ABSTRACT
In the preface two key contentions regarding the formulation of Ethiopian identity were raised, first the popularist tendency to regard ‘being Ethiopian’ from a socio-cultural perspective in narrow and somewhat monolithic terms, and second the disconnection of this identity from its African roots. In this chapter these ideas come under scrutiny. By way of providing a broad introduction to the region (its peoples and landscapes) and an overview of how Ethiopia sensu lato has been perceived from external historical sources, the emphasis will fall upon stressing diversity and also the problems of blurred and shifting identities. David Phillipson’s statement encapsulates the issue: ‘socio-political differentiation is largely a matter of an individual’s sense of identity. This may not only change through time, it may also vary according to the circumstances in which people find themselves. There is often a tendency for this degree of fluidity to be underestimated’ (Phillipson 1998: 15). By way of framing a general historical context for the archaeological
study we shall also pay close attention, in the second part of this chapter, to the types of external and internal historical sources which may be critically utilised to augment the archaeological evidence, but which also betray tendencies to place the region in the category of the exotic and tend to ‘de-Africanise’ its identity. Ethiopian internal historiographic sources by their existence have played a part in this; no other African country outside Egypt and historical Nubia have such a rich wealth of autochthonous historical source material as Ethiopia. We shall begin with a consideration of geographical diversity of the study area and will move on to consider the problematics of defining what it means to be ‘Ethiopian’.
