Ethnographic History of Oromo Folklore Study Cushitic Oromo Nation: Ethiopia, Northeast Africa (Part I)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the ethnographic history of the study of Oromo folklore based mainly on secondary sources from early Oromo ethnology, philology, folklore collection, and travel writings. Thus, this study has two objectives: first, to reconsider the historical background of Oromo folklore research and ethnographic undertakings so as to offer a critical history of Oromo folklore study; and second, using a historical and literary approach, to analyze individual (and group) folklore research endeavors in Northeast Africa in order to connect those early developments with the current trend of Oromo folklore scholarship. I will do this in two parts. Examination of the history of Oromo folklore scholarship shows that initially the preoccupation was with collection and documentation: The archival collections in Sandra Shell’s PhD research project on Oromo Diaspora Narratives at Lovedale are useful sources of a broader study of the history of Oromo folklore scholarship. Alice Werner did substantial folklore collection and ethnology of the Oromo of East Africa (1913-1915), and the Italian scholar, Enrico Cerulli, published the first large-scale Oromo folklore study in 1922. The Oromo folklore collection and documentation begun in the nineteenth century at Munkullo, Eritrea, also play a pivotal role in the intellectual history of Oromo folklore scholarship. The study concludes that those early collections and documentations set ground not only for understanding the intellectual history of Oromo folklore study but also history of Oromo lexicography, (bible) translation, and literary history.