Amharic Oral Poems and Songs as Sources for Reconstructing a History of Shewa, Ethiopia (1703–1889)

Abstract

The church and state institutions in the history of Ethiopia were considered literate. However, the majority of Ethiopians in general and Shewans in particular were non-literate. Moreover, peoples who were in the service of both the church and the state had no interest to record the day-to-day incidents in written form. These incidents were mainly maintained and transmitted from generation to generation orally by individuals who performed poems and songs. Thus, the main objective of this article is to explain how the daily political and socio-economic experiences of Shewa were preserved orally. It also attempts to analyse to what extent these experiences are reliable sources to reconstruct a history of the region (1703–1889). The oral poems and songs were collected from Amharic oral informants, books and manuscripts that were contributed by amateur historians.