From “Subject to Citizen”? History, Identity and Minority Citizenship : The Case of the Mao and Komo of Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Against ethno-history of the Mao and Komo the present work discusses the scope of cultural citizenship and political integration in a multi-ethnic state. Minority citizenship is the vehicle to illuminate both the historical manifestation of state encroachment as well as the inter-ethnic history of the Mao and Komo. The multi-ethnic state of Ethiopia and its multicultural policy is thereby questioned from the perspective of the minorities. Their sense of history, their experience of marginalization, and their experiences with the state on the margins, are at the centre of the historical perspective of this thesis. Conceived as a chronology of the encounters between state and minority, this text is dedicated to a synchronic and diachronic perspective of the experiences of the Mao and Komo in the context of state intervention, which directly or indirectly influenced the regional inter-ethnic relations.