"the Amhara people who do not originate from Ethiopia or even Africa "
??? okay Wallis Budge
Who was in power when the great Christian conversion took place?
According to the article it was the Agaw; that is also what is commonly accepted in Ethiopia today.
Who converted Ezana?
The Amahra? I don't think so.
What about the Amharas' pre-christian beliefs?
Who cares, right? they're not proud Africans right!? really?!
"'Whether they (Oromo) became Christians or Muslims, the Oromo's traditional modes of experiencing the divine have continued almost unaffected, in spite of the fact that several rituals and social institutions in which it was expressed, have been very diminished or apparently submerged in new ritual cloaks."
This is true for the Amhara too.
"Moreover, just like in other African countries, it is
notable that before the advent of Christianity in
Wolaitta, there were personalities who functioned under
superhuman and supernatural influences as seers,
diviners, medicine-men in African traditional religious
settings."
This is still the case, Christianity has not stopped this; such traditions continue to exist in Ethiopia...amongst the Amhara too.
That article would be so beautiful if it didn't go so out of its way to relate the fact that the writer despises Amharas. The Amhara definitely have blood on their hands, but does that mean they're to be cast aside? Or go down as the great invader/villain of Ethiopia?! Every other ethnic group gets a free pass? It is unfortunate that such an interesting and informative article would have such a biased slant to it. The point could have easily been made that Christianity is intolerant and oppressive, even in Ethiopia (and the rest of the world), without crapping on the Amhara.
May we please have the source of the article?
Furthermore, who are these Amhara?
Up until the last quarter of the 20th century, "Amhara" was only used (in the form amariñña) to refer to Amharic, the language, or the medieval province located in Wollo (modern Amhara Region). Still today, most people labeled by outsiders as "Amhara", refer to themselves simply as "Ethiopian", or to their province (e.g. Gojjamé from the province Gojjam). According to Ethiopian ethnographer Donald Levine, "Amharic-speaking Shewans consider themselves closer to non-Amharic-speaking Shewans than to Amharic-speakers from distant regions like Gondar."[71] Amharic-speakers tend to be a "supra-ethnic group" composed of "fused stock".[72] Takkele Taddese describes the Amhara as follows:
The Amhara can thus be said to exist in the sense of being a fused stock, a supra-ethnically conscious ethnic Ethiopian serving as the pot in which all the other ethnic groups are supposed to melt. The language, Amharic, serves as the center of this melting process although it is difficult to conceive of a language without the existence of a corresponding distinct ethnic group speaking it as a mother tongue. The Amhara does not exist, however, in the sense of being a distinct ethnic group promoting its own interests and advancing the Herrenvolk philosophy and ideology as has been presented by the elite politicians. The basic principle of those who affirm the existence of the Amhara as a distinct ethnic group, therefore, is that the Amhara should be dislodged from the position of supremacy and each ethnic group should be freed from Amhara domination to have equal status with everybody else. This sense of Amhara existence can be viewed as a myth.
Source:
Takkele Taddese "Do the Amhara Exist as a Distinct Ethnic Group?" in Marcus, Harold G., ed., Papers of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, 1994, pp.168–186.
Selam
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