Monographs by Susanne Epple
Among the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia, individual misdeeds and wrong-doings are expected, especi... more Among the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia, individual misdeeds and wrong-doings are expected, especially when it comes from children and adolescents, as it is believed that misbehaviour is part of human nature. To prevent them from harming themselves and others, children, adolescents and adults have to be guarded, and guided, and also sanctioned by their age-mates and seniors. As unresolved conflicts are believed to bring about misfortune and cause disasters such as warfare, sickness or droughts, disturbed social relations are usually mended through social sanctions. In her research Susanne Epple examines the specific social roles individuals achieve or are ascribed to during their lives. She looks at the specific modes of communication used to articulate, confirm and strengthen social relations between children, adolescents, adults and elderly people of both sexes. In this context, she shows that the existing age-set organisation has an influence on all members of Bashada society. While the relationships between adult men as members of the different age-sets are clearly defined and interaction between them follows certain rules, the relations among children, adolescents and women follow the principle of seniority in a more general way. Besides giving a close insight into Bashada lives, the author offers a new perspective on East African age-set societies.
Edited Volumes by Susanne Epple
Being a home to more than 80 ethnic groups, Ethiopia has to balance normative diversity with effo... more Being a home to more than 80 ethnic groups, Ethiopia has to balance normative diversity with efforts to implement state law across its territory.
This volume explores the co-existence of state customary, and religious legal forums from the perspective of legal practitioners and local justice seekers. It shows how the various stake holders' use of negotiation, and their strategic application of law can lead to unwanted confusion, but also to sustainable conflict resolution, innovative new procedures and hybrid norms. The book thus generates important knowledge n the conditions necessary for stimulating a cooperative co-existence of different legal systems.
An open access version is available as PDF through the link below.
Ethiopia is best understood as a country with multiple internal divides, but also endless interco... more Ethiopia is best understood as a country with multiple internal divides, but also endless interconnections which are constantly renegotiated. Contributing to the growing literature on the country‘s cultural diversity, this book gives special emphasis to contemporary dynamics of intra- and intergroup boundary formation and alteration. It also adds to the more general literature on identity change, boundary transgression of individuals and groups, and cultural contact and change. In eleven chapters experienced Ethiopian and international scholars provide perspectives on territorial, ethnic, class, caste and gender and age related boundaries in different parts of the country.
Special Issues (as editor) by Susanne Epple
Papers by Susanne Epple
RASSEGNA DI STUDI ETIOPICI Vol. 6 3a Serie (LIII), 2022
The Ethiopian Constitution of 1995 acknowledges the existence of multiple legal orders (customary... more The Ethiopian Constitution of 1995 acknowledges the existence of multiple legal orders (customary and religious law, formal law, international legal instruments), guarantees political participation of all ethnic groups and the equal treatment of all citizens before the law. However, the existence of hereditary status groups such as craft workers, hunters and slave descendants and their often disadvantaged position has been rather neglected in this context: as none of these forums addresses their plight for legal protection, the constitutional acknowledgement of plural legal orders has not led to an improvement of their lives.
in: Cultural Dynamics. July 2021. , 2021
Following the implementation of ethnic federalism in 1995, for the first time, government officia... more Following the implementation of ethnic federalism in 1995, for the first time, government officials have been appointed from among the various ethnic groups rather than being only drawn from the central Ethiopian highlands. As such, they carry the responsibility of mediating and translating between two rather different worlds and value systems: those of the state and state law and those of the local population, many of whom continue to widely apply customary law. Many of these native government officials find themselves in a normative dilemma, as they have to balance the, often contradictory, expectations of the government and the local population.
self published, 2007
When I did my fieldwork in Bashada, I often heard of Sill-ama, a mysterious kind of creature that... more When I did my fieldwork in Bashada, I often heard of Sill-ama, a mysterious kind of creature that is said to live in the bush. The Sill-ama, people said, own a lot of cattle and cultivate sorghum. But preferably they eat people...
The Sill-ama stories are famous in Bashada and Hamar and loved especially by children when told to them in the evenings sitting around the fire.
RASSEGNA DI STUDI ETIOPICI - 3A SERIE – VOL. IV, 2020: 107-146
in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and ... more in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and solutions, 11-40. Bielefeld: transcript.
in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and ... more in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and solutions, 187-211. Bielefeld: transcript.
in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and ... more in: Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.) Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and solutions, 339-369. Bielefeld: transcript.
In: Susanne Epple (ed.) The State of Status Groups in Ethiopia: Minorities between marginalizatio... more In: Susanne Epple (ed.) The State of Status Groups in Ethiopia: Minorities between marginalization and integration, 11-30. Berlin: Reimer.
In: Christina Gabbert & Sophia Thubauville (eds.): To Live with Others, 47-67. Köln: Köppe.
in: Felix Girke, Sophia Thubauville, Wolbert Smidt (eds.) Anthropology as Homage. Festschrift for... more in: Felix Girke, Sophia Thubauville, Wolbert Smidt (eds.) Anthropology as Homage. Festschrift for Ivo Strecker, 337-350. Köln: Köppe.
in: Sophia Thubauville and Elias Alemu (eds): Documenting southern Ethiopia. Recognizing past legacies and forging the way forward. ITYOPIS Extra Issue III, 27-50, 2018
In: Susanne Epple (ed.) The State of Status Groups in Ethiopia. Minorities between marginalization and integration. Berlin: Reimer, 49-64., 2018
In: Susanne Epple (ed.) The State of Status Groups in Ethiopia: Minorities between marginalization and integration. Berlin: Reimer, 79-100, 2018
This ethnographic sketch is based on research undertaken among the Bayso during four field visits... more This ethnographic sketch is based on research undertaken among the Bayso during four field visits between 2012 and 2015, both on Gidiccho Island and at the shore of Lake Abbaya, in Southern Ethiopia. It was done in the context of the DoBeS (Dokumentation bedrohter Sprachen/documentation of endangered languages) project: “Documentation of Bayso (Cushitic) and Haro (Omotic): two endangered Afroasiatic languages of Lake Abbaya in the Ethiopian Rift Valley.” The aim of the DoBeS program at Nijmegen/Netherlands is to document endangered languages from around the world, and make results accessible through the online portal of the DoBeS archive.
Bayso and Haro are two Afroasiatic languages belonging to different language families (Cushitic and Omotic respectively). Documentation through audio- and video recordings, description and analysis of the languages was urgently needed as the number of speakers of both languages is very small, and their languages and cultures, which so far had been only scarcely documented, are considered as endangered. Besides their academic contribution, the results of the project are meant to provide future generations of the Bayso access to their history, culture, and language.
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Monographs by Susanne Epple
Edited Volumes by Susanne Epple
This volume explores the co-existence of state customary, and religious legal forums from the perspective of legal practitioners and local justice seekers. It shows how the various stake holders' use of negotiation, and their strategic application of law can lead to unwanted confusion, but also to sustainable conflict resolution, innovative new procedures and hybrid norms. The book thus generates important knowledge n the conditions necessary for stimulating a cooperative co-existence of different legal systems.
An open access version is available as PDF through the link below.
Special Issues (as editor) by Susanne Epple
Papers by Susanne Epple
The Sill-ama stories are famous in Bashada and Hamar and loved especially by children when told to them in the evenings sitting around the fire.
Bayso and Haro are two Afroasiatic languages belonging to different language families (Cushitic and Omotic respectively). Documentation through audio- and video recordings, description and analysis of the languages was urgently needed as the number of speakers of both languages is very small, and their languages and cultures, which so far had been only scarcely documented, are considered as endangered. Besides their academic contribution, the results of the project are meant to provide future generations of the Bayso access to their history, culture, and language.
This volume explores the co-existence of state customary, and religious legal forums from the perspective of legal practitioners and local justice seekers. It shows how the various stake holders' use of negotiation, and their strategic application of law can lead to unwanted confusion, but also to sustainable conflict resolution, innovative new procedures and hybrid norms. The book thus generates important knowledge n the conditions necessary for stimulating a cooperative co-existence of different legal systems.
An open access version is available as PDF through the link below.
The Sill-ama stories are famous in Bashada and Hamar and loved especially by children when told to them in the evenings sitting around the fire.
Bayso and Haro are two Afroasiatic languages belonging to different language families (Cushitic and Omotic respectively). Documentation through audio- and video recordings, description and analysis of the languages was urgently needed as the number of speakers of both languages is very small, and their languages and cultures, which so far had been only scarcely documented, are considered as endangered. Besides their academic contribution, the results of the project are meant to provide future generations of the Bayso access to their history, culture, and language.
While many authors have described the different functions of age-systems, including the relationships among age-mates and between members of senior and junior age-sets, the question of how women’s lives are influenced or changed through age-set networks has remained open. This article examines to what extent age-set affiliation brings about new chances and additional agency or alternatively restricts women even more to their traditionally defined roles as wives and mothers.
The country was never colonized and introduced its modern codified law in the 1960s, largely from Europe. In the study area, the Bashada/Hamar lowland in the southwest of Ethiopia, until today disputes/conflicts are handled through customary mechanisms. In recent years, however, the government began to enforce the implementation of state law throughout its territorial domain. On the other hand, the new Constitution of Ethiopia allows to some extent the application of customary laws, and this gives some leeway for negotiation between the local communities and the law enforcement agencies on creative handling of disputes and conflicts.
The research will specifically focus on (1) the Bashada and the Hamar people’s comprehension of and integration into the modern legal system; (2) the decision making processes pertaining to the choice of legal forums: state law vs. customary laws; (3) the way how law enforcement agencies handle legal cases that involve contradictory values and orientations; (4) the translation or application of international laws (especially the human rights provisions) into the local contexts.
The study is expected to uncover how clashes of values are negotiated to allow the interaction of plural legal orders.