ABSTRACT

The previous chapters showed the ways in which the Beta Israel affirm their ethnic identity as Ethiopian jews. This chapter turns first to another of their strategies to subvert negative ascriptions: speech. Next. it concludes this discussion on ethnic identity by showing bow Ethiopian jewish immigrants choose consciously the pace and nature o f cultural change. These choices. I suggest. are made in accord with the exigencies of daily life and the balance sought between integration and maintenance of cultural identity.