Paper short abstract:

Former slaves and their descendants reacted to past hierarchies and inequalities in different ways in Wolaita and Gamo of southern Ethiopia. This paper explores success and failures of different approaches of former slaves and their descendants in combating the stigma and marginalization they faced

Paper long abstract:

Slavery has long been practiced in the Omotic societies of southern Ethiopia. The 1942 legal abolition of slavery in Ethiopia did not end the social, economic and political marginalization of the former slaves and their descendants. Against the past hierarchical inequalities and injustices the former slaves and their descendants reacted in different ways in Wolaita and in Gamo. While in Gamo many of the former slave descendants underwent ritual purification to be integrated into the mainstream society in Wolaita, they opposed the former masters and landlords especially during two years of Girmame Neways regime (1958-1959) and during the 1974 Great Ethiopian Revolution. In the post 1975 some engaged in studying their family genealogy, others married persons of free descent (often resultings in clans conflict). Many also adopted the clan of their former masters to be considered as real “citizens”. The paper will explore the success and failures of the different approaches of the former slave descendants in combating the stigma and marginalization they faced after the legal abolition of slavery in two adjacent Omotic communities of southern Ethiopia. It will end with some reflections on these group’s aspirations and objectives for the future