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Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society 1st Edition

by Donald N. Levine (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0226475615
ISBN-10: 0226475611
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (May 1, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0226475611
  • ISBN-13: 978-0226475615
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,088,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars"Greater Ethiopia" by Donald N. Levine: New Perspective
By Mulugeta Wodajo on October 28, 2000
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Donald N. Levine's classic work on the social evolution and integration of the many ethnic groups that make up Ethiopia has been a must reading for all sociologists and those concrned with economic and social development in Africa and elsewhere since the book was first publilshed by the University of Chicago almost 25 years ago. The author has now (year 2000) updated his work with the addition of a new and comprehensive introduction that incorporates recent developments that have occured in Ethiopian society and culture since the book was published. The book has just been translated into Ethiopia's official language, Amharic, testifying to the importance and relevance of the work, in spite of the major transformation, including a revolution, that the country has gone through. The book provides new perspectives and fresh analyses on multi-ethnic societies, and is highly recommended to all who wish to understand the interplay among sub-groups, whether ethnic or otherwise, in today's conflict-ridden societies of Africa, Asia and even central Europe.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn Outstanding Feat of Scholarship
By Werner Cohn on March 5, 2007
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
The great contribution of Professor Levine's book, as I see it, is its very broad picture of the history and ethnography of the various people who inhabit what he terms Greater Ethiopia. This would includes, at least, the current countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He manages to give an extremely valuable accounting of both the ethnographic (anthropological) and the historical scholarship -- two worlds that are not customarily combined.

By and large, he sees two contrasting cultures: a) that of the Amhara (and associated Tigreans), and b) that of the Oromo, also known as Galla. The ancient civilization of the Amhara is Christian and Jewish, while the culture of the Oromo is, traditionally, African pagan, although today the Oromo have largely adopted Christianity and Islam. In Levine's view, it is the synthesis of Amhara and Oromo, under emperors who trace their origins to King Solomon, that makes for the unique social system that he calls Greater Ethiopia. The key to the self-understanding of the people who embrace this synthesis, according to Levine, is the fourteenth century Tigrean literary work "Kibre Negest" ("Glory of Kings," sometimes transliterated as 'Kebra Nagast').

Levine's work is now more than thirty years old, so we would not expect it to cover all of the latest scholarship. The second edition of 2000 has a new introduction and additions to the bibliography, but is otherwise unchanged. One of the virtues of these additions, however, is that Levine explicitly mentions the fact that "three important studies have transformed our understanding of the Beta Israel (Falasha)," i.e. the Ethiopian Jews. Here he lists the works of Steven Kaplan, Jim Quirin, and Kay Kaufman Shelemay.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 stars"What makes Ethiopia Ethiopian ?"
By Bob Newman on January 26, 2014
Format: Paperback
Throughout history there have been large traditional polities inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups. Such countries exist right up to our own days, but their number has shrunk. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottomans, Russia and its offshoot the USSR, and the Incan Tahuantinsuyu are examples of such political entities in the past; Iran, India, Myanmar, and Indonesia may be examined today. Ethiopia is another. Many ethnic groups, speaking a large number of different languages, practicing several religions, and living in a wide variety of ecological zones following different styles of life, inhabited the country we know as Ethiopia (and Eritrea as well). Is there anything that such conglomerations of people have in common ? Or is there really no reason why they shouldn't break up as did the Soviet Union or Ottoman Turkey ? They could form small, ethnically homogenous states. (or could they ?) Perhaps, on the other hand, there IS something they all have in common. Levine, in this highly-interesting overview of Ethiopia and its multiple cultures, tries to establish what exactly the many ethnic groups of Ethiopia do share. Why can we look at it as a 'culture area' and not just a bunch of unrelated peoples and tribes? Unfortunately for him, soon after his first edition got published, Ethiopia broke up into a welter of conflicting groups, most ethnically based. One could comment that it seemed they didn't have much in common. It took many years and the loss of Eritrea before things quieted down once more and Ethiopia began to develop into a modern state. He tried to address this situation in the second edition.

No doubt the peoples of Ethiopia DO have commonalities, starting with a shared history and the tendency to use Amharic as a lingua franca.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRequired reading
By Salaam Yitbarek on December 22, 2005
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This book is one of those classics that never stays on the bookshelf for long. It should be required reading for all those interested in sociology or development studies in Ethiopia. The model describing the evolution of Ethiopian society presented by Levine has withstood the test of time, and is indeed proving more and more useful as time goes by.
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