Year: 2023
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Since 2015, Addis Ababa has seen an unprecedented rise in political protest contesting the distribution of resources between the country’s ethnic groups and questioning the ownership of the capital city. Ethiopia has a history of civil war and armed struggle, but urban protest remains a recent phenomenon. The fact that struggle against marginalisation by the Oromo, one of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups, has finally reached the capital has profoundly shaken many Addis Ababans. Compared to other parts of the country, inter-group relations in the city have often been characterized by relatively high levels of tolerance, with a strong sense of a cosmopolitan urban identity. We seek to contribute to understanding this recent rise in urban contestation, through the lens of how long-term city residents make sense of it. We argue that although the question about the ownership of Addis Ababa is central to the Oromo struggle, the recent violent protests do not signify a simple shift of the Oromo struggle from rural areas into the streets of the capital. Our analysis highlights how ethnicity intertwines with urbanity to create a more complex landscape of self- and other-ascribed identities, in turn shaping how the violence is interpreted.
Source: BRILL eBooks
Authors: Camille Pellerin, Emma Elfversson
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4376650002