Open AccessThe Socio-Economic Role and Status of Handicraftsmen among the Kambaata of Southern Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Wolde-Selassie Abbute
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
aethiopica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2194-4024
pISSN - 1430-1938
DOI - 10.15460/aethiopica.4.1.492
Subject(s) - peasant , ambivalence , endogamy , consumption (sociology) , population , sociology , socioeconomics , geography , economic growth , gender studies , development economics , social science , social psychology , psychology , demography , economics , archaeology
Although traditional handicraftsmen play an indispensable economic and socio-cultural role within the society, they have been marginalized and segregated by the peasant population in southern Ethiopia. The handicraftsmen produce a wide range of production, household consumption and defence tools and implements. Besides, they have an important socio-cultural role as ritual performers, initiators, drummers, musicians, entertainers, operators, professional mourners, traditional medical experts, etc. during several social life events. However, despite their important role in multiple contexts, they are despised and prejudiced against by the peasant population. They are kept away and segregated from the rest of the society, being considered as unclean, and restricted in many ways, including limitation to endogamous marriage.This study examines the ambiguous and ambivalent position of the handicraftsmen, as well as their mutual interdependence within the peasant population by investigating the particular case of potters and smiths among the Kambaata of southern Ethiopia.