Cerulli On My Mind

 

Cerulli On My Mind

by Mitiku Adisu

I see some folks overdoing tributes to the noted anthropologist Professor Asmarom Legesse (1937—2026 via Addis Standard). These are in danger of presenting him as the "Columbus" of the Oromo people. In other words, the Oromo were already there and had no need for Asmarom’s validation; all Asmarom did was to interpret and systematize his findings to tally with his academic interests and Western research methods and make the data publicly accessible.

His attempt need not be consistent with the changing reality of the Oromo either. All the same, it was an attempt, albeit seminal, that in the future could be challenged, even discredited. That is in sync with how we acquire knowledge. It should be noted also that Asmarom had to depend on others to interpret for him as he did not speak Afaan Oromoo. I am not discounting the significance of his work; it is, by all measures, ground-breaking. But the fact that he did not speak the language is not a small matter either.

Asmarom’s initial plan was to present to Harvard and its various institutions that an African society could be as sophisticated as any known to them (see Malinowiski's influence on Jomo Kenyatta’s book on the Kikuyu; Facing Mount Kenya, 1953). And so, Gadaa (1973) was presented as "democracy" practiced in ancient Greece. The problem, of course, was that democracy or "rule by the people" as we know it today did not exist in Greece city-states. In Greece of those days, it was accepted that not everyone was created equal; some were meant to be slaves or soldiers while others were set to rule over them.

Asmarom’s first choice was to study colonial Eritrea (then northern Ethiopia and whose future was shaping up towards an armed struggle with offices in Cairo in 1960). He was denied permission to pursue his work by the Imperial Government. Similarly, Germame Neway at Columbia University (1954) had to write a master’s thesis entitled, “The Impact of White Settlement Policy in Kenya, 1895–1960s” instead of one close to home. Germame, of course, attempted a 1960 failed coup against the Imperial regime along with his General brother Mengistu.

Following Asmarom's findings those Ethiopians who thought the Oromo had no system of governance or history to talk of were forced to finally recognize their ignorance (though some still remained prisoners to their narrow worldview). On the other hand, those Oromo who waved Gadaa as the embodiment of a (idyllic) democratic society were progressively and unthinkingly seduced by current power politics to succumb to a virulent ideology of ressentiment.

Let us not forget that Asmarom's work has always had a "political" edge to it. Let's recap. Research into Borana community was not original with Asmarom. Asmarom merely extended and brought to completion a project began by Enrico Cerulli (1898-1988). In fact, Cerulli applauded Asmarom for his diligence when the latter presented his findings at a Harvard conference.

And who is this Cerulli? He was an Italian linguist and key architect of Fascist design for East Africa. Such was the creation of Galla-Sidamo Governorate (1936-1941). Cerulli was a Governor of Showa between January 1939 and June 1940. He was a prime enabler of a system that oversaw racist policy and genocide for which his name was included in the International Registry of War Criminals. Asmarom, of course, knew all that and more. He knew how Italian Administration in Eritrea would not allow him past the sixth grade. [His secondary and tertiary education at Teferi Mekonnen, HSIU, Makerere, and Harvard were made possible when he transitioned to Ethiopia.]

Two years into his studies at Makerere College in colonial Uganda, Asmarom was forced to leave because, according to his version, the curriculum did not incorporate courses in politics. By later authoring “Oromo Democracy” (2000), he understood what his findings would do to the body politic in Ethiopia (relative to Eritrea's regional economic and military ambitions after it gained its independence in 1993 from its “colonizer” Ethiopia). The years leading up to 2000 were tense years resulting in death and destruction for Eritreans and Ethiopians (over 80,000 killed and no Commission of Inquiry established yet); and the Algiers Agreement that followed the war did not bring the desired resolution because the root problem was sibling rivalry and who should be running the regional show. In fact, Meles Zenawi’s brilliant ‘no-peace, no-war’ strategy sent Eritrea into a 20-year wilderness that was brokered by the US facilitating Abiy Ahmed’s coming to power in 2018. Eritrea, with little resources of its own and a land and population sizes, respectively, 10 and 30 times smaller than Ethiopia aimed at dominating the scene rather than seeking collaboration. Not surprisingly, Eritrea failed once again to nurture the new environment for cooperation and is currently busy stoking conflict with Ethiopia.

One thing is evident; whether by accident or by design, Asmarom’s books fit right in with Tplf’s ethnic federalism (a strategy of divide-and-rule to compensate for its minority status) and Eritrea’s policy with Ethiopia of agitating groups with separatist agenda against the federal government.

Upon Eritrea’s independence in 1993, Professor Asmarom was quick to turn up Eritrean (and to the chagrin of his friend poet-playwright Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin who had dedicated to him the poem ቦረን Boran, 1970), though like Dr. Bereket Habteselassie and other Eritreans, he had enjoyed disproportionate privileges in Ethiopia. Bereket went on to craft Eritrea’s Constitution which for the past three decades remained shelved and the crafters jailed, killed, or exiled.

Professor Asmarom ought to be remembered for his rigorous anthropological study into social organization of the Boran Oromoo. Especially significant was his treatise that confirmed so-called ‘primitive’ societies are in fact so complex that the ‘civilized’ fail to tap into these resources at their own peril and to disadvantage global understanding and cooperation.

As I write this, tributes continue to pour in in glowing terms mainly from Oromoo groups relative to Asmarom’s impact. This is typical of Ethiopians of all stripes straddling extreme poles. One is a saint or Satan himself. No middle ground is permitted. My fear now is that the idea of erecting a statue for an Eritrean as the newest Oromo saint would follow. Another Eritrean to remember was the late-Tesfaye Gebreab, who, unlike the two chaps above, was neither a scholar nor a journalist of substance. Tesfaye was an opportunist who knew to wade through the tumult that is Ethiopian politics to get himself into the good graces of Oromoo elite to emerge as ‘Tesfaye Gadaa,’ the reteller of a quickie Oromoo history. Tesfaye was, of course, Eritrean born in Bishoftu who did not find it important enough to learn even elementary Afaan Oromoo (so much for respecting the Oromoo) but diligently exploited the culture in advancement of Eritrea’s prospects in Ethiopian affairs.

So now we have briefly canvassed three Eritreans who have played a major role in recent Oromoo struggle--Asmarom Legesse, Tesfaye Gebereab, and Isaias Afwerki--we ask if a/ these individuals are being accorded undeserved and disproportionate praises b/ if the Oromoo, inadvertently, are made to believe they have been discovered by a modern-day Christopher Columbus c/ if the Oromo are side-tracked and being played to envisioning their immediate neighbors as enemies and d/ if over-reacting to those who would not recognize history of Oromoo self-governance has in fact undermined a cardinal Oromoo ethic of accommodating differences. Without the latter, a thriving Oromoo culture is in great jeopardy.

Note:- article first appeared in The Ethiopian Church Journal (FB) in February 2026 as "Not So Fast."