his mother and father. Also, the story about the return of Menelik I from Jerusalem with the Ark of Zion without the knowledge of the King has many implications. Since this act makes Ethiopia the sole host of the original Ark of the Covenant, it transfers the Glory of God that was inbuilt and kept for thousands of years from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. It indicates the replacement of the Solomonic dynasty with the Ethiopian dynasty, making Ethiopia God’s most favored nation after the fall of the Jews – the new Zion – with the “chosen people.” Ethiopia, therefore, becomes the place where faith, hope, and destiny are united.
Recognizing the contribution of Kebra Nagast, the historian Edward Ullendorff labeled it as “one of the most powerful and influential national sagas anywhere in the world” (1965, 64), the literary scholar Yonas Admassu (1995) referred to it as “the ‘master‐narrative’ of The Ethiopian Imaginary,” and the sociologist Donald Levine (2011) called it “Ethiopia’s national epic.” The modern Amharic literature, including Adam Retta’s monumental novel YeSinibit Qelemat, which deconstructed the text prodigiously, is profoundly indebted to Kebra Nagast. Anyone who follows Amharic literary nationalism can easily identify those recurring symbols, persistent themes, and numinous experiences that are adopted from Kebra Nagast.
This chapter is divided into five sections. The first four sections offer analyses of how modern Amharic literature envisioned Ethiopian nationhood in different periods. Section one covers the period that Ethiopia attempted to be a unified modern nation‐state. This period runs from the time Ethiopia defeated the Italian colonial army in the battle of Adwa in 1896 to the attempted coup d’état, which discredited the monarchy’s divine right in the 1960s. The period of social unrest (1960–1974) that was triggered by the demands for basic human rights leading to radicalized ideology, which ended up overthrowing the entire system, is discussed in section two. The period of the military regime (1974–1991) and the ethno‐nationalism period from 1991 to the present are discussed in sections three and four respectively. The last section discusses the connection between authorship, language, and national identity in the context of Amharic (and Ethiopian) literature.
Constructing and Narrating the Modern Nation, 1896–1960
Modern Ethiopian nationalism and modern Amharic literature rose around the same period and grew together in the course of time. In modern Ethiopian history, it is difficult to find an incident like the battle of Adwa (1896) that has created an impact both locally and internationally. Since Adwa is the first major victory that African people had over white colonial power, it gave a shock to colonizers and was an evidence of black people’s power. It has inspired and strengthened anticolonial struggles and reinforced “Ethiopianism” – the black politico‐religious movement which is the archetype of pan‐Africanism. Having received international recognition, Emperor Menelik was able to consolidate his power following the aftermath of the victory. This put him on an equal level in matters of negotiations with the European colonizers where he managed to demarcate borders. Thus, Menelik united the disintegrated states, thereby creating the present modern Ethiopia. Ethiopia also embarked on improving its official diplomatic relationships with the great powers and opening its banks and rail line to engage in the global economy. The period was the genesis of modern Ethiopianism; modern Amharic literature is born from its milieu too.
The turn of the Ethiopian twentieth century (1907/8 Gregorian calendar) marked a remarkable concurrence of three socio‐politico‐cultural incidents. The first Ethiopian Council of Ministers and “modern” school were established, and Libb‐Wolled Tarik (the first novel, also known as T’obbiya) was published. T’obbiya (dialectal pronunciation of “Ethiopia” and the eponymous heroine of the work) was published in Rome by Afeworq Gebre‐Iyyesus, who was an Amharic teacher in Italy. Though this fiction was written at the time when Ethiopia was relatively in peace and gaining stability, it was filled with conflicts between Christians and non‐Christians. Growing up in a grotto covered with blood, T’obbiya, who is from the Christians and painted with magnificent beauty and virtue, serves as an agent of redemption. At the end of the story, the powerful King of the “infidels” asks for T’obbiya’s hand in marriage, compromising his status. Consequently, he has to convert to Christianity to marry her, leading to peace and unity among the two rivals. Hence, T’obbiya is a literary projection whereby a sovereign ideal Christian state is envisioned.
Before the Italian intervention (1936–1941), the monarch whose legitimacy rested on the Solomon–Sheba tradition that was supported by the Orthodox Church ruled the country with the notion of a “unified Ethiopia.” This period laid the foundation for Amharic creative literature and is known for its efforts in building modern society and maintaining sovereignty. Even if the period till the late 1950s was a fertile ground for the state‐led nationalism to flourish, it faced some challenges emanating from nonfictional literature. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of intellectuals, such as Taye Gebre‐Mariam, Gebre‐Hiwot Baykedagn, and Tamrat Amanuel, who received their education abroad and were exposed to European culture, raised serious challenges. Baykedagn’s engagement even extended to requesting the separation of the state and the national Orthodox Church. As Admassu, who studied the period, asserts, this kind of question to the then Ethiopia was received as just “utter madness!” (2010, 66). Hence, these efforts fell short of achieving their intended result due to a lack of institutional and societal support. The state‐led nationalism, however, was destabilized following the failed coup attempt in 1960 that led to the rise of the student movement.
The movement, which came with a better institutional character than the individual efforts that had come before it, went through different phases before it expanded to the Ethiopian students’ movement with a wider public acceptance (Zewde 2010). The reason behind the movement was the growing self‐awareness on the part of the students. This self‐awareness was driven by two external factors. The first dimension started in the early 1950s by sending “innocent” young Ethiopians, who were raised in a nation that upheld the romance of Ethiopia as God’s most favored nation after the fall of the Jews and as the cradle of civilization, to the West for education. As Rahmato has recounted, the Ethiopian students, who were proud of their ancient history and anticolonial struggle but had difficulty considering themselves as black, were “shocked to discover that, in the eyes of the American whites, they were every bit as ‘nigger’ as the African‐American residents” (Zewde 2010, 13).1 Mengistu Lemma’s “Bass’Ashebbir B’Amerika” (“Bassha Ashebbir in America”) and Gebre‐Kirstos Desta’s “BeBaid Ager” (“In a Foreign Land”) are the popular dramatic verses that vividly portrayed this shock.
The second dimension came about following the establishment of the University College of Addis Ababa (UCAA) in 1950 and the interaction of the Ethiopian students with those African students who joined the University through scholarships. Starting 1959, UCAA provided full scholarships for 200 students from different African countries for four years, which was an opportunity that brought about new contacts and transformations in self‐definition. Those African students growing up in years of freedom struggles were able to empower young Ethiopians to build political consciousness and boost their confidence in sustaining a movement. Moreover, the University’s guest speakers such as the well‐known African politician and revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah, the leading specialist on international affairs Arnold Toynbee, and the popular politician Golda Meir made speeches inspiring students to question their country’s reality and become proponents of the reformist ideology.
Such discovery created a critical psycho‐social shock that destroyed the students’ erstwhile prevailing arrogance and distorted perception of Africa. It also replaced their national pride with national humility. Contrary to expectation, these realizations and changes were transformed into an opportunity. In this phase, young Ethiopians attempted to build an “African identity” both in action and in thought. To that effect, Girmamé Neway’s master’s thesis, “The Impact of the White Settlement Policy in Kenya” (Columbia University, 1954), which is said to be “painted with an elevated
