Subjects of Empires/Citizens of States

Samson A. Bezabeh

Description

A compelling revisionist study of diaspora and migration in the Indian Ocean region
Although the Horn of Africa was historically one of the earliest destinations for Yemeni migrants, it has been overlooked by scholars, who have otherwise meticulously documented the Yemeni presence in the Indian Ocean region. Subjects of Empires/Citizens of States draws on rich ethnographic and historical research to examine the interaction of the Yemeni diaspora with states and empires in Djibouti and Ethiopia from the early twentieth century, when European powers began to colonize the region. In doing so, it aims to counter a dominant perspective in Indian Ocean studies that regards migrants across the region as by-products of personal networks and local oceanic systems, which according to most scholarship led to cosmopolitan spaces and hybrid cultures. Samson Bezabeh argues that far from being free from the restrictions of state and empire, these migrant communities were constrained, and their agency structured, by their interactions with the institutions and relations of states and empires in the region. Elegantly combining theoretical readings with extensive empirical findings, this study documents a largely forgotten period in the history of Yemeni migration as well as contributing to the wider debates on class, citizenship, and ethnicity in relation to diaspora groups. It will appeal to specialists in Middle East studies and to those who study the Indian Ocean and Horn of Africa regions, as well as to migration and diaspora studies scholars, nongovernmental organizations, and policy makers concerned with the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region.
Preface
Introduction
1. Disciplining the Natives
2. Nationalized Spaces: Yemeni Mobility in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
3. Entrepreneurs, Laborers, and Smugglers: Yemenis in the Economy of States/Empires
4. Colonial Intermediaries, Emperors, Abettor, and Enemies of the People
5. State Vision, Imperial Hierarchies: Being a Muslim Yemeni
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix
Bibliography

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Emigration
• Immigration

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781617977053
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

SUBJECTS OF EMPIRES CITIZENS OF STATES
SUBJECTS OF EMPIRES CITIZENS OF STATES
Yemenis in Djibouti and Ethiopia
Samson A. Bezabeh
The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New York
This electronic edition published in 2015 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com
Copyright © 2015 by Samson A. Bezabeh
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978 977 416 729 4
eISBN 9781 61797 705 3
Version 1
In memory of my mother Athen Tsehay Alemu
I [the Magistrate] was the lie that Empire tells itself when times are easy, he the truth that Empire tells when harsh winds blow. Two sides of imperial rule, no more, no less. But I temporized, I looked around this obscure frontier, this little backwater with its dusty summers and its cartload of apricots and its long siestas and its shiftless garrison and the waterbirds flying in and flying out year after year to and from the dazzling waveless sheet of the lake, and I said to myself, “Be patient, one of these days he [the Colonel] will go away, one of these days quiet will return: then our siestas will grow longer and our swords rustier, the watchman will sneak down from his tower to spend the night with his wife, the mortar will crumble till lizards nest between the bricks and owls fly out of the belfry, and the line that marks the frontier on the maps of Empire will grow hazy and obscure till we are blessedly forgotten.” Thus I seduced myself, taking one of the many wrong turnings I have taken on a road that looks true but has delivered me into the heart of a labyrinth.
—J.M. Coetzee,
Waiting for the Barbarians (1980: 148–49)
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Maps
1. Introduction
Part I: Regulating Spaces
2. Disciplining the Natives
3. Nationalized Spaces: Yemeni Mobility in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
Part II: The Shaping of Yemenis’ Opportunities
4. Entrepreneurs, Laborers, and Smugglers: Yemenis in the Economy of States/Empires
5. Colonial Intermediaries, Emperors, Abettors, and Enemies of the People
6. State Vision, Imperial Hierarchies: Being a Muslim Yemeni
7. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Subjects of Empires/Citizens of States is the result of eleven years of academic research, beginning in 2004. Over this somewhat long period many individuals and institutions have generously supported my work. In the early days, Dr. Getachew Kassa Negussie, from the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University, raised my curiosity about the presence of Yemenis in the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean. Prof. Leif Ole Manger, from the University of Bergen, was instrumental in my coming to the Department of Social Anthropology, first as a master’s student and later as a PhD candidate. Throughout the years that I have known him, Prof. Manger has been a source of inspiration. His constant urge to explore social complexities in their most minute detail is a rare instinct worth pursuing.
The preparation of this manuscript was generously funded by three institutions, to which I extend my deepest gratitude. My stay in Addis Ababa was funded by the Centre Française des Études Éthiopiennes, and was made pleasant by a number of individuals, chief among them Dr. Giulia Bonacci and Dr. Anaïs Wion. My time in Leiden was supported by the Afrika-Studiecentrum, which gave me a three-month fellowship. In Leiden, I would particularly like to thank Dr. Benjamin F. Soares, who was a very generous host who made my stay in the Netherlands memorable. My residency in Paris was made possible by a postdoctoral research grant from the European Commission and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. And special thanks go to Dr. Éloi Ficquet, my primary research contact at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where I was based during my time in Paris.
Various parts of this manuscript have been reviewed by a number of scholars. In this regard, I would particularly like to thank Dr. Anne K. Bang, an academic interlocutor since 2006, from the Christian Michelsen Institute in Norway. I have particularly benefited from the reading of Prof. Scott S. Reese from Northern Arizona University. His sharp criticism greatly helped me to reshape the original material. My thanks also go to Prof. Daniel Varisco from the American Institute of Yemeni Studies and Dr. Rita Abrahamssen from the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa. Both have commented on parts of the manuscript and the insights I obtained from them have positively contributed in the shaping of the manuscript. I am also very grateful to Dr. Simon Imbert-Vier from the Université de Provence Aix-Marseille, who read the full manuscript. Dr. Imbert-Vier pointed out various gaps that would have been difficult for me to identify. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers of this book, whose suggestions have greatly contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.
In addition to these individuals, I am indebted to Prof. Ulrike Freitag from Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin and Leila Harold Ingrams for helping me locate historical documents over the course of my research. Thanks are also due to those who provided the framework for intellectual exchange. In Bergen, the text writing seminars led by Prof. John Chr. Knudsen and the Middle Eastern cluster of the Department of Social Anthropology that Prof. Anh Nga Longva chaired provided excellent milieus for shaping the theoretical angle of this work. The many discussions and occasional talks I had with Dr. Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Prof. Andrew Latas, Prof. Bruce Kapferer, Prof. Vigdis Broch-Due, and Prof. Nefissa Naguib were sources of inspiration. The interdepartmental meetings that brought together anthropologists based at University College London and the University of Bergen were also valuable encounters that helped in further shaping the argument of this book. The meetings were marked by intense debates and I was fortunate to be part of them. I would therefore like to extend my thanks to the coordinators, Prof. Knut Rio and Prof. Annelin Eriksen, and the fellow anthropologists present during those meetings, particularly Dr. Martin Holbraad, whose radical take on anthropology became a source of intense debate and hence helped in developing a specific argument that eventually found its way into this book.
In the field, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to the people who shared their stories, and who accepted me and introduced me to their friends. I would particularly like to thank those who directly facilitated my research. In Djibouti, I am indebted to former Prime Minister ‘Abdallah Mohamed Kamil, Naguib ‘Ali Tahir, Aref Mohamed Aref, Ambassador Muhammad ‘Abdallah Hajar, Fathi Guelleh, Aman ‘Abd al-Qadir, ‘Adil Salah, Dr. Souad Kassim, Dr. Adawa Hassan ‘Ali, Dr. Hibo Moumin Assoweh, Zaynab Kassim, Abu Baker Mohamed, Mohamed Ibrahim, Prof. Abdel Ghaffar Ahmed, and Saeed Rubah. In Ethiopia, I would like to extend my gratitude to Saeed Ba Zar’a, former Ambassador ‘Abd al-Sala al-Awadi, ‘Abd al-Basit al-Bedani, ‘Isa Ahmed, ‘Abd al-Rahman Ahmed al-Habshi, Salah Ba Naji, Taha al-Bar, Ruqayya Ba Zar’a, ‘Ali Ba Zar’a, ‘Abdallah Emmad, Abdo Ba Bedan, Husain Ezia, Mohamed Abdo Ramada, Mohamed and ‘Ali Ba Hajeri, ‘Abdallah ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Qershi, Mohamed Hudeda, Tsega Sentayehu, Idris Mohamed, Najib Mehederi, Husain Mohamed, ‘Abd al-Malik Mohamed, Mesfin Gebra, Zahab Mohamed, and Saeed Mohamed.
I would also like to thank my parents, Abebe Bezabeh and Athen Tsehay. My gratitude is deep and without your love and support I would not have reached this particular stage of my life. Thanks is also due to my three sisters: Sarah, Aster, and Rahel.
Last but not least I would like to thank my friends Zalila M. Ashetu, Aneley Engidawork, Sajan Thomas, Carmeliza Rosario, Thomas Mountjoy, Anne Straume, Jessica Mzamu, Melese Gatisso, Rita Cunningham, Thor Sortland, Jayaseelan Raj, Tord Austdal, Laura Adwan, Alexander Manuylov, Hanna Skartveit, Espen Helgesen, Reshma Bharadwaj, Kristine Fauske, Dean Kampanje Phiri, Endale Tsegaye Mohammed, Fasil Ayelegn Tassew, Harold Hazzang, Henos Kifle Tekle, Maria Njau, and Viviane Wei Wei.
Paris/Leiden
January 2015
Preface
The eminent anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss opens Tristes tropiques with a description of the sense of shame he feels in narrating a personal account of his travels. Convinced that such personal accounts have no place in the ethnologist’s work, he observes,
I hate travellers and explorers. Yet here I am proposing to tell the story of my expeditions. But how long it has taken me to make up my mind to do so! It is now fifteen years since I left Brazil for the last time and all during this period I have often planned to undertake the present work, but on each occasion a sort of shame and repugnance prevented me making a start. Why, I asked myself, should I give a detailed account of so many trivial circumstances and insignificant happenings? Adventure has no place in the anthropologist’s profession; it is merely one of those unavoidable drawbacks (Lévi-Strauss, 1955/1992: 17).
While I was writing in the twenty-first century about the Horn of Africa, a field setting far from his Latin American context, Claude Lévi-Strauss’s point produced a distant yet compelling echo to which I found myself listening. The present book, which is abou