Oral Traditions as Historical Sources in Ethiopia: The Case of the Beta Israel (Falasha)Author(s): James QuirinReviewed work(s):Source: History in Africa, Vol. 20 (1993), pp. 297-312Published by: African Studies AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171976 .Accessed: 11/08/2012 13:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

African Studies Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to History inAfrica.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=afstahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3171976?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

ORAL TRADITIONS AS HISTORICAL SOURCES IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF

THE BETA ISRAEL (FALASHA)*

James Quirin Fisk University

It is axiomatic that historians should use all available sources. African his- toriography has been on the cutting edge of methodological innovation for the last three decades, utilizing written sources, oral traditions, archeology, lin- guistics, ethnography, musicology, botany, and other techniques to bring re- spect and maturity to the field.'

But the use of such a diverse methodology has brought controversy as well, particularly regarding oral traditions. Substantial criticisms have been raised concerning the problems of chronology and limited time depth, varia- tions in different versions of the same events, and the problem of feedback between oral and written sources.2 A "structuralist" critique deriving from Claude Levi-Strauss's study of Amerindian mythology has provided a useful corrective to an overly-literal acceptance of oral traditions, but often went too far in throwing out the historical baby with the mythological bathwater, lead- ing some historians to reject totally the use of oral data.3 A more balanced view has shown that a modified structural approach can be a useful tool in his- torical analysis.4 In Ethiopian historiography some preliminary speculations were made along structuralist lines,5 although in another sense such an ap- proach was always implicit since the analysis of Ethiopic written hagiogra- phies and royal chronicles required an awareness of the mythological or folk elements they contain.6

Two more difficult problems to overcome have been the Ethiopic written documents' centrist and elitist focus on the royal monarchy and Orthodox church. The old Western view that "history" required the existence of written documents and a state led to the paradigm of Ethiopia as an "outpost of Semitic civilization" and its historical and historiographical separation from the rest of Africa.7 The comparatively plentiful corpus of written documenta- tion for Ethiopian history allowed such an approach, and the thousands of manuscripts made available to scholars on microfilm in the last fifteen years have demonstrated the wealth still to be found in written sources.8 However, such sources, although a starting point for research on Ethiopian history, no longer seem adequate in themselves because they focus primarily on political- military and religious events concerning the monarchy and church.

Oral and local written traditions from the various peoples now included in Ethiopia can provide a partial corrective to the centrist biases of royal written sources. Research on the Hadeyya, Agaw, Beta Israel, and Sudanese border- land peoples suggests a significant new trend in Ethiopian historiography.9

History in Africa 20 (1993), 297-312.

298 JAMES QUIRIN

Since the mid-1970s, Ethiopians within Ethiopia have intensified local histori- cal studies in order to write a truly national history involving all the peoples of the country.'0 Oral traditions, or other types of oral material such as personal recollections, have also been used to interpret developments at the center."

Such an approach is not totally new, although often not sufficiently rec- ognized. Students at Addis Ababa University (formerly Haile Sellassie I University) have long carried out fieldwork that involved the collection of oral as well as local written sources in order to write their B.A. and now M.A. the- ses.12 "Traditional" historians had always used a combination of written and oral traditions."3 The great "father" of Ethiopian studies in Europe, the seven- teenth-century German Job Ludolphus, who never visited Ethiopia, depended on oral data from abba Gregory, his Ethiopian informant, as well as Ethiopic documents.14 The best of the modem historical work on the central state and church was cognizant of the necessity for a "much closer investigation of the traditions of the peoples and of the churches."'5

The elitist or class biases of most written sources are more difficult to overcome, although significant steps have been made using land documents,'6 and to a lesser extent the study of prayers and magical formulae as sources for the "mentalite" of the people.'7 Oral traditions are essential to overcome cen- trist biases by providing sources for the peoples of the "periphery," but I have found them more difficult to use to overcome elitist biases. In the case of the Beta Israel, the most useful traditions come from their dominant religious elite, and hence reflect the interests and interpretations of that group. Nevertheless, Beta Israel history cannot adequately be understood without this source.

Beta Israel traditions illustrate both their strengths and limitations. The traditions provide the essential thematic and chronological framework for their history since only one, brief, late written chronicle-itself based on their oral traditions-has been found. 8 Although their clerics were literate and had a re- ligious literature in ancient Ethiopic (Ge'ez), their history was kept only orally.

Hence,this case study provides an opportunity to examine the nature and function of oral traditions in a literate society, and to compare Beta Israel tra- ditions with Ethiopian and external written sources. This paper compares such traditions concerning four episodes in three different historical periods. In the early fifteenth-century conflict with king Yeshaq, the Beta Israel traditions are essentially congruent with the written sources; in the mid-fifteenth century the traditions add information not found in written documents, but are basically similar. During the seventeenth/eighteenth-century Gondar era, the oral tradi- tions contain a great deal of information not available in the royal chronicles, which essentially ignore the Beta Israel after they were conquered in the 1620s. Finally, in a mid-nineteenth century religious conflict involving the Beta Israel, some converts to Protestantism, and the Ethiopian Orthodox church, the oral traditions are useful mainly to help provide an internal inter- pretation of the events from the Beta Israel perspective.

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 299

II

The Fifteenth Century

Both the oral and written traditions suggest that the fifteenth century was a critical epoch in the history of the group variously known as the "Falasha," "Beta Israel," "Black Jews," or "Ethiopian Jews." In the first place, the tradi- tions provide a wealth of detailed information about this time period that does not exist for any earlier era. Secondly, the oral (Beta Israel) and written (Christian) sources are congruent with each other concerning the significance of the conflict with Yeshaq (1413-1430), and even concerning the origin of the name "Falasha." Thirdly, in the mid-fifteenth century, most likely during the reign of Zar'a Ya'eqob (1434-1468), Beta Israel traditions help interpret the written information in seeing this time as critical to the construction of group identity.

A detailed discussion of the controversial origins of the people and the name "Falasha" is beyond the scope of this paper, but it was a complex pro- cess occuring over many centuries that cannot be explained by the simplistic views either that they derived directly from a "lost tribe" of ancient Israel, or that they were simply "rebels" or heretics from Orthodox Christianity."9 The oral and written sources suggest there was a Jewish presence of some sort in ancient Aksum and that some small groups of ayhud ("Jewish," "Jewish group") by the fourteenth century were subject to proselytization, cultural in- teraction, and warfare with the Ethiopian state. The term "Falasha" seems to have originated in the conflict between the ayhud of Wagara province and Yeshaq, and by the early sixteenth century, this was the common name of the group. Other names developed, such as "Kayla" in the Gondar area, and "Beta Israel."20 By the twentieth century the latter had become the most accepted self-name.This process of an evolving terminology mirrors key stages in the construction of group self-identity during the fifteenth century.21 Hence we must begin with analysis of the traditions concerning relations with Yeshaq.

According to the written chronicles, Yeshaq attempted a "divide and rule" policy by appointing an ayhud as the governor of two provinces, and then ap- pointing that man's nephew to watch over him and report directly to himself. Despite urging by the younger man, the uncle refused to pay the tribute. Hence Yeshaq came with an army, defeated, and beheaded him. Yeshaq's lo- cal supporters among the Beta Israel and others were rewarded with land grants and Yeshaq had several churches built in the region. Furthermore, the chronicle states he made the following proclamation:

'May he who is baptized in the Christian baptism inherit the land of his father; otherwise let him be uprooted from his father's land and be a stranger (falase).' Since then the [Beta] Israel were called Falashas [falaschoch].22

Thus these written traditions provide much of the needed information concerning the conflict with Yeshaq, both in terms of causes and conse-

300 JAMES QUIRIN

quences. Together, the documents show there were divisions within the Beta Israel, as well as in the region in general, both of which facilitated the con- quest and determined who received land grants later.

The oral traditions complement these written data. Their wealth of detail compared to any previous era suggests the fundamental importance of this pe- riod.23 The oral traditions also recall splits within the Wagara ayhud, appar- ently between older and younger members of the ruling family. They recall the conquest by Yeshaq, the forced conversion and loss of rest ("inherited") land-use rights, the dispersal of some, and the increased importance of artisan work by others:

After Yeshaq won the battle he forced the Israelites [Beta Israel] to be- come Christians. This the Israelites refused to do. They didn't want to be Christians. Because of that, he declared they should not have rest land. After that, the Israelites were called 'falasyan.' That means those people who did not have land. Because they didn't have land, they were work- ing as carpenters and builders and the women were doing pottery work.2

Another informant went into more detail about the origins of the war, pointing out splits within the group, and the dispersal, lost land rights, and forced conversion that characterized their defeat. His narration on the name "Falasha" included two versions of its origins:

Question: Was it at the time of Yeshaq that this name 'Falasha' began? Answer: Yes.

Question: Was it Yeshaq who gave this name? Answer: Yes, he said they cannot have land. They will be called 'Falasha.' It is said [like this], but they were also called Falasha a long time before, at the time when the Israelites left Israel.

Question: So it was their name before Yeshaq? Is it because they came from another land that they were called Falasha?

Answer: Yes, the big Gedewon was called Falasha. It means 'people in exile.' After Yeshaq defeated Gedewon, the Beta Israel were scattered in many places. Question: Where? Answer: They were in Walqayt, Sallamt, Samen, Gorgora, and [near] here, in Gana, Qwara, and other places.25

This passage suggests an overlay of two versions of the origin of the name Falasha. On the one hand, the informant first stated they were given this name by Yeshaq because they lost their land. At the end, when he noted that Falasha meant "people in exile," the example given was not that of exile from ancient Israel, according to the traditional etymology, but rather exile from their center in Wagara to surrounding provinces. This detailed explanation of the name Falasha was accompanied by the bald statement that the name had

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 301

really originated when their ancestors left ancient Israel, a statement which would seem to be a later accretion due to the twentieth-century desire to rein- force such ties.

Hence the era of Yeshaq was a turning point in their history, marked by the military defeat of the Wagara ayhud at the hands of an army led personally for the first time by the Ethiopian king, confiscation of their inheritable land, widespread dispersal to neighboring provinces, forced conversion, and the probable origin of the new term, "Falasha."

The rest of the fifteenth century, particularly the reign of Zar'a Ya'eqob, was also significant in Beta Israel oral traditions due to their construction of a new "Falasha" identity that began during this era.26 Since the fourteenth century, written chronicles and hagiographies indicate attempts made to convert various ayhud groups. Most of the incidents of conversion recorded in the Christian hagiographies, such as those carried out by Zena Marqos and Gabra Iyyasus in the fourteenth century, emphasize its peaceful nature and point out contributions to Christianity which were made by the ayhud converts. In addition, a couple of examples of Christians who joined the ayhud communities are mentioned. 2

But the true significance of these wars and proselytization efforts for the development of Falasha history only becomes clear through Beta Israel oral traditions, which provide the internal view of these processes. These traditions provide the basis for my interpretation that the change in name was merely the external reflection of a profound internal process of identity construction. In an era of intimate ayhud-Christian contact, theological debate, and political- military conflict, some groups of ayhud responded by creating a new ideologi- cal-religious identity as well as material base. The construction of this new identity dates essentially to the fifteenth century, while the people used it as the basis for their societal self-defense up to their final defeat early in the sev- enteenth century, and even up to their formulation of a new identity beginning early in the twentieth century.

Beta Israel traditions concerning abba Sabra and Sagga Amlak are most significant in this interpretation. Both were described as Christians who left their religion and joined the ayhud, bringing Orthodox texts and institutions which fundamentally restructured the group they joined. Abba Sabra came from Shawa province to the ayhud heartland in the northwest and converted to their religion. Then he established a monastery, taught the people the correct life based on the orit (Old Testament/Torah), wrote a collection of prayers and probably other religious books, instituted at least a part of the religious calen- dar, and established the Beta Israel laws of purity which called for a high de- gree of separation from Christian society.28

An alleged son of Zar'a Ya'eqob was influenced by the teachings of abba Sabra and joined him in his new monastery. One day Zar'a Ya'eqob sent an army to recapture him, but God hid the whole ayhud settlement and saved him from discovery. The son thereby acquired the name Sagga Amlak ("Grace of God") among the Falasha. The king never did find him and he lived out his life assisting abba Sabra in teaching the Falasha religion.29

302 JAMES QUIRIN

The traditions I recorded concerning these two men provide the most de- tailed information about them yet known.30 But their stories are corroborated in other sources. Earlier this century, the Beta Israel scholar, Taamrat Emmanuel, collected oral information concerning them, as well as other early Falasha holy men, which was later published.3' In the 1840s, the French trav- eler, Antoine d'Abbadie also collected traditions concerning these two, which are brief but congruent with my information.32 Their names are also recorded in Beta Israel written religious literature and prayers, sometimes with the two names run together as "Abba Sabra Sagga Amlak," perhaps because of their close cooperation.33 These written sources only mention the names without in- formation about the men.

It is clear that details about these two men would not be known without evidence from oral traditions. By all accounts the fifteenth century was a criti- cal period in the development of the Falasha. The institution of monasticism was founded-apparently by abba Sabra-and many religious books and the liturgy were acquired from the Christians. Some scholars argue that these fun- damental Christian elements prove that the Falasha really are simply a break- away from Ethiopian Christianity. Stated baldly, this view is too simplistic be- cause both the oral traditions and the written sources on people such as the Christian monk, Qozmos, make clear that these renegades from Christianity joined an existing group of ayhud, rather than creating a completely new en- tity.1

These events signify that from at least the fifteenth century the Beta Israel monks created the basis for an increasing degree of separation from Christian society--despite substantial religious similarities-that has continued up to the present. This view from the inside of Beta Israel society would not be possible without documentation from their oral traditions. The strength of this traditional chain of transmission, primarily through the monks and priests, is demonstrated by the continuing vitality of these traditions up to the 1970s, even among men much influenced by western Jewish teachings in the twenti- eth century, who generally had great motivation to deemphasize Beta Israel ties with Ethiopian Christianity. European Jews such as Jacques Faitlovitch tried to bring Beta Israel religion more in line with modem Judaism, thereby seeking to demonstrate ties to ancient Israel and downplay connections and influences from Ethiopian Orthodoxy. In other words, although the internally- accepted view of Beta Israel history by the 1970s saw the group as the rem- nant of a "lost tribe" deriving directly from ancient Israel, their traditions transmitted orally--even by those individuals who personally believed the "lost tribe" view-contain data that support a contrary perspective emphasiz- ing the significant Christian influences on the society as recently as the fif- teenth century.

Of course it would be nice to have the specific traditions about abba Sabra confirmed in a written document from the period! The closest written documentation that exists shows only a similar phenomenon, but does not specifically refer to either abba Sabra or Sagga Amlak. During the reign of Dawit II (1380-1412) the Christian monk Qozmos left his monastery, joined

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 303

the ayhud, and led a rebellion against his former colleagues.35 One of the many miracles of Mary found in Ethiopian literature gives the case of a Christian cleric who joined an ayhud community, but was later captured by an army sent by the Christian ruler. The ruler executed him and scattered his dismembered body to several provinces as an example of what happens to apostates. The congruence of this anonymous tradition, which contains no names, with the story of Sagga Amlak is interesting, although the editor be- lieves it refers to someone else in the court of Zar'a Ya'eqob.36 Maybe a writ- ten life of abba Sabra will yet be found, as d'Abbadie hinted existed in the nineteenth century.37

The discovery of written documentation would help confirm the historic- ity of these two men and perhaps clear up some vagueness and variations in chronology and details present in the oral traditions, although Ethiopian writ- ten sources, especially hagiographies, are often quite vague as to dates as well. But even in the absence of specific written corroboration about abba Sabra and Sagga Amlak, it is clear that the general phenomenon of some Christians joining ayhud groups occurred.38 The Beta Israel oral traditions show the sig- nificance of this phenomenon for the development of Falasha identity in the fifteenth century. Although the traditions are often vague, they not only pro- vide more information than any written sources, but they can be used to illus- trate an internal view of identity construction.

III

The Gondar Era

Beta Israel oral traditions concerning the seventeenth- eighteenth cen- turies fill in gaps in the written record. During the 1620s the Falasha conquest was completed. From that time on they were virtually invisible in the Ethiopian chronicles and other written sources, since they were no longer a military threat. Foreign written sources on this period are also scarce, but of course the group continued to exist and this important period in their history would be nearly unknown without oral traditions.

This period (1632-1755) is called the Gondar dynasty in Ethiopian histo- riography because the city of Gondar was founded as the capital of the Ethiopian state. Gondar was built in the center of the area of northwestern Ethiopia that was the Beta Israel heartland. The city was characterized by great stone construction. Every important king built his own palace and sev- eral churches so that Gondar became known as the "city of 44 churches." The buildings or their ruins remain today as impressive examples of Ethiopian ar- chitecture.39

One of the questions asked about Gondar has been, who built the castles? Architectural responsibility has been variously assigned to Ethiopians, or to foreigners such as Indians or Portuguese. The construction workers, the ma- sons, carpenters, and laborers have usually been asserted to be simply

304 JAMES QUIRIN

"Ethiopians" by traditional information, but sometimes the "Falasha" were mentioned specifically.40

My collection of oral traditions has confirmed that the main skilled work- ers (masons and carpenters) on the castles were the Beta Israel. In exchange for this work they received grants of land and titles from the Ethiopian state. In the Gondar area these grants began to reverse the trend by which they had been gradually dispossessed of land during the preceding three hundred years of conflict. These traditions also give some details on where they were given these land grants and the names of several individuals who received titles of azmach ("commander"), azaj ("leader"), or bejrond ("chief of workers"). Other oral information from the Amhara in Gondar, including some traditional historians, and from the Qernant people in the region confirm the important role of the Beta Israel, although they do not provide details concerning indi- viduals' names and titles.41

These oral traditions thus provide essential information concerning the Beta Israel during this period in which they are mentioned only briefly in sev- eral hundred pages of the royal chronicles, and where foreign sources are scant. There are some problems with the information, however, which demon- strate the limitations of oral traditions. Although the traditions sometimes assert certain Beta Israel who received land or titles lived during a particular king's reign, this information is often contradictory among different infor- mants. Thus a precise chronology is still impossible to construct, even though we know when each Ethiopian king reigned. Nor can we equate unequivocally the names of the Beta Israel who received titles with the multitude of names of royal appointees given in the chronicles. In some cases the names are similar and the chronology may be about right, but one cannot be sure since the royal officials are not identified according to ethnic group. There is one very likely congruence from the mid-eighteenth century when, according to Beta Israel traditions, the main bejrond ("chief of the workers") was named Issayas.42 In the chronicle of Iyyasu II (1730-1755) Issayas is referred to as the chief of the carpenters in charge of the construction of the church of Dabra Sahay Qwesqwam.43

In addition to filling in information gaps, the Gondar data illustrate the in- creased incorporation of the Beta Israel into the general political-economic structure, but in specific roles. To a greater extent than previously, a Beta Israel secular elite developed. But besides a chronological vagueness, the data have some other problems. Although the names of several individuals who re- ceived titles are remembered, details of their lives and actions are not known. While they were said to have received land grants, the specific types of grants are not clear.44 My informants in several locations said they held land as rest ("inherited" land rights) (before the 1975 land reform act) derived from these Gondar era grants, but the details are not clear. These problems suggest some of the limitations of oral traditions also found elsewhere-that they mainly deal, as do written chronicles, with developments at the center, but are less clear about local socio-economic phenomena.

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 305

IV

The Nineteenth Century

Beta Israel traditions concerning a religious dispute in the 1860s further demonstrate the value of oral traditions in developing an internal view of so- ciety. Superficially, this dispute was between traditional Beta Israel and some recent Beta Israel converts to Protestantism, the products of missionary activ- ity since the 1850s. The main written sources for this dispute are the mission- ary records, but from the perspective of the Beta Israel, they provide an inade- quate account.45

From Beta Israel oral traditions and a short, unique written chronicle that is itself based on their oral traditions, we get a somewhat different, and broader, view of this controversy. Not only did it involve Protestant converts and traditional Beta Israel, but also brought in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Overall, the controversy should be seen in the context of a broader Beta Israel religious revival since the 1840s.46 According to their traditions, abba Wedaje, a Beta Israel monk, began to respond to a general deterioration of the position of the Beta Israel and attacks on their religion in the 1840s as he "brought his people back to their religion."47 He was viewed as the legitimate successor to the great abba Sabra of the fifteenth century.48

The second phase of the revival was led by abba Simon, the pupil and successor to abba Wedaje.49 In June 1862 a Beta Israel monk excommunicated his nephew because he had converted to Protestantism. The nephew had criti- cized their traditional practice of sacrifices, asserting that it was not ordained in the Old Testament. By September Tewodros (1855-68) had become in- volved by granting permission to baptize the first converts and by arbitrating the conflict.50

In the hearing before Tewodros the Orthodox Church was drawn into the conflict as the dispute widened to include a debate on the nature of the Trinity. The Beta Israel monks were led by abba Simon while the Church was led by its head, abuna Salama. Also present were the Beta Israel convert, Webe Beru, and the missionary J.M. Flad. According to a rather detailed oral tradition, the Beta Israel argued that their view of the Trinity, which was that "God is One, not three" was supported in the Old Testament where it stated that "God cre- ated Adam in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). In rebuttal the Christians ar- gued, also based on the Old Testament, that God had said "Let us create man in our image" (Genesis 1:26), thereby referring to the Trinity. After some fur- ther discussion, according to the Beta Israel tradition, the king decided that they, indeed, did not have to convert to Christianity.5' Although the king's de- cision was actually somewhat ambiguous, since he allowed the missionaries to continue work and even gave permission to a new mission group to begin proselytizing two months later, the Beta Israel are clear that this controversy had a positive ending, demonstrating a further stage in their religious revival.52

In other words, from an internal perspective, as conveyed in their tradi- tions, the Beta Israel felt that this theological dispute proved the validity of

306 JAMES QUIRIN

their own beliefs and hence prevented the Ethiopian state from allowing their forced conversion. Ironically, as in the fifteenth century they developed these arguments within the Old Testament context which was also the main support of Ethiopian Orthodoxy. Most importantly, the internal traditions see the group acting as subjects in their own right to revitalize their religion and soci- ety, not simply as objects meant to be converted.

V

Conclusion

In conclusion, these examples illustrate two major strengths of oral tradi- tions as historical sources: they provide information otherwise entirely lost from the historical record, and they provide a view from inside a particular society. This latter function is particularly important when the group being considered is a minority or has been conquered and to some degree oppressed by a larger group or expanding state as was the case with the Beta Israel- Falasha.

Furthermore, the examples given above illustrate that this internal per- spective may be as faithful to "what actually happened" in a Rankian sense as are written records. For example, despite the great twentieth-century pressures on the Beta Israel to conform to world Jewish practices, and to see themselves as direct descendants of a "lost tribe" from ancient Israel, their oral traditions contain data from an earlier era and perspective. These traditions demonstrate the fundamental influence of Christian Orthodoxy on developing the "Falasha" religion and ethnic identity since the fifteenth century. And such traditions were transmitted by individuals who personally were committed to increasing the links with Israel, ancient and modern. Ethiopian written sources can be no better as a medium of factual content than this.

Nevertheless, weaknesses and limitations in the oral traditions are also clear. The main problems concern questions about chronology, nagging doubts about their historicity, and a focus mainly on their own elites. Did abba Sabra and Sagga Amlak really live? How do we know for sure that the indi- viduals named in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries really obtained ti- tles and some kind of land grants when they are difficult to verify absolutely in written documents? Granted that abba Wedaje and abba Simon lived in the mid-nineteenth century, how do we really know what they did to lead a reli- gious revival and what was said during the religious debate at the court of Tewodros?

There are two types of answers to these questions. On the one hand, it is important in understanding Beta Israel history to know what their own view of their past is. Secondly, these Ethiopian cases show that through a careful col- lection and comparison of various versions of the oral traditions, and corrobo- ration with written sources, we can arrive at a high degree of probable historicity.

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 307

The question of traditions providing an elitist view--even of a minority and oppressed group--is more problematical. What did the creation of a new "Falasha" identity in the fifteenth century, or a religious revival in the nine- teenth century, really mean to how most Beta Israel lived their lives? What did the apparent land grants and titles given a secular elite in Gondar have to do with how the rural Beta Israel blacksmith lived in Wagara, Saqqalt, or Dambeya?

In any case, the answers to such questions are not self-evident in any sources, written or oral, but both types must be used. The written record is not magically clear as to basic facts either. In Ethiopia some chronicles and some hagiographies are better than others as historical sources. There is often a closer connection between oral and written documents than historians who use exclusively the latter would like to admit. Some chronicles, such as that of Zar'a Ya'eqob (1434-1468), were not actually written down until years later; in this case, during the reign of Lebna Dengel (1508-1540).53 Another chronicle, that of Galawdewos (1540-1559), the king who finally defeated the sixteen- year Islamic jihad of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ("Gragn") is more hortatory and panegyric than a record of history.54 Fortunately, we have other records of these wars in a detailed chronicle by a soldier in the Islamic army, and by a member of the Portuguese force sent to assist Ethiopia.55

Likewise, hagiographies are essential historical sources, especially for the 1270-1527 period, but again some are better than others.56 All contain miracles and are laudatory of the saint's life-that is the reason they were written! They may exist in more than one version, similar to oral traditions,57 and they may have been written down long after the saint died."5 They have been used creatively and effectively as sources for Ethiopian history, but like any other source they cannot simply be accepted as literally "true" in the historical "facts" they purport to portray. But they are certainly "true" in the sense of the image of the saint the writers wished to present, and they have been used cre- atively as historical sources.59

Such examples could be multiplied. All historical sources have limitations as well as strengths. In the case of the Ethiopian Beta Israel, oral traditions- when used carefully in conjunction with written data-provide the essential framework for a reinterpretation of history that is faithful to their noble efforts to survive with dignity and integrity within the broader Ethiopian and world context and constraints.

Notes

* Earlier, shorter versions of this paper were presented in the Fisk Faculty Lecture Series, Fisk University, 25 February 1985, and at the Tennessee Conference of Historians, Vanderbilt University, 22 March 1986. It is based on research, including fieldwork in Ethiopia in 1975/76, that contributed to my forthcoming study, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews: A History of the Beta Israel (Falasha) to 1920 (Philadelphia, 1992). On terminology, see below and chapter 1. Grants from several organizations have supported aspects of this research over the years, including the Social Science Research Council, American Council of Learned Societies, National Endowment for the Humanities, United Negro College Fund, and Fisk University.

308 JAMES QUIRIN

1. Recent mature statements include: Joseph C. Miller, "Introduction: Listening for the African Past" in Joseph C. Miller, ed., The African Past Speaks (Hamden, 1980), 1-59; Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (Madison, 1985); special issue of Ethnohistory: Edward Steinhart, "Introduction," Ethnohistory 36(1989): 1-8, and David William Cohen, "The Undefining of Oral Tradition," Ethnohistory 36(1989): 9-18.

2. Early criticism was raised by David Henige, The Chronology of Oral Tradition (Oxford, 1974); idem., "The Problem of Feedback in Oral Traditions: Four Examples from the Fante Coastlands," JAH 14(1973): 223-35.

3. Claude Levi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology (Garden City, 1967); Edmund Leach, ed., The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism (London, 1967); idem., Claude Levi-Strauss (New York, 1970); T.O. Beidelman, "Myth, Legend and Oral History: A Kaguru Traditional Text," Anthropos 65(1970): 74-97; Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King or the Origin of the State, trans. Roy Willis (Bloomington, 1982); idem., "What Shall We Do with the Drunken King?" Africa 45(1975): 363-72; Christopher C. Wrigley, "Myths of the Savanna," JAH 15(1974): 131- 35; idem., "The River-God and the Historians: Myth in the shire Valley and Elsewhere," JAH 29(1988): 367-83; W.G. Clarence-Smith, Slaves, Peasants and Capitalists in Southern Angola, 1840-1926 (Cambridge, 1979), viii; idem., "For Braudel: A Note on the 'Ecole des Annales' and the Historiography of Africa," HA 4(1977): 275-81.

4. Jan Vansina, "Comment: Traditions of Genesis," JAH 15(1974): 317-22; idem., "Is Elegance Proof? Structuralism in African History," HA 10(1983): 307-48; Thomas Q. Reefe, "Traditions of Genesis and thdie Luba Diaspora," HA 4(1977): 183-205; Matthew Schoffeleers, "Myth and/or History: A Reply to Christopher Wrigley," JAH 29(1988): 353-90; Roy G. Willis, A State in the Making (Bloomington, 1981); idem., "After the Drunken King: Structure and History in Central African Myth," paper presented to the African Studies Association meeting, Bloomington, Indiana, 21-24 October 1981; Thomas Spear, "Oral Traditions: Whose History?" HA 8(1981): 165-81; Robert E. Schecter, "A Propos the Drunken King: Cosmology and History" in Miller, African Past Speaks, 108-25.

5. Meredith Spencer, "Structural Analysis and the Queen of Sheba" in Robert L. Hess, ed., Proceedings of the Fifth Intemnational Conference on Ethiopian Studies, Session B, Chicago, 1978 (Chicago, 1979), 343-58.

6. Carlo Conti Rossini, "L'agiografia Etiopica e gli atti del Santo Yafqeranna-Egzi," Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 96/2 (1937): 404 ff.; Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 (Oxford, 1972), 1-4; idem., "Hagiographies and the Reconstruction of Medieval Ethiopian History," Rural Africana 11(1970): 12-20; Steven Kaplan, "Hagiographies and the History of Medieval Ethiopia," HA 8(1981): 107-23; idem., The Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia (Wiesbaden, 1984); idem., "Iyasus-Mo'a and Takla Haymanot: a Note on a Hagiographic Controversy," Journal of Semitic Studies 31(1986): 47-56.

7. On various paradigms see Donald Levine, Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society (Chicago, 1974), 15-25, although he also builds his own distortions. See the critique by Harold Fleming, "Sociology, Ethnology, and History in Ethiopia," IJAHS 9(1976): 248-78. See also Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim, "Sudanese Historiography and Oral Tradition," HA 12(1985): 117-30.

8. European archives have provided a wealth of manuscripts for editing and translating by the leading Ethiopianists of the past such as Carlo Conti Rossini, Ignazio Guidi, Ren6 Basset, Enrico Cerulli, F.M. Esteves Pereira, and August Dillmann. That Ethiopic manuscripts are still an unexhausted source is evident from the more than 7000 manuscripts that have been microfilmed and deposited in Addis Ababa and Collegeville, Minnesota. See the William Macomber and Getatchew Haile, A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville (9 vols.: Collegeville, Minnesota, 1975 to date).

9. Ulrich Braukamper, Geschichte der Hadiya Sud- Athiopiens (Wiesbaden, 1980); idem., "The Correlation of Oral Traditions and Historical Records in Southern Ethiopia: A Case Study of the Hadiya/Sidamo Past," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 11/2 (1973): 29-50; Alessandro Triulzi, Salt, Gold and Legitimacy: Prelude to the History of a No-Man's Land, Bela Shangul, Wallagga, Ethiopia (Naples, 1981); Jamies McCann, From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: A Rural History, 1900-1935 (Pliladelphia, 1987); James Quirin, "The Process of Caste

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 309

Formation in Ethiopia: A Study of the Beta Israel (Felasha), 1270-1868," IJAHS 12(1979): 235- 58; idem.; Donald Donham and Wendy James, eds., The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia (Cambridge, 1986); Taddesse Tamrat, "Processes of Ethnic Interaction and Integration in Ethiopian History: the Case of the Agaw," JAH 29(1988): 5-18; idem., "Ethnic Interaction and Integration in Ethiopian History: the Case of the Gafat," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 21(1988): 121-54.

10. For a recent survey of the research see: Donald Crummey, "Society, State and Nationality in the Recent Historiography of Ethiopia," JAH 31(1990): 103-19. For earlier surveys see Merid Wolde Aregay, "Research Developments in Ethiopian History: The Last Decade," paper presented to the Seventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Lund, Sweden, 26- 29 April 1982. For comparable developments in anthropology see William A. Shack, "Social Science Research in Ethiopia: Retrospect and Prospect" in Sven Rubenson, ed., Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, University of Lund, Sweden, April 26- 29, 1982 (Addis Ababa/Uppsala/East Lansing, 1984), 411-27.

11. LaVerle Berry, "The Solomonic Monarchy at Gonder, 1630- 1755: An Institutional Analysis of Kingship in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia" (Ph.D., Boston University, 1976), xxxv-xl. Harold Marcus used oral reminiscences: "The Organization of Menilek II's Palace and Imperial Hospitality (after 1896)," Rural Africana 11(1970): 57-69; idem., The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia, 1844-1913 (London, 1975), Appendix.

12. They may be consulted in thdie Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. See: Kabbada Gassasa, Theses on Ethiopia by Ethiopians or Others Accepted by for B.A. or B.Sc. Degree by the Haile Selassie I University (Addis Ababa, 1973).

13. Alaqa Tayye, Ya-Iteyopeya Hezb Tarik [Amharic] [History of the Peoples of Ethiopia] (Addis Ababa, n.d.) (trans. by Grover Hudson and Tekeste Negash [Uppsala, 1987]); and the works of Takle Sadiq Makruria.

14. Job Ludolphus, A New History of Ethiopia (London, 1682); Eike Haberland, "Hiob Ludolf, Father of Ethiopian Studies in Europe" in Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Albab, 1966 (3 vols.: Addis Ababa, 1969), 1:131-36.

15. Tamrat, Church and State, 4. The late Richard Caulk pioneered the use of local written sources that often used information from oral sources in his many well-researched articles, as for example: "Armies as Predators: Soldiers and Peasants in Ethiopia, c. 1850-1935," IJAHS 11(1978): 457-93.

16. Donald Crummey, "Gondarine rim Land Sales: An Introductory Description and Analysis" in Hess, Proceedings of the Fifth Intermational Conference 1978, 469-79; idem., "State and Society: 19th Century Ethiopia" in Donald Crummey and C.C. Stewart, eds., Modes of Production in Africa: The Precolonial Era (Beverly Hills, 1981), 227-49; idem., "Women and Landed Property in Gondarine Ethiopia," IJAHS 14(1981): 444-65; idem., "Family and Property Amongst the Amhara Nobility," JAH 24(1983): 207-20; Donald Crummey and Shumet Sishagne, "Land Tenure and the social Accumulation of Wealth in Eighteenth Century Ethiopia: Evidence from the Qwesquam Land Register," presented to Symposium on Land in African Agrarian Systems, Urbana, April, 1988.

17. James Quirin, "A Preliminary Analysis of New Archival Sources on Daily Life in Historical Highland Ethiopia," in Rubenson, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference, 393-410.

18. Wolf Leslau, ed., "A Falasha Religious Dispute" Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 16(1947): 71-95. Although Carlo Conti Rossini noted that Antoine d'Abbadie had stated a written life of the most famous Beta Israel saint may exist, no such work has been found: Conti Rossini, "Appunti di storia e letteratura Falascia," Rivista degli Studi Orientali 7(1920): 579; d'Abbadie, "Journal et milanges," unpublished journal in the Biblioth'que Nationale, France Nouvelles Acquisitions, 213000, and on microfilm at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, pp. 464, 473.

19. Quirin, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews, 7-27. 20. EMML 7334, ff. 28a-28b. Apparently the same manuscript was cited by Taddesse

Tamrat: "Tarika Negast," paper MS, Dabra Sige in Church and State, 201. The word falasa was used in the Gadla Gabra Masih, a saint's life of the early sixteenth century: Steven Kaplan, "The Falasha and the Stephanite: An Episode from Gadla Gabra Masih," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 48(1985): 278-82. The term appeared simultaneously in Arabic and

310 JAMES QUIRIN

Hebrew: Chihab Ed-Din Ahmed ben 'Abd el-Qader (Arab Faqih), Histoire de la conquete de

l'Abyssinie (XVI sihcle), ed., Rent Basset (Paris, 1897-1901), 456-59; Abraham Levi (a sixteenth- century kabbalist) cited in, A. Neubauer, "Where are the Ten Tribes?" Jewish Quarterly Review, 1(1889): 196-97. During the seventeenth century in the Gondar area the Agaw term kayla was added to the nomenclature and was used interchangeably with ayhud andfalasha: F.M. Esteves Pereira, ed., Chronica de Susneyos, Rei de Ethiopia (2 vols.: Lisbon, 1892-1900), 1 (text): 149-51, 154-56, 177, 189, 271, 278-80, 307. On kayla see also Ignazio Guidi, ed., Annales lohannis I, lyasu I, Bakaffa. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, ser. alt., Script. Aeth.,5 (1903): 8. The term beta esra'el was said by James Bruce to date back to the fourth century: Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (2 vols.: Edinburgh, 1790), 1:485.

21. James Quirin, "Ethnicity, Caste, Class, and State in Ethiopian History: The Case of the Beta Israel (Falasha)" in Crawford Young, ed., The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism (Madison, 1993). On the concept of the "construction" of identities and traditions see Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London, 1983); Belinda Bozzoli, ed., Class, Community and Conflict: South African Perspectives (Johannesburg, 1987), 1-8; Terence Ranger, "The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa" in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983), 211-62; Leroy Vail, ed., The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (Berkeley, 1989).

22. EMML7334, ff. 28a-28b; Rene Basset, ed., "Etudes sur lhistoire d'Ethiopie," Journal asiatique, 7/17(1881): 325-26 (text), 18(1881), 95 (translation).

23. Compare a case in which an increased amount of detail in oral traditions indicates a historical turning point as discussed by Janet Ewald, "Experience and Speculation: History and Founding Stories in the Kingdom of Taqali, 1780-1935," IJAHS 18(1985): 265-87.

24. Interview with Gete Asrass, 9 November 1975. 25. Interview with Berhan Beruk, 20 August 1975. "Gedewon" [Gideon] was such a

common name for Beta Israel leaders that it may appear to have been a title rather than a personal name, except that there were leaders who were not named Gedewon, as seen especially in the chronicle of Sarsa Dengel. "Big Gedewon" seems to refer to the leader at the time of Yeshaq. I am currently preparing a more detailed analysis of the oral and written data concerning this war with Yeshaq.

26. J. Perruchon, ed., Les chroniques de Zar'a Ya'eqob et de Ba'eda Maryam (Paris, 1893). 27. The efforts of Zena Marqos among the ayhud of Shawa is contained in his

hagiography: EMML 4741 and other manuscripts of which I am completing an edition with these passages. On Gabra Iyyasus see C. Conti Rossini, "Note di agiografia etiopica ('Abiya-Egzi, Arkaledes e Gabra Iyesus')," Rivista degli Studi Orientali 17(1938): 439-52. The case of Qozmos is described in I. Wajnberg, "Das Leben des HI. Jafqerana 'Egzi'," Orientalia Christiana Analecta 106(1936): 50-59; Carlo Conti Rossini, "Appunti di storia e letteratura Falascia," Rivista degli Studi Orientali 7(1920): 567-77. An anonymous renegade is described by Getatchew Haile, "The End of a Deserter of the Established Church of Etlhiopia" in Gideon Goldenberg, ed., Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference, Tel-Aviv, 1980 (Rotterdam, 1986), 193-203.

28. Interviews with qes Yeshaq Iyyasu, 15 December 1975; with qes Yeheyyes Madhane and ato Yalaw Siyamer, 27 October 1975; and with qes Menase Zammaru, 13 Ocotber 1975.

29. Ibid. For the spelling of Sabra see my article cited in the following footnote. 30. For a translation of the texts of these traditions see James Quirin, "The Beta 'Esra'el

(Falasha) and ayhud in Fifteenth-century Ethiopia: Oral and Written Traditions," Northeast African Studies 10(1988): 89-104.

31. Wolf Leslau, ed. "Taanmrat Emmanuel's Notes of Falasha Monks and Holy Places" in Salo Wittmayer Barron Jubilee Volume, American Academy for Jewish Research (Jerusalem, 1975), 626-627, 630.

32. Antoine d'Abbadie, "Journal et melanges," 464, 473; idem., "Reponses des Falasha dits juifs d'Abyssinie aux questions faite par M. Luzzatto," Archives Israelites 12(1851): 180-81; idem., "Extrait d'une lettre de M. Antoine d'Abbadie sur les Falacha ou Juifs d'Abyssinie," Bulletin de la socited de geographie, 3/4(1845): 49.

33. A.Z. Aescoly, ed., Receuil de textes Falachas. Travaux et memoires de l'institut d'Ethnologie, 55(Paris, 1951): 201; J. Hal6vy, "Nouvelles pribres des Falachas," Revue snmitique

ORAL TRADITIONS AND THE BETA ISRAEL 311

19(1911): 99 (text), 103 (text), 351 (translation), 356 (translation); idem., Te'ezaza Sanbat (Commandements du Sabbat) (Paris, 1902), 108 (text), 220 (trans.).

34. On literature see Ibid. and Wolf Leslau, Falasha Anthology (New Haven, 1952). On the liturgy and speculations on their origins see especially: Kay Shelemay, Music, Ritual, and Falasha History (East Lansing, 1986); idem., "A Comparative Study: Jewish Liturgical Forms in the Falasha Liturgy?" Yuval. Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre 5(1986): 372-404; idem., "'Historical Ethnomusicology': Reconstructing Falasha Liturgical History," Ethnomusicology 24(1980): 246-47. See also Veronika Krempel, "Die soziale und wirtschaftliche Stellung der Falascha in der christlich-amharischen Gesellschaft von Nordwest-Athiopien" (PhD,, Free University of Berlin, 1972), 252-67; Taddesse Tamrat, "The Sheba Legend and the Falasha: Problems of Ethiopian Historiography," lecture presented to African Studies Program, University of Illinois, 11 February 1986.

35. Wajnberg, "Leben," 50-59; Conti Rossini, "Appunti," 567-77. 36. Getatchew Haile, "End of a Deserter;" Quirin, "Beta 'Esra'el" 37. Conti Rossini, "Appunti," 579. 38. A tradition may represent true historical processes, even if the specific events or

individuals depicted cannot be otherwise verified: Randall Packard, "The Study of Historical Process in African Traditions of Genesis: The Bashu Myth of Muhiyi," in African Past Speaks, 167-74.

39. Richard Pankhurst, "Notes for a History of Gondar," Ethiopia Observer 12(1969): 177-227; idem., History of Ethiopian Towns (Wiesbaden, 1982); Ghiorgis Mellessa, "Gondar Yesterday and Today," Ethiopia Observer 12(1969): 164-76; A recent study of the monuments is Francis Anfray, "Les monuments Gondariens des XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles" in Taddese Beyene, ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, 1984 (2 vols.: Addis Ababa, 1988), 1:9-45. See also my Evolution, chapter 3.

40. Conti Rossini, "I Castelli di Gondar," Bollettino della reale societa geografica Italiana 7/4 (1939): 165-68.

41. Interviews with Gete Asrass, 3 June 1975 and 9 November 1975; Berhan Beruk, 3 July 1975 and 14 August 1975; Menase Zammaru and Wande Iyyasu, 13 October 1975; Jammara Wande, 21 July 1975; Garima Taffara, 4 August 1975; and Mulunah Marsha, Tafari Neguse, and Qanu Ayyalew, 22 November 1975.

42. Interviews with Gete Asrass on 9 November 1975, Menase Zammaru and Wande Iyyasu on 13 October 1975.

43. Ignazio Guidi, Annales Regum lyasu II et lyo'as. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 66(1912): 98.

44. Rest rights are inherited land-use rights passed down within an ambilineal corporate structure: Allan Hoben, Land Tenure among the Amhara of Ethiopia (Chicago, 1973). Gult rights were granted to the local administration and entailed rights to collect tribute or exact labor from the rest-holders on the land, but were generally not inheritable. The answer may lie in a hybrid form known as rest-gult which seemed to involve the best of both worlds. In Begamder land of this type was said to have been granted to Beta Israel artisans during the reign of Menilek II, but probably the practice extended back to the Gondar era: Simon Messing, "The Highland-Plateau Amhara of Ethiopia" (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1957), 248-52. Another possibility is that rim land granted to the Church was reallocated to those Beta Israel who helped construct or performed other services for the Church: Donald Crummey, "Some Precursors of Addis Ababa: Towns in Christian Ethiopia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries" in Ahmed Zekaria, et al, eds., Proceedings of the Inteltational Symposium on the Centenary of Addis Ababa, 1986 (Addis Ababa, 1987), 24.

45. The principal missionary group was the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. See the account in their publication: J.M. Flad, "Journal," Jewish Records 28- 29(1863): 13-20. Another mission was Scottish; see Staiger, "Journal," The Home and Foreign Missionary Record of the Church of Scotland, n.s., 2 (1863): 80-8 1. For the best brief analysis see Donald Crummey, Priests and Politicians. Protestant and Catholic Missions in Orthodox Ethiopia, 1830-1868 (London, 1972), 130-31.

46. The unique Falasha written chronicle was based on oral traditions written down in the reign of Menilek II (1889-1913). It has been translated by Wolf Leslau, "A Falasha Religious Dispute," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 16(1947): 71-95. For my

312 JAMES QUIRIN

description of this period see Quirin, "The Process of Caste Formation in Ethiopia: A Study of the Beta Israel (Felasha), 1270-1868," IJAHS 12(1979): 247-58.

47. Leslau, "Dispute," 81. See also interviews with Berhan Beruk, 3 July 1975, and Ayyalegn Adgwachaw and Kebrate Samu'el, 26 October 1975.

48. Interview with Menase Zammnaru on 15 October 1975. 49. Ibid.; Leslau, "Dispute," 81. 50. Flad, "Journal," 13; idem., "Twelve Years in Abyssinia," Jewish Intelligence 9(1869):

244-45. 51. Interview with Gete Asrass, 11 June 1975. 52. Other versions of this tradition agree it had a positive ending for the Falasha:

Interviews with Mammo Sagga Amlak, Ya'eqob Balay, and Mulu Mammo, 24 June 1975; Berhan Beruk, 3 July 1975; Ayyalegn Adgwachaw and Kebrate Samu'el, 26 October 1975; and Webe Akala, 27 December 1975.

53. Perruchon, Chronique 54. William E. Conzelman, Chronique de Galawdewos (Claudius), roi d'Ethiopie (Paris,

1895). See also the comments of James McCann, "The Ethiopian Chronicles as Documentary Tradition: Description and Methodology" in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference, 387-96; idem., "The Ethiopian Chronicles: An African Documentary Tradition," Northeast African Studies, 1/2 (1979): 47-61.

55. Ahmed ben 'Abd el-Qader (Arab Faqih), Chihab Ed-Din, Histoire; Miguel de Castanhoso, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia, 1541-1543, trans. and ed. R.S. Whiteway (London, 1902).

56. See the comments by Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State, 1-4. 57. A useful, but by no means complete, list of hagiographies giving the various

manuscripts known-and which sometimes contain important variations-is Kenefe-Rigb Zelleke, "Bibliography of the Ethiopic Hagiographical Traditions," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 13/2 (July 1975): 57-102.

58. For example, the original Gadl of Zena Marqos, who lived in the fourteenth century was lost and was written down from memory more than two hundred years later by monks in the monastery he founded: Enrico Cerulli, "Gli Atti di Zena Marqos, Monaco Ethiope del sec. XIV," Studi e Testi 219(1962): 211-12. The two main versions of the life of Takla Haymanot, one of the great saints of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Ethiopia, were written down only in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: G.W.B. Huntingford, "The Lives of St. Takla Haymanot," Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 4/2 (July 1966): 35.

59. See note 6 for references, especially to the work of Steven Kaplan.

Article Contentsp. [297]p. 298p. 299p. 300p. 301p. 302p. 303p. 304p. 305p. 306p. 307p. 308p. 309p. 310p. 311p. 312

Issue Table of ContentsHistory in Africa, Vol. 20 (1993), pp. 1-427Front MatterThe Documentation of Ilorin by Samuel Ojo Bada [pp. 1-13]Reflections on the Genesis of Anglophone African History after World War II [pp. 15-26]Christianisation et mentalites au Burundi: Innovations et permanences des comportements socio-culturels en milieu rural [pp. 27-42]Pease Porridge in a Pot: "The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa" [pp. 43-51]On Editing Barbot [pp. 53-59]Sierra Leone and the Grand Duke of Tuscany [pp. 61-69]The Stone Sculptures of the Upper Guinea Coast [pp. 71-87]The Earliest Generation of Missionary Photographers in West Africa and the Portrayal of Indigenous People and Culture [pp. 89-118]Deng Laka and Mut Roal: Fixing the Date of an Unknown Battle [pp. 119-128]Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian Biological Relationships [pp. 129-154]Religious and Colonial Realities: Cartography of the Finnish Mission in Ovamboland, Namibia [pp. 155-171]The Royal African Company of England's West African Correspondence, 1681-1699 [pp. 173-184]Problems in Kalahari Historical Ethnography and the Tolerance of Error [pp. 185-235]The University of Zambia's Institute for African Studies and Social Science Research in Central Africa, 1938-1988 [pp. 237-248]Oral Traditions and the Political History of Oka-Akoko [pp. 249-262]Reflections on Historiography and Pre-Nineteenth-Century History from the Pate "Chronicles" [pp. 263-296]Oral Traditions as Historical Sources in Ethiopia: The Case of the Beta Israel (Falasha) [pp. 297-312]Erieza Kintu's "Sulutani Anatoloka": A Nineteenth-Century Historical Memoir from Buganda [pp. 313-319]The Memory of Maqoma: An Assessment of Jingqi Oral Tradition in Ciskei and Transkei [pp. 321-335]Unesco and African Historiography [pp. 337-352]Feedback as a "Problem" in Oral History: An Example from Bonde [pp. 353-360]Judicial and Legal Records in the National Archives of Ghana/Accra: An Introduction for Users [pp. 361-367]Archival Research in Guinea-Conakry [pp. 369-378]Archival Documents on Upper Volta: Here, There, and Everywhere [pp. 379-384]Saving Francophone Africa's Statistical past [pp. 385-390]The Nigerian Records Survey Remembered [pp. 391-394]The Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna: An Introduction for Users and a Summary of Holdings [pp. 395-407]Resources at the Institute for Contemporary History, University of the Orange Free State [pp. 409-411]Translating the Emperor's Words: Volume II of Haile Sellassie's "My Life and Ethiopia's Progress" [pp. 413-420]Using the White Fathers Archive: An Update [pp. 421-422]Le microfilmage des Archives Aequatoria [pp. 423-427]Back Matter