The Perils of Colonial and Marxist Narratives in an Unconquered Lands: Ethnic-Based Killings and Evictions of the Amhara in Ethiopia

Abstract

The present study explains the occurrence of violent killings and forced displacement of ethnically targeted groups, the Amhara in this case, through the direct influence of colonial narratives employed by fascist Italian colonizers and the indirect influence of radical Marxist political forces embracing Eurocentric education in their grasp of the Ethiopian local and indigenous situation. The study poses two major questions: What is the historical root behind the genesis of the hegemonic anti-Amhara discourse in Ethiopian politics? What are the consequences of this discourse? The study found out that Italy’s invented discourse of Amhara domination, unsubjected to critical mediation by Ethiopia’s political forces, has introduced a re-politicization of ethnicity to the politico-intellectual makeup of the country, which resulted, inter alia, in ongoing societal (in)securities of the Amhara population. In what seems to overcome these insecurity situations and fill the political representation void, the Amhara “defensive ethnonationalism” has emerged since 2015.