Society And State In The Bal Lowlands Interplay Of Divergent Interests In Center- Periphery Interrelations In Southeastern Ethiopia 1891-1991

For much of its scant history, Bali was known as the southern borderland of the ChristianrnHighland Kingdom, where the latter stationed frontier guards and Muslim sultanates sent wavesrnof raiding parties up to the 16th century. Bali’s relation with these states was thus characterizedrnby the latter’s efforts to subdue it and Bali’s effort to maintain its autonomy. Its social landscapernwas diversified by the process of fusion and fission. This dissertation investigates dynamics,rnlocal narratives, regional complexities and minorities’ role in society-state relation in the periodrn1891 -1991.rnMy findings show that since the conquest of the region in the 1880s, state-society relations werernshaped by several dynamics with the scramble of colonialists for the region, whose legaciesrnpolarized interest of the lowlanders, changed patterns of local interactions and their collectivernrelation with the Ethiopian state. These dynamics had accentuated both cooperation andrncompetition in center-periphery relations by interplaying interest of agents of the center on thernperiphery and vice versa. The study argues against writing of the history of pastoralists forrnpeasants, a distant view of the periphery as a homogeneous entity and silence on the audible rolernof riverine cultivators in the regional history.rnThis history shows administration of the vast lowlands from distant garrisons that changed thernpre-existing local power relations using its agents was unable to deliver immediate social justicernand therefore the region remained socio-economiacally and politically little incorporated into thernvirncenter. Despite the growth of public grievances into localized protest before the Italian interlude,rnwhich gave it ethnic and religious catalysts imbedded in the ideology and technology ofrnviolence, the restored regime that was incognizant of these emerging dynamics had pursuedrncoercive rule. Consequently, the Oromo and Somali pastoralists, who had conflicting interests,rncreated strategic alliance rallying shared Islamic faith, pastoral livelihood, history of dominationrnand lowland ecosystem. They waged the jagahir, dhombur and sowra wars against the imperialrnand Därg regimes respectively in which some governors cooperated with them and loyalistsrnamong them served the state, which enjoyed also the partnership of some riverine societies.rnSomalia, backed by long foreign hands, had intervened in arming and training the insurgents andrnworsened the violent state-society relations since 1960. These resistances therefore contributed arnlot for the 1974 and 1991 revolutions but brought little reform on the periphery. In the 1990s,rnpoliticization of ethnicity brought new trends in identity competitions though unable to pacifyrnthe Balé lowlands. Consequently, instability, famine, insurgency and underdevelopment haverndominated its history.

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