Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

2 4 0Islam i n World Cult u r e sfrom conversations or interviews, to editorials and cultural-historical lecturesthat discuss readings from classical Harari poems and other literature, to recenthistorical and anthropological studies written in Harari and other languages.I knew many people who scheduled their daily routines so they couldlisten to these programs, which were often the subject of conversation aroundtown afterw a r d .Language and Ethnicity in the Muslim Cultural Politics of HararSometimes the Harari ethnic revival accompanied moves to forge and to improveinterregional (and interethnic) relations. In the fall of 1997, the FiveNeighboring Regions (Harar, Oromiya, Somali, Afar, and Dire Dawa), all ofwhose populations are dominantly Muslim, jointly hosted a cultural festival inH a r a r. From the event, a magazine devoted to history and culture in the fiveregions was published. All the articles about Oromo topics were written inOromo, but with the exception of one short piece in Somali, some Harari poet ry, and an article on Harar in English, the rest of the magazine was inAmharic or provided Amharic translations.Harari politicians and members of the regional Bureau of Culture andSports with whom I spoke offered two explanations. The first is the obviousone: that it makes sense to use Amharic, despite past resentment of it, since itis the one major language the five regions and their peoples hold in common.The second was that when certain other regions did not submit material for inclusion,the Harari organizers had to pen something about the other regionsand they chose to do so in Amharic, the more widely shared language. Perh a p smost significant, however, is that the five regions have formed an administrativecouncil that meets every three months. Representatives at these councilmeetings discuss their contiguous territories and the advantages of sharedpolicies on education, economy (including the considerable contrabandtrade), culture, sports, and so on (interview with Abdurahman MohammedKorram, August 5, 1998). By forming a regional bloc, they also hope to increasethe power of their (common, and arguably Islamic) voice in the Councilof the Federation, the second chamber of parliament in Addis Ababa. Thepotential fruits of a close cooperation at home are perhaps best illustrated byan Amharic-language cartoon that appeared on the last page of the festivalmagazine. It shows a tree with five branches, with roundish objects that looklike fruit dangling from each, and each branch named: Dire Dawa, Oromiya,H a r a r, Afar, and Somali. At the base of the tree is a man watering it out of acontainer labeled “The Cooperative Congress of the Five Neighboring Regions”(Yä5tu Tägorabach Keleloch 1990 E.C./1997, 48).A few months later, this regional cooperation was emphasized again, at a