“Does Adwa have a Colonial Legacy? Assessing the viability of the Colonial Thesis for Understanding Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Ethiopia”

Abstract

For many, the Ethiopian victory at Adwa was an African victory over European colonialism, but some scholars have reimagined the triumph as an example of African colonialism in recent years. This view culminates in the colonial thesis. This colonial thesis casts Menilek II of Shäwa (r.1888-1913) as a colonizer of Southern groups in present-day Ethiopia and posits his state as a foreign colonial power. This view is one of the theoretical underpinnings of the present Ethiopian ethnic federalism and many ethnolinguistic nationalist movements. One of the ways that it impacts identities, as the Ethiopian scholar Maimire Mennasemay puts it, “. . . ontologizes ethnic identity and falsely represents Ethiopia as a collection of discrete, ethnic communities, brought together by ‘Amhara colonialism.’” The scholar Mahmoud Mamdani builds on this view by arguing that transforming identities (politicizing nativity) was essential in governing colonial empires. In other words, the colonial government invented settlers and natives in their territories and treated them accordingly. In essence, this essay details the identities that were produced as a result of Ethiopia’s victory at Adwa and argues that while oppression accompanied the conquest of territories North, East, West, and South of Menilek’s native Shäwan province, Menilek’s government did not produce identities to make power exclusive for one group as displayed at both the participation at the battle and in the administration that the victory preserved.