This article reflects more than a century of urbanization in the heart of the Ethiopian highlands where at the end of the 19th century, new capital called Addis Ababa had been established. Since the times of Menelik, the city has witnessed a huge development which has brought not only the positives but also negative aspects including poverty, overpopulation, and some crucial political and violent events of the last centuries.
The Oromo nationalism becomes one of the most sensitive issues within Ethiopian studies or those groups of social scientists dealing with socio-political development of contemporary Ethiopia. On one hand, especially Oromo authors from the diaspora are very active in redefining and reinventing of Ethiopia’s history, on the other hand, mainly Western social scientist tend to analyze Ethiopia’s “ethnic problem” in broader perspectives. The aim of this study is to present some arguments which modify perceptions on the Oromio nationalism as a homogeneous movement heading to independent Oromia. According to my own fieldwork and by studying contemporary scholarly works I came to a conclusion that there are many strategies within Ethiopia which the Oromo people use in order to co-exist with other ethnic groups in Ethiopia and that the will to secede is rather minor phenomenon. Reasons can be found in a complex nature of the Oromo society where many other variables besides ethnicity come into discussion with religion being probably the most important one. That is why I have used examples from both Muslim Oromos as well as Christian Oromos to support my arguments.
The Oromo nationalism becomes one of the most sensitive issues within Ethiopian studies or those groups of social scientists dealing with socio-political development of contemporary Ethiopia. On one hand, especially Oromo authors from the diaspora are very active in redefining and reinventing of Ethiopia’s history, on the other hand, mainly Western social scientist tend to analyze Ethiopia’s “ethnic problem” in broader perspectives. The aim of this study is to present some arguments which modify perceptions on the Oromio nationalism as a homogeneous movement heading to independent Oromia. According to my own fieldwork and by studying contemporary scholarly works I came to a conclusion that there are many strategies within Ethiopia which the Oromo people use in order to co-exist with other ethnic groups in Ethiopia and that the will to secede is rather minor phenomenon. Reasons can be found in a complex nature of the Oromo society where many other variables besides ethnicity come into discussion with religion being probably the most important one. That is why I have used examples from both Muslim Oromos as well as Christian Oromos to support my arguments.