This thesis describes th e ethnic relations and soc io-cultural change among thernDant'a of southern Ethiopia. The major objectives of the study are to explore the ethnicrnrelations and soico-cultural change in terms of marriage practice, kinship ties,rnadministrative and religious systems, political power and economic relations, andrninterdependence in rel ations to the neighboring communities such as Kambatta, Hadiya,rnDonga, T'ambaro and others. It also examines to identify the impact of governmentrnpolicies imposed on them and their role in changing the nature of the ethnic relations withrnthe neighboring communities during the Haile Sellasse, the Derg and the EPRDF regimes.rnThe conquest of Dant'as and their neighboring communities by Menelik's troops inrn1892 and the establishment of the Naflanna Gabbar system had resulted in the eviction ofrnmany Hadiyas and their settlement in the territory of Dant'a. In turn, this resulted inrnshortage of cultivable land in the territory of Dant'a and led some of their communityrnmembers to move to Gibe (Omo) valley where they could subsist on pastoral way of life.rnThe Dant'as conversion from their previous traditional religion and Orthodox Christianityrnto Protestant Christianity is resulted from the activities of missionaries who thought thernBible in local languages and who constructed schools, clinics, health centers, roads andrnother infrastructures in their locality.rnMoreover, their long established marriage relationship with the neighboringrnHadiya resulted in shift of many of their younger generation from their ancestoralrnlanguage of Kambatssa to Hadiyissa.rnThe government policies of designing the administrative map of the country andrnnaming the administrative units of Awraja (province) and 'Woredas' (districts) withoutrntaking a local condition of settl ement patterns and population distribution of various ethnicrngroups into consideration during Menelik and the Haile Sellasse regimes have been thernmain cause for the escalation of conflicts and emergence of competition over the politicalrnpower and economic opportunities in subsequent periods of the Derge ,md the EPRDFrnregimes. In this regard, the Haile Sellasse's regime was not able to resolve the conflictrnamong the Dant'a and the neighboring communities which was associated with an issue ofrnrenaming the Kam batta 'A wraj a' and T'ambaro ' Woreda' into names which couldrnrepresent all community groups who live in these ad mini strative divisions. However, thernDerg regime made an effort to reso lve the conflict among these communities by namingrnthe "Kambatta Awraja" into "Kambatta and Hidiya Awraja" in May 1976. Nevertheless,rnIXrnboth the Oerg and the [ PROF governments co uld not able to res lve the co nni ctrnassoc iated with 'Woreda' name inhabited by the Oant'as, the two groups of Hadi ya (Agarrnand Sooro) and other .rnSub equently, th e change in nati onal politics of the country and the EPRDF policyrnof des igning the admini trati ve map of the co untry along ethni c and/or lingui stic linesrnfurther aggravated the connict between the Oant'a and the neighboring communities, andrnresulted in competiti on over politi cal power and economi c opportunities at the zone andrn'Woreda' levels. In addition, th e cial relationships of Oant'a with the neighboring Hadiyarnat the local level ha been adverse ly affected and changed as a res ult of politi cal change.rnMoreover, the ex isting national politi cal climate led the Oant'a to demand for powerrnsharin g at the zone level and recently for their own spec ific 'Woreda' admini stration byrncl aiming di tinct identity.