Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age by Saïd Amir Arjomand

Author:Saïd Amir Arjomand [Arjomand, Saïd Amir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781438451596
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2014-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Archaic Societies in Ethiopia

Jimma Abba Jifar

Before proceeding to the analysis of the famous kingdom of Aksum, let us consider the emergence of an Archaic Kingdom so recent that we can reconstruct its evolution before our eyes, as it were: the Oromo kingdom of Jimma Abba Jifar. In the course of the continuing expansion of the Oromo peoples from the seventeenth century onward, one branch, the Matcha, moved west to conquer large swaths of territory occupied by many ethnic groups speaking languages of the Omotic family. When they reached the region of the Gibe River, a tributary of the Omo River, in the early nineteenth century, they instituted changes that led to an unprecedented centralization of their governance structure. Often explained as a result of “imitating” other nearby kingdoms, this change evidently occurred through endogenous processes. The shift went farthest in the Oromo kingdom of Jimma, which crystallized under a charismatic monarch. This process, one could say, meant shifting from one evolutionary stage to another.

As Oromo migrants came to the Jimma area, they divided into distinct, mutually hostile groups, connected only through a loose confederation. For a while, their representatives met in the traditional manner and made laws, sera tuma, under the leadership of an abba boku (“father of the sceptre”) whose authority lasted for the customary eight years (Lewis 2001, 27, 39). Over time, one group began to extend its domain and conquered most of the other small groups. This consolidation was brought to a head by a powerful figure named Sanna, who transfigured his status as elected war leader (abba dula) under the gada system to become an absolute king. Following Sanna’s conquest of the entire region, he took his battle “horse name” of Abba Jifar as a royal name, and in 1830 proceeded to designate the kingdom as Jimma Abba Jifar.

Although King Abba Jifar I (1830–1855) never attained the full trappings of sacred royalty as in neighboring Kaffa and elsewhere in Africa, he did display a gold ring as insignia of royalty. Of his most noted successor, King Abba Jifar II (ruled 1878–1932), it was said that he was carried around by two servants who never permitted his feet to touch the ground. Rather than remain bound by norms and rituals associated with the gada system, on taking the throne Abba Jifar II shed Oromo religious traditions and embraced Islam as an ideology that could strengthen the unity of his people and support the idea of an absolute king (Hassen 1994, 157–58). After declaring Islam the religion of the court, he imported a number of Muslim teachers to establish madrasas and spread the new religion, a project that had been initiated by a predecessor king, his brother Abba Bok’a (1859–1862).

The potent position of Abba Jifar II enabled him to stand free of obligations to lineage groups. He could appoint whomever he wanted to political positions and not have to contend with lineages having political leaders (Lewis 2001, 127). The political edifice he built included a bureaucracy with a prime minister, a minister of war, and a group of senior counselors.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.