Ethiopians By Choice

Claude Sumner a Canadian Philosopher who deeply study Ethiopian philosophy and culture and the  writer of  Five volumes of analysis on Ethiopian Philosophy, Three Volumes of analysis  on Oromo culture & Literature and so forth, call himself as “A Canadian by Birth, An Ethiopian by choice”.

There are so many foreigners who study the Ethiopian case in different manner in different disciplines from History to philosophy, from literature to culture, from Politics to Law… Because of their Ethiopianess choice. Among these Scholars Francisco Álvares, James Bruce, Jon Abbink, John Markakis, Donald Levin, Richard Pankhurst,  Claude Sumner, Christopher Clapham, can be the front runners.

Reading books from these writers give us a hint of ‘our Ethiopia’ in ‘their eye.’ When James Bruce announce Ethiopians as ‘raw meat eaters’ to the world, Europe were shocked and he continue to say ‘when you hear the sheep’s cry, it is a signal for lunch because he lost his tail for a dessert’

This is the way that how  Some writers try to demonize life in Ethiopia with bad faith but, most of them are positive with much sacrifice, take the case of  Donald Levin, an American Sociologist he who were in deep rural area, Menz for two concrete years, to study the life of the people there and comes up with classic books like ‘Wax and Gold’ & ‘The Greater Ethiopia’.

Whatever their motive, hear I try to share some of the books, that are written by foreigners about Ethiopian Culture, History, Politics etcetera. If You like I will come up with another post with similar strory.

Here is the first 10

A Hstory of Ethiopia, Harold G. Marcus  or buy it on Amazon

Amhara Tradition of Knowledge, Harald Aspen or buy it on Amazon

Ethiopia and  The Red Sea, Mordichi Abir or buy it on Amazon 

Ethiopia and the Middle East, Hagghai Erlich or buy it on Amazon

Ethiopia, Traditions of Creativity, Raymond A. Silverman or buy it on Amazon

Gada, Three Approaches to the Study of African Society,  Asmerom Legese* or buy it on Amazon

 Imagining Ethiopia: Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa, John Sorensen or buy it on Amazon

Islam in Ethiopia, J. Spencer Trimingham or buy it on Amazon

Remapping Ethiopia, Socialism and After, Different Authors or buy it on Amazon

Southern Ethiopia, Abbink et al in North-East African Studies

* Asmerom Legese is by now an ‘Eritrean’, I don’t know how to call him  a foreigner or an Ethiopian? Are Eritreans foreigners for Ethiopians?

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