ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses basic questions in the search for appropriate planning and development approaches for societies in transition—the ethnic voices of the margins—in this case, the Ethiopian Jews. It examines the processes of change which the Ethiopians have undergone by analyzing the relationship between ethnicity and citizen identity and suggests models of analysis to assist planners in developing more effective and ethnically sensitive approaches to minority integration. The general model of social change assumes that substitute relations between ethnicity and citizenship depend significantly on the class to which an individual belongs, and the circumstances that may cause issues of ethnicity to arise. The model distinguishes three groups which place differing emphasis on the importance of ethnicity. The assimilationist model assumes that assimilation is a desired and natural process of social change for ethnic and immigrant groups. This model assumes a replacement of traditional or ethnic values as part of the process of modernization.
