The power of continuity: Ethiopia through the eyes of its children

Abstract

Children play a vital role as a source of information on politics but have been neglected as political actors in research contexts. In this study, children are used as a window to an Ethiopian society where hierarchical relations persist, despite the numerous political and administrative transformations of the past century. With data gathered through participant observation the book examines how young, Addis Abeba school children learn to adapt to and reproduce relations of super- and/or subordination based on gender, age, strength and social position. The children’s experiences are viewed in the historical context of state-citizen relations where hierarchy and obsession with control have been and continue to be dominant. The discussion focuses on the power of continuity in the reproduction of cultural patterns and political behaviour, and on how change towards more egalitarian relations could come about.