Ethnicity and Class in Ethiopia

A detailed Summary of Ethnicity and Class in Ethiopia

Cultural and ethnic diversity is extremely rich throughout all of Africa, The African continent is comprised of thousands of ethnic groups, class structures, and more than seventy mother spoken languages. The class concept is defined as a group of individuals who share a common status in society based on cultural, political, or economic position in the productive process of society (Schrader 147). Several of the ethnic groups are broken down into sub-group identities and loyalties based on kinship or age-set. Ethnicity, which is a sense of collective identity by which people perceive themselves as sharing a common historical past and a variety of social norms and customs, played a major role in the development of Ethiopia (Schrader 147). Class and Ethnicity, among a host of other elements such as education,

played a major role in the impact of the relationships between males and females, the roles of elders and other age groups, as well as legitimate forms of governance and the proper means of resolving conflict.

Class and ethnicity emerged as the most important factors in the social and political dynamics of the Ethiopian Revolution. A unique feature of Ethiopian society was the e

than most other African states (Ottaway, Maria and David; Ethiopia Empire in Revolution 23).

Education is the next leading factor in class structure and ethnicity. The expansion of education resulted in an increase in the economic structure. Free education was provided for children from primary school through the college level. The most significant area of study is literature. Although education was oriented toward religious learning, the government established a more secular emphasis in order to achieve social mobility and national development. The growth of education in Ethiopia contributed greatly to changing the country's social structure and created new tensions and contradictions within. The educated elite served as the bearer of new ideas and suffered the brunt of new frustrations. Although the creation of a modern education system dates back to the immediate post World War II era, Ethiopia probably has a smaller educated class of the size of its population

In the beginning foreign observers ignored the concept of ethnicity for two key reasons. The first reason was the belief that ethnic divisions would fade away as modernizing African societies set aside ethnic identities in favor of Western Industrial and cultural practices. The second reason ethnicity was ignored is because of the belief that the future success of newly independent African countries depended on their ability to promote a unifying nationalism that transcended ethnic differences (Schrader 139). The ethnic minorities first thought of their own ethnic identity and then of their national identity as Ethiopian and so forth. Th

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Approximate Word count = 1094
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Foreign