ABSTRACT
The effects of Western customs and technology, in a word, 'civilization', on Ethiopia as a whole and on the Gurage in particular have been relatively superficial. Trade and warfare have been the principal mechanisms of change in Gurage tribal life. Hence, it was Gurage men who chiefly introduced new manners of dress and new forms of speech, but the preference shown for their own forms of material culture has tended to preserve the distinctive features of it. The function of Government in Gurage tribal life is primarily administrative. In this, its effectiveness as an agent of culture change is greatly diminished, for it has little or no opportunity or real desire, to reveal an 'improved' way of life which could stand as a challenge to Gurage customs. Gurage tribal cohesion and stability can persist only so long as the nature of their economic and political ties with Ethiopia remains, as they do, relatively unchanged.
