Date：October 31 – November 1, 2015
Venue：Siyonat Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Outline
This project organizes the African Forums on Conflict Resolution and Coexistence once each year in Africa. These forums have been instrumental in furthering international discussions with African researchers and working-level personnel. They have also played an important role in moving our research forward and deepening our understanding of what is actually happening in Africa. The first forum was held in Nairobi in December 2011, the second in Harare in December 2012, the third in Juba in December 2013, the fourth in Yaoundé in December 2014, and the fifth in Addis Ababa in October and November 2015. The 2015 forum was made possible thanks to the close and cooperative relationship Japanese researchers have built with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and the Departments of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Addis Ababa University. It was co-organized by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) Project: Engaged Area Studies in the Arena of African Local-Knowledge Formation and Sharing, led by Masayoshi Shigeta of Kyoto University.
The fifth forum was titled “Local Knowledge as African Potential.” Although previous forums have explored African potential that can be utilized to achieve conflict resolution and coexistence, this forum also considered African potential in areas not directly related to conflict, such as local knowledge, technology, and systems that support the livelihoods of Africans.
The two-day forum began with a keynote speech titled “Local Knowledge as Untapped Potential for Entrenching Development and Conflict Prevention and Resolution: The Ethiopian Experience” delivered by Berhanu Kassahun, professor at Addis Ababa University, in which he discussed the rich potential embedded in local knowledge found in Ethiopian societies and its relation to development and conflict prevention and resolution. This was followed by oral presentations by eleven African researchers and eight Japanese researchers, and impassioned discussions on topics such as how to define African potential, local knowledge, and tradition.
The first day of the forum focused mainly on Ethiopia, with oral presentations across three common themes: “Friction between modern school education and local communities,” “Conflicts on land issues,” and “Local knowledge and development.” The second day consisted of a review of all five African Forums on Conflict Resolution and Coexistence carried out by this research project so far, and intense debates on what has been discussed and what problems still remain.
Program
31st October 2015
- 9:00-9:10 OPENING REMARKS
- OHTA Itaru (Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University)
- 9:10-9:20 WELCOME ADDRESS
- AHMAD Hassan (Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University)
- 9:20-10:00 KEYNOTE SPEECH
- Local Knowledge as Untapped Potential for Entrenching Development and Conflict Prevention and Resolution: The Ethiopian Experience
KASSAHUN Berhanu (Department of Political Science and International relations, Addis Ababa University) - 10:00-10:15 COFFEE BREAK
- 10:15-11:45 SESSION 1: FRICTION BETWEEN MODERN SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Chaired by GEBRE Yntiso (Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University) - 1) LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AS A MODE OF COEXISTENCE: THE ACCEPTANCE OF MODERN SCHOOL EDUCATION KANEKO Morie (Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University) & SHIGETA Masayoshi (Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University)
- 2) PHYSICALLY EDUCATED TO BE COEXISTED: DYNAMICS OF DISCIPLINE IN THE KENYAN YOUTH IN SPORTS TRAINING SCHOOL
HAGIWARA Takuya (JSPS Research Fellow/Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University) - 3) RESETTLEMENT AND ETHNIC RELATIONS IN JAWI WOREDA, AMHARA REGIONAL STATE
YOHANNES Yitbarek (South Omo Research Center/Arba Minch University)
Commentator: Edward Kirumira (Makerere University) - 11:45-13:00 LUNCH
- 13:00-14:30 SESSION 2: CONFLICTS ON LAND ISSUES I
Chaired by MATSUDA Motoji (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University) - 1) PERCEPTIONS, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENHES OF SEDENTARIZATION IN HAMER, SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA
SAMUEL Tafara (Center for African and Oriental Studies, Addis Ababa University) - 2) WAR AND TRADE
SOGA Toru (Faculty of Humanities, Hirosaki University) - 3) URBAN LAND TRANSACTION, ACTORS’ CONFLICT AND SOME APPROACHES TO RESOLUTION
TESHOME Emana (Addis Ababa University)
Commentator: KURIMOTO Eisei (Graduate School of Human Science, Osaka University) - 14:30-14:45 COFFEE BREAK
- 14:45-16:15 SESSION 3: CONFLICTS ON LAND ISSUES II
Chaired by Kennedy Mkutu (United States International University) - 1) FORUM PREFERENCE/SHOPPING FOR DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BY THE RURAL COMMUNITY: THE CASE OF THE TULAMA OROMO OF ETHIOPIA
MELAKU Abera (Addis Ababa University) - 2) LAND REGISTRATION/CERTIFICATION AND THE MAKING OF ‘INTIMATE ENEMIES’: ON POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF LOCAL ELDERS IN DEALING WITH LAND DISPUTES IN WEST ARSII, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA MAMO Hebo (Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University)
- 3) LAND RUSH AND THE FRONTIER PROCESS AMONG THE DASANACH OF SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA
SAGAWA Toru (Faculty of Letters, Keio University)
Commentator: Michael Neocosmos (Rhodes University) - 16:15-16:30 COFFEE BREAK
- 16:30-18:00 SESSION 4: LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOPMENT
Chaired by Sam Moyo (African Institute for Agrarian Studies) - 1) TOURISM AND LARGE-SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA：CULTURAL TOURISM BY ARI PEOPLE
NISHIZAKI Nobuko (Fukushima University) - 2) PROPOSAL OF ENGAGED AREA STUDY TO CREATING A NEW CULTURE OF WORK FOOTWEAR IN AFRICA：SHARING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE FOR INTRODUCING JIKA-TABI TO ETHIOPIAN OX-PLOUGH FARMER
TANAKA Toshikazu (Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University) - 3) THE ENSET PARK ESTABLISHMENT INITIATIVE: AN APPROACH THAT STARTED TO BENEFIT PROPLE AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
FELEKE Woldeyes (Arba Minch University)
Commentator: Francis Nyamnjoh (University of Cape Town) - 18:00-18:30 GENERAL DISCUSSION
- 9:30 – 9:40 Introduction: Research Project on “African Potentials”
- OHTA Itaru (Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University)
- 9:40 – 10:20 On all the five African Forums on “African Potentials”
- MATSUDA Motoji (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University)
- 10:20 – 10:35 COFFEE BREAK
- 10:35 – 11:05 On the 1st African Forum in Nairobi in 2011
- Kennedy Mkutu (United States International University)
- 11:05 – 11:35 On the 2nd African Forum in Harare in 2012
- Sam Moyo (African Institute for Agrarian Studies)
- 11:35 – 12:05 On the 3rd African Forum in Juba in 2013
- KURIMOTO Eisei (Graduate School of Human Science, Osaka University)
- 12:05-13:35 LUNCH
- 13:35-14:05 On the 4th African Forum in Yaounde in 2014
- Francis Nyamnjoh (University of Cape Town)
- 14:05-14:35 On the 5th African Forum in Addis Ababa in 2015
- GEBRE Yntiso (Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University)
- 14:35 – 14:50 COFFEE BREAK
- 14:50-15:50 GENERAL DISCUSSION
- Discussant: Bekele Gutema (Department of Philosophy, Addis Ababa University)
Facilitator: OHTA Itaru
1st November 2015
Exploring African Potentials, Mila Special Issue
