The Causes of Blood Feud in Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT As part of customary homicidal practice, blood feuds have persisted for generations in various countries. Due to the different motives for this kind of discord, and due to its divergence and multifaceted consequences, it is very difficult to determine universally accepted causes of blood feuds. Even though it has been a common social practice that has persisted for generations in Ethiopia, the blood feud phenomenon has, to date, received little scholarly attention. Given its complex nature and idiosyncrasies and the paucity of research in the Ethiopian context, this article aims to explore the causes of the blood feud in Ethiopia’s Amhara regional state. The findings from our ethnographic study reveal that economic, political and socio-cultural causes may lead to blood feuds.