Gods and Heroes: Oral Traditions of the Gurage of Ethiopia (Oxford Library of African Literature) [Hardcover]

William A. Shack (Author)

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Text: English

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr (September 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019815142X
• ISBN-13: 978-0198151425
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,144,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A hired gun goes back to work again, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gods and Heroes: Oral Traditions of the Gurage of Ethiopia (Oxford Library of African Literature) (Hardcover)

Mr.William A.Shack, hired by the Ministry of Education of the feudal Haile Sellassie government , published his first book on Gurague intended to mobilize the public by the media, universities, colleges and others when he was a teacher at the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Irritatingly, Gurague is the only nation in Ethiopia whose customs, beliefs, values, language, poltical and social structures are scrutinized by foreigners and Ethiopians alike, in a distorted way. For the second time, Mr.Shack goes back to Gurague to study authority structure. He finds Gurague is not that slow even from the speed of the sports car point view.He admits the values of Guragues to be superior to those of America's. for example, individualism motivated by greed and boasting about personal achievements are discouraged whereas humilty and generosity are rewarded.These characteristics are especially demanded of their leaders otherwise they will sure get "poetic licence". To study authority structure, he uses praise songs as data.The praise songs are two types-secular and religious. Secular praise songs are for war heroes and "champions at justice" while religious praise songs are for the Gurague gods-Wak(God of War), Damwamwit(Goddes of Women) and Bwaza(Thunder God).The author fails to relate clearly the teachings of these gods to the values Guragues uphold and that he admires. On top of these gods, he claims there is Yegzar,or the Amhara god, Egzabher, which christian Guragues adapted to a vernacular convenience. Here he has something to report to the Ethiopian government the extent to which the Amhara deity scoured the soul of Gurague.