Editor’s note: A reader of HornAffairs submitted a lengthy commentary on Jawar Mohammed of Oromia Media Network (OMN). For the sake of convenience, we have published it in four parts with the consent of the writer. The following text is the first part.Rebuttals, from Jawar or anyone interested, are welcome. —– (Dachaassaa Hundaa) Rich in historical and cultural heritage, the Oromo, the single largest nation in Ethiopia, has experienced complex political, economic and social life for millennia. Some of these experiences are obviously exclusive to the Oromo and some others are shared ones with the neighboring societies, nations and states. Given the huge population magnitude, the territorial size and diverse modes of economic and political activities, its multilayered historical and cultural heritage can never be a bizarre phenomenon. With regard to this, any academic endeavor to comprehend the history of the Oromo is almost equally challenging as to figure out the history of the rest of Ethiopia. For decades, scholarly and political debates on the history of the Oromo essentially revolve around two fundamental issues: periodization and the nature of interaction the Oromo has had with other peoples in Ethiopia. In the case of the former, both ancient and medieval [...]
↧