The author of this article wishes to make something clear from the outset. This is not an article about ethnic minorities but about occupational minorities in ethnic groups in the country whether they are minorities in each ethnic group or dominant ethnic groups in each region of the country. This is therefore not about minorities in general but about those marginalized groups in each ethnic group or outcasts simply because they are contributing to the society by producing some commodities that are used in rural Ethiopia.
According to Tesgay Daba (2022) the term ‘Minority’ is among the contested terminology in social sciences that has multi-faceted connotations across different contexts and content. In most cases, it is linked with a grouping that comprises membership with relatively few population sizes. However, the political essence of the term entails more of how socio-political space is occupied by the supposed group. Moreover, the concept of minority embeds deep-rooted ingredients like concerns of ‘underrepresentation’, ‘marginalization’, and ‘subordination’ in the socio-economic and political setting.
The minority groups in Ethiopia could be grouped into three broader categories namely endogenous, exogenous and marginalized minorities. Endogenous minorities comprise ethnic minority groups who reside in their ‘native’ land but assume a marginal role in the regional political realm due to their population size. Exogenous minorities are groups who migrated to the regional states that are not designated to their respective ethnic groups and became minority groups as a result of their dislocation from their ethnic fellows that are in most cases a majority in their place of origin. Marginalized minorities are those engaged in occupations that are socially marginalized occupations and livelihoods like potters, tanners, smiths, weavers, woodworkers, hunters, and pastoralists.
Who are occupational minorities?
“Occupational minorities” generally refers to groups of people who are underrepresented or marginalized within specific occupations or industries due to factors such as discrimination, systemic barriers, or historical inequalities. These groups may face challenges in accessing employment opportunities, advancing in their careers, or receiving fair treatment and opportunities for professional development. Many African majority populations have kept professional minority groups under their rule. Throughout Ethiopia, there are specialized traditional artisans and women who have long practiced various trades such as blacksmithing, pottery, tanning, weaving, and woodworking.
These groups include Serategna and Waiyto among the Amhara people; Waata, among the Oromo, the Manjo among the Kafa, and the Fuga in Kembata and Wolayita. These low-caste occupational groups perform important tasks in the societies in which they live as an obligatory performance of duty. The occupational involvement of these communities is focused on the production of things that are considered vital and indispensable services for the rest of the population.
The occupational minorities are usually differentiated by the type of crafts they practice. Mana, for example, work as tanners in Kafa and as potters in Dawro. Fuga specialize as tanners in Yem, but as woodworkers in Gurage and potters in Kembata and Hadiya.
Professor Alula Pankhurst and Dena Freeman recognized four types of minorities known as respected polluters are least marginalized. Even before the reign of Emperor Menelik, they owned land. They are unusual in that they all owned land prior to Menelik’s conquest, and they are the only groups not to be grouped in such categories as Nefrwe (smiths) and the Shamer (weavers) in Gurage, the Yirfo (smiths) in Yem, the K’emo (smiths) and Shamano (weavers) in Kafa, the Kejo (smiths) in Shekacho and the Wogach’e (smiths) in Dawro.
They are not accused of eating impure meat or of committing any polluting acts, and they are considered to be only slightly impure or not impure at all. They are not associated with fertility or thought to be particularly good healers. Contemporary respected non-polluters are not attributed magical powers and are not feared, but there is some suggestion that they were in the past.
Professor Alula and his collogue noted that the second category of minorities are those that are viewed by farmers as being fairly polluting, and also not good for fertility. Groups in this category include the Awacho (tanners) of Sidama, the Ch’inasha (potters) of Wolaita, the Hawuda (weavers, smiths, tanners, potters, butchers) of Konso, the Degala (tanners) of Dawro, Wolaita and Gamo, and the various groups of Mana (tanners, potters), with the exception of the Mana smiths in the communities of the Gofa area.
The third category of minorities are marginalized to a very great extent and are viewed by surrounding farmers as being extremely polluting and yet also associated with fertility. Groups in this category include the Manjo (hunters), the Fuga (woodworkers, tanners, potters) and possibly the Hadicho (potters) of the Sidama.
The fourth category of minorities is the most marginalized of all. They are thought to be extremely polluting and they are also feared for their alleged dangerous powers. Groups in this category include the blacksmiths of Oyda, Malo, Maale, Ari, Bako and Dime. These societies are all located in the general Gofa area of southwest Ethiopia.
Stereotyping of all kinds among the farming communities has targeted all these groups of occupational minorities at different levels. In Tigray, for instance, although official regional government policy is in support of the rights of occupational minorities, enough work is not being done to defend their rights to employment, movement and their quest to contribute to the economy of the region.
Regarding the marginalized minority groups because of their occupation, the marginalization takes place mainly in social activities, for instance, according to Susanne Epple (2018, p.173), ‘eating and drinking taboos resulting in separation within these spheres are among the most obvious… another taboo is intermarriage between the members of groups of low and high statuses’. The FDRE Constitution lacks an apparent post to directly address the rights of ethnic and occupational minorities in the ethnic-based regional states it established. The federal constitution envisages ethnicity as the sole organizing principle, but it overlooked constitutional guarantees to minorities who are hardly labeled as ethnic groups per the regional or federal parameters of classifying groups as ethnic groups or not.
Accordingly, many people are discriminated against, alienated, abused, and marginalized based on their work, and set to decent status in contemporary Ethiopia. For instance, communities living in southern Amhara called Enewari Woreda, Beta Israel, and the Wayto – Amhara region, the Hadicho, Mana, and Manja and ‘Fuga’- ‘Wood Workers’ minority group in Gurage Zone living in the Central Ethiopia Region.
The Fuga in Omo valley of Kambata and Hadiya Zones of Central Ethiopia practice pottery and are restricted to a specific locality in the villages. The marginalization was so deep seated that male or female Fuga are not allowed to share the same lane in a village and have to give way for the rural non-Fuga people. The author has witnessed that the Fugas were provided with their own “church” in view of not being mixed with the rest of worshippers in churches.
Fuga school children, if they ever attend school, share the same plight of their parents. They remained victims of a subculture of fear and remained docile and socially irrelevant. Although the cast system in India is clearly visible dividing the entire society into three groups, namely the Brahmans which is cast of the nobility, the Kshatriyas and the Untouchables, in Ethiopia there has never been a cast system of the Indian type.
The stereotypes, discriminations and marginalization they face in their respective are of residence is just beyond imagination. Many are accused of possessing “evil eyes” that make children sick when they gaze at them. Mothers complain “buda ate up my child “
Just imagine, for centuries the people of Ethiopia have been using farm implements that are prepared by the “ketkatch or “bale ejie” in Amhara region and “tumtu” in Oromia. While Europe was wearing leather products during the Middle Ages, thanks to Ethiopian weavers the people of Ethiopia have been wearing woven cotton fabrics right from the period of Axumite civilization and this is because marginalized Ethiopian weavers were preparing traditional cotton fabrics from which very attractive clothing are made for women, men and children.
Historical facts indicate that tanners, weavers and blacksmiths across the country have participated in the victory at the Battle of Adwa by providing services based on their profession.
What should therefore be done to transform the lives of occupational minorities in Ethiopia? The author wishes to come up with several recommendations. Although the constitution has devoted far ranging democratic rights of citizens which is also compatible with global standards of human rights, the constitution should be amended to accommodate the political, legal, social and economic rights of endogenous, exogenous minorities and occupational minorities in the country.
Second, CSOs and other philanthropic organizations are expected to conduct advocacy activities for such groups and provide them integrated trainings which could include technical trainings and socio-psychological and legal support which will help them to effectively integrate into the societies in which they live.
Third, the level and quality of democracy and good governance in Ethiopia cannot be completed unless the constitutional and democratic rights of both ethnic and occupational minorities are upheld adequately. They need to be included in every aspect off social life in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia by effectively combating stigma and discrimination to which they are currently subjected.
As state earlier, the people of Ethiopia are indebted to these occupational minorities primarily because farmers who constitute 85% percent of the population depend on them for the production and repair of hoes and other farm implements they use during the farming seasons.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 11 APRIL 2024
