Secondary data were obtained through a critical review of related literature and documents. Both primary and secondary data were organized thematically and analyzed through systematic interpretation and triangulation of various sources. The study found that locally available resources are collectively owned and administered by the ‘Development Committee’ and income is equally distributed to all household heads at the end of each fiscal year. Gender relations in the study community are guided by the principle of mutual understanding among all the members of the community. Women, like their men counterparts, make important decisions through their membership and leadership in different administrative committees. Women members of the community fulfill their basic needs as selfreliant workers, but not as being dependent upon their husbands. In general, the local economic and administrative structures, cultural values and principles promote equitable gender relations in division of labor and in access to educational opportunities, economic resources, leadership and decision-making at the household and community levels. This finding reveals that the existing gender relations in Awra Amba community are contrary to gender relations in other communities of Amhara Region, where the patriarchal gender ideology is most prevalent. Key Words : Gender, gender relations, access to and control over resource, Awra Amba Community
{"title":"Gender Relations in Access to and Control over Resources in Awra Amba Community of Amhara Region, Ethiopia","authors":"S. Gizaw, Muluneh Woldetsadik","doi":"10.4314/EJOSSAH.V9I2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/EJOSSAH.V9I2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores gender relations in access to and control over resources in Awra Amba Community of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The study employed primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were gathered through semistructured interviews with selected community members and key informants, focus group discussions with selected community and committee members and nonparticipant observation of gender roles and relations in the study community. Secondary data were obtained through a critical review of related literature and documents. Both primary and secondary data were organized thematically and analyzed through systematic interpretation and triangulation of various sources. The study found that locally available resources are collectively owned and administered by the ‘Development Committee’ and income is equally distributed to all household heads at the end of each fiscal year. Gender relations in the study community are guided by the principle of mutual understanding among all the members of the community. Women, like their men counterparts, make important decisions through their membership and leadership in different administrative committees. Women members of the community fulfill their basic needs as selfreliant workers, but not as being dependent upon their husbands. In general, the local economic and administrative structures, cultural values and principles promote equitable gender relations in division of labor and in access to educational opportunities, economic resources, leadership and decision-making at the household and community levels. This finding reveals that the existing gender relations in Awra Amba community are contrary to gender relations in other communities of Amhara Region, where the patriarchal gender ideology is most prevalent. Key Words : Gender, gender relations, access to and control over resource, Awra Amba Community","PeriodicalId":129334,"journal":{"name":"Ethiopian journal of the social sciences and humanities","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123127376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2011-11-16DOI: 10.4314/EJOSSAH.V6I1-2.72257
Worku Derara Megenassa
The megalithic culture in Ethiopia consists of stelae, dolmens, and tumuli which are extensively distributed throughout the country. Compared to the extent of the distribution, however, the initial tasks of methodical survey and locating them have been conducted relatively less. As part of the ventures in megalithic studies, this inventory was aimed at identifying, locating and describing megalithic sites in the Gurage highlands, principally those in the districts of Sodo and Mehur-Aklil. The investigation has unearthed the existence of a montage of megalithic culture, comprising tambourines associated with a tumulus and decorated flat stelae in Sodo, and dressed but undecorated stelae of such diverse shape as flat, rectangular, pentagonal and cylindrical in Mehur-Aklil. The decorated stelae in Sodo bear engravings representing humans, daggers and some other enigmatic decorations with symbolic significance hitherto unknown. Ethnographic data may help to arrive at a plausible meaning signified by the representations engraved on these stelae. Aside from the problems related to the meanings of symbols, it is quite difficult to establish relative chronology of the sites based on technological variation centering on the level of refinement. Keywords : Ethiopia, Gurage Highlands, Sodo, Mehur-Aklil, Megalithic, Stela, Dolmen, Tumulus
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