This Thesis is about descent based social exclusion and integration of slave rndescendants in Ganta (Gamo) of southwest Ethiopia. It looks at local explanations for rnexclusion of slave descendants, the areas of their exclusion from the mainstream rnsociety, different integration mechanisms and a description of how the situation of slave rndescendants has changed during successive political regimes of the country. rnThe data used for this study is based on three months of fieldwork during which 40 key rninformants from different categories (including slave descendants and descendants of rnslave owners with different educational and religious backgrounds) were interviewed. rnThe finding of the study shows that exclusion of slave descendants is deeply embedded rnin the local ideology of slavery. In Ganta slave descendants do not only belong to the rnlowest social class, they are also considered as impure. Their impurity is hereditary rnthrough the mother's and the father's line and transferable to non kin through close rnsocial contact during rites of passage (marriage, funeral and child delivery). The rnideology of impurity is rooted in the local mythological justification that slave rndescendants inherited the dehumanized attributes of their ancestors. In the past slave rnancestors were treated below human beings; they were exchanged like animas and rncommodities; they were sold, bought and given as gifts. Today slave descendants are rnconsidered as "impure" and "inferior creatures " because they are believed to share rnthe dehumanized traits of their ancestors. Therefore, the ultimate assumption behind rnexcluding slave descendants during rites of passages (in marriage, mourning and rnfune ral, and child delivery) is that close intimacy with them during these situations rnautomatically turns a free born into a slave. rnTo escape exclusion slave descendants have been integrating into the mainstream society rnthrough the indigenous mechanism called wozzo ritual. The wozzo ritual fully integrates rnslave descendants who can then freely intermarry with the free born and experience no rnexclusion in the above mentioned rites of passage. The high cost of the ritual leaves slave rndescendants economically broken. In addition to the indigenous mechanism, the Synods rnof south western Ethiopian have introduced a new approach to eliminate the situation of rnthe slave descendants in recent time. They convinced ritual experts to publically rnrenounce the practice of slavery. The study has shown that the community does not have rnfull trust and still wavers to closely participate with unredeemed slave descendants, so rnthat the exclusion which has existed during the last twenty century and survived different rnregimes continues to exist until today.