Book Reviews

Land, Local Custom, and State Policies: LandTenure, Land Disputes and Disputes Settlement
among the Arsii Oromo of Southern Ethiopia.
Mamo Hebo, Kyoto: Shoukadoh Book Sellers, 2006,
186 pp.

not been studied adequately in the past. Mamo also
refers to the dichotomy between private and state
ownership that currently structures debates on landissues. He criticizes the dichotomies used by previous studies, north vs. south and private vs. state
ownership, that ignore the variety of local land tenure systems. Mamo emphasizes importance of thesocio-cultural dimension.
Chapter 3 addresses the land customs of the Arsi
Oromo. Mamo describes relationships between land
and lineage, focusing on mystical or ritualized relationships. He claims that the land is regarded not asa mere economic object but also as a religious value.
In Chapter 4, Mamo uses a diachronic perspective to focus on the dynamics of land tenure systems, dividing the development of those systems
according to four regimes: pre-conquest, imperial(late 1880s-1974), the former socialist government"Derg"(1974-1991), and the present Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front government.
Mamo describes the Arsii land tenure system as being "in between the local systems and the systems
imposed by the state" after the conquest. Thus, heclaims that Arsii peasants have had access to the landin various ways under all regimes.
Chapter 5 addresses women's land rights in theArsii Oromo culture. Mamo describes the variety ofways in which women access the land of the Arsii
Oromo. He emphasizes that the property rights ofwomen change according to the status of women,
and criticizes using the male-female dichotomy toestablish the rights of women.
The core of the book is the next three chapters.
These consider land disputes and settlements andthen discuss these cases more specifically. Chapter 6
focuses on land disputes among the Arsii Oromo in
the context of the tenure systems throughout history.
Mamo points out that land disputes emerged after
the fall of the Derg in 1991. He categorizes cases
into six types of land disputes: customary vs. political rights, disputed political rights, land inheritance,
land sale, sale of grazing rights, and boundary, andthen provides data showing that cases categorized ascustomary vs. political represent more than half ofthe total of sixty-four cases studied. In conclusion,
he claims that the dramatic emergence of disputes iscaused by the coexistence of opposing systems.
Chapter 7 clarifies the pluralism characterizing

Today, issues involving land are important to theeconomy and politics not only of Ethiopia, but alsoof local societies that are experiencing dramatictransformations as a result of globalization. However, study of local land tenure systems on the basis
oflong-term field research remains insufficient. Thisbook, based on fieldwork, makes a significant contribution to studies on the Mrican land tenure system.
The Japanese Association for Nilo-Ethiopian Studies awarded the 2007 Takashima Prize to the author,
Dr. Mamo Hebo, for this study.
With this book, Mamo examines relationships
between the land and the people of the Arsii Oromousing a multi-dimensional perspective that includes
historical, cultural, political, and gender-related
aspects. This book is based primarily on the author's
Ph.D thesis, submitted to Kyoto University. He conducted field research for this thesis in the Kokossa
district, located in the Bale zone of the Oromia
regional state in southern Ethiopia, for seventeen
months between 1999 and 2003.
Mamo grew up in the study area until junior highschool. However, he was careful about conducting
research in his former "hometown." In the first chapter, he frankly describes his ambiguous position as afield worker working at home.
The first chapter outlines the theoretical framework for this book, the research methods used, andsome basic information about the research area. Thisarea, located in the Bale highlands, is characterizedprimarily by a subsistence economy in which theArsii Oromo raise cattle and other livestock andbarely cultivate enset, maize, and so on. Mamo notesthat cultivation of cereal crops seems to be rapidlytransforming the land use system in this region.
Chapter 2 provides a review ofland tenure systems
in Ethiopia. Previous studies have classified Ethiopian land tenure systems into two types: north andsouth. The former originated in Abyssinia and wasimposed on conquered peoples after the creation ofthe Ethiopian empire. The latter, consisting of thesystems indigenous to the conquered peoples, have7980

Ni/o-Ethiopian Studies

land dispute settlements. Mamo divides disputesettlements into two types, a formal state settlement
and an informal settlement achieved via local customs, and describes in detail the process attending
each type of settlement. Arsii peasants informed
Mamo that they preferred settlements achieved via
local customs over formal judgments because of thelower costs and familiarity of the former and the inconsistency of the latter. However, Mamo adds that
local and the state institutions are not always in opposition and occasionally cooperate in regard to dispute settlements.
Chapter 8 describes four land disputes cases. Two
are classified as customary vs. state's rights, the thirdis classified as disputed political rights, and the lastis classified as a dispute about the sale of grazingrights.
In the last chapter, Mamo reemphasizes that Arsii.
peasants trust the judgment of traditional institutions
more than the judgment of governmental authorities.
Therefore, he suggests that traditional institutions
should be available, recognized, and strengthened,
and that formal and informal institutions should cooperate in settling disputes.
In summary, Mamo's book clearly provides important ethnographic data on land tenure systems
in contemporary Ethiopia. In addition, he draws
on both local and practical perspectives to offer an
important suggestion for solving problems. However, global capitalism and fluid political situations
complicate land issues and render related problems
seemingly more difficult to resolve in the future. Researchers must collect more data on the land tenuresystem in Ethiopia to solve problems related to landissues. Therefore, this book should be read not onlyby Ethiopianists interested in the land tenure system
and in Oromo societies, but also by policy-makers,
aid workers, and other social scientists more generally.
GENTAGAWA
Hiroshima City University
The Story of Land and People: Africa I. (Asakura
World Geography Series, Vol. 11) Kazunobu Ikeya,
Ren'ya Sato and Shinichi Takeuchi, eds., Asakura
Shoten, 2007,435 pp. (in Japanese)
Publication of a renewed Asakura World Geography series started in 2006, 35 years after the precursor series was launched in 1971. While experienced
authorities on geography contributed to the precursor series, the new one, far from being a minor revision, boldly adopts a number of up-to-date studies byactive researchers.
Plans call for 15 volumes, of which two {vol. 11and 12) deal with Mrica. While the series aims toenhance geographical knowledge, the volume that is
the focus of this review actually covers multiple disciplines. Volume 11 contains 29 sections, contributed
to by 28 Japanese researchers who study geography,
anthropology, history, linguistics, economics, politics,and hygiene.
Volume 11 consists of three parts ('1. General Introduction: Mrican Continent', 'II. Islamic Mrica',and 'III. Ethiopia') and volume 12, unpublished at
the time of review, is to include another three parts('IV. Bantu Mrica', 'V. Coastal West Mrica', and 'VI.
Islands'). The basic structure of volume 11 is as follows:
I. General Introduction: Mrican Continent
Chapter 1. Climate and Environment (p. 3-50)
Chapter 2. History and Civilization (p. 51-105)
Chapter 3. People and Livelihood (p.106-146)
Chapter 4. State and Society (p. 147-189)
II. Islamic Mrica
Chapter 5. Climate and Environment (p. 193-249)
Chapter 6. People and Livelihood (p. 250-318)
Chapter 7. State and Society (p. 319-362)
III. Ethiopia
Chapter 8. Climate and Environment (p. 365-380)
Chapter 9. People and Livelihood (p. 381-421)
Part I presents a general overview of Mrica, and theremaining two parts cover more specific, regional
topics. While all three parts start with a chapter
titled 'Climate and Environment' and have a chapter
titled 'People and Livelihood' in common, Parts I andII also contain a chapter on 'State and Society', while
only Part I has a chapter on 'History and Civilization'.
Each chapter consists of one to four sections.
Chapter 1, consisting of four sections, introduces
physical and cultural environments in Mrica in termsof topography, vegetation, climate, environmental
issues, and hygiene. Chapter 2, also containing
four sections, explains human evolution, language
classification, historical slavery, and the history andgeography of kingdoms. Chapter 3 (three sections)
examines ethnicity, agricultural systems, and religion.
Chapter 4 (three sections) considers politics, conflicts, and economies.
Chapter 5, the first chapter in Part II (IslamicMrica), contains four sections that describe thephysical environment of the Nile River and Sahara
Desert, livelihoods in Sahelian region, and theregional history of the Chad Basin. Chapter 6 {alsofour sections) describes livelihoods in an Algeriansociety, women's activities in Tunisia, the historyof Soninke merchants, and seasonal migration inMorocco. Chapter 7 discusses modem Egyptian
society, the civil war and famine in Sudan, and construction of the state of Guinea in three sections.
Chapter 8 (one section} views the regional eco-Book Review

logical history of Ethiopia. The last chapter (threesections) covers the following topics: changing
inter-ethnic relationships in highland Ethiopia, relationships between the Ethiopian state and lowland
societies, and trading networks of sheep skin merchants.
All of the sections are written as a textbook guidefor undergraduate and graduate students. Some aregeneral reviews of the literature covering the topic
and others specifically analyze field data collected by
the contributors themselves. Most of the discussions
show how the land and people are closely intertwinedin the continent. The following is a typcial exampleof how infomation is conveyed in this text.
Consider Chapter 2, Section 4, on the distributionof historical Mrican kingdoms by Prof. Yoshihito
Shimada. First, the continent is classified into
four zones, according to the annual rainfall: desert,savanna, woodland, and humid tropical forest areas
with annual rainfall of <250, 25Q-1000, lOOQ-1500,and > 1500 mm, respectively. Then, it shows that mostancient and a number of major, relatively modern
Mrican kingdoms and empires, such as Ghana,Mali, Songhai, Mossi, Hausa, Kanem/Bornu, Nubia,Funj, Axum, Nyoro, Ganda, Ankole, Bunyoro, Great
Zimbabwe, Lozi, Zulu, and Ndebele, were centeredin savanna areas, where millet cultivation dominates.
Then, the historical dynamics of the kingdoms are
considered by examining how relationships havechanged with the world beyond (Middle East andEurope).

81

Finally, I would like to make one critical comment. It concerns the structural basis for the division of the volumes. In the preface, the editors statethat this (and the coming) volume do not follow thecustomary distinction that divides the continent into
Mrica north and south of the Sahara. Instead, they
introduce five categories: 'Islamic Mrica', 'Ethiopia','Bantu Africa', 'Coastal West Mrica', and 'Islands'.
However, the criteria used to make these distinctions
seem controversial. Obviously, different criteria areemployed for that: religion ('Islamic Mrica'), linguistic category ('Bantu Mrica'), state ('Ethiopia'),
and topographical features ('Coastal West Mrica'and 'Islands'). Then, beginners will easily ask such aquestion as, whether muslim-dominant regions andBantu-speaking regions do not overlap each other?
In reality, there are muslim-dominant regions in
Bantu-speaking regions, e.g. Swahili-speaking East
Mrican Coast. In addition, Ethiopia is too narrow aregional category in relation to the other groupings;'Northeast Mrica' or 'Horn of Mrica'would be better
divisions. Those who are familiar with Mrica may beable to understand the logic of this system, but those
who are unfamiliar, and who are supposed to be themain readers of this text, will have difficulty understanding the rationale. Such an unusual classification
system requires a more detailed and persuasive explanation in the introduction.
Overall, the publication presents recent advancesin Mrican studies in Japan.
TAKESHI FUJIMOTO

University ofHuman Environments