Wuhibegezer Ferede | Bahir Dar University (original) (raw)

Papers by Wuhibegezer Ferede

Forum for social economics/The Forum for social economics, Apr 19, 2024

his research aimed at locating, identifying and documenting graveyards and funeral rites for reco... more his research aimed at locating, identifying and documenting graveyards and funeral rites for reconstructing the life history and achievements of prominent personalities in Ethiopia’s past and theier social philosophy of death as depicted in grave markers and oral discourses of the society in the Regional State of Tigray. Accordingly, data was collected through in-depth informant interview about funeral rituals and rites, field observation for deciphering information from grave markers, and document analysis for reviewing historical records such as eyewitness accounts. The data was collected from Churches and Monasteries in Mekelle, Tembien, Adwa, Aksum, Maychewu and their environs. Hence, this paper traverses as far as the fourth century to examine the Christianization process in Ethiopia based on Abba Selama Kesate Berhane’s grave markswhich is found at Enda Abba Selama in Tembien. It also examined the achievement and lives of St. Frumentius, Abune Yohanis, Abba Merha Christos, Ch...

African Renaissance, 2014

The competing needs and prejudicial consequences of a unilateral appropriation of shared rivers h... more The competing needs and prejudicial consequences of a unilateral appropriation of shared rivers have created technical, juridical and political problems thereby triggering a search for acceptable criteria for defining the water rights of riparian states. This search has, ultimately, resulted in the formulation of diverse legal doctrines. However, hardly any of them could specify precisely how much of a state sovereignty should be forgone and none of such doctrines has attained universal legitimacy. The researcher contends that the cause of the incompatibility of sovereign right with the legal doctrines, especially in the Eastern Nile Basin of Africa, is due to the conceptual conflict triggered by the transplant effect of the colonial state system. Therefore, after analyzing the data collected from various sources using a historical causation approach, the researcher proposes the establishment of a new continental water regime which could lead towards the pan-Africanization of the content's rivers and states simultaneously.

Civil strife continues to engulf the continent of Africa with devastating political effects. Coun... more Civil strife continues to engulf the continent of Africa with devastating political effects. Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia have suffered recurrent civil wars over the past three decades. Towards the end of the twentieth century, Africa experienced a surge of ethnic conflicts. Ethnic identity continues to be a potent force in contemporary politics as it was in the colonial era. It has been established that Africa's ethnic disturbances have occurred more within national borders, thus giving rise to unstable domestic systems. These conflicts mostly arise out of disagreements over a plethora of issues including land, chieftaincy, resource allocation and environmental issues. The purpose of this paper is, thus, to present some critical issues related to the contentious debate on the Ethio-Eritrean historiography. The Ethiopianist's assertion of the Ethiopianness of Eritreans and the counter colonialist thesis of Eritrean nationalists have been studied under two divergent schools of thought that have produced multifarious ramification on the historiography of the states. The researchers contend that the root of this divergence is the intellectual dependency of the post-colonial scholars of the region on the colonial knowledge fabric about the state which, in turn, is worsened by the politicized historical socialization spearheaded by both the Ethiopianist and Eritrean nationalists. Thus, the divergence is rested on the failure of the intellectuals of the region in rediscovering or revisiting the diverse interconnections among the people coming out of the territory with centric colonial mentality transplanted towards Africa during the colonial conquest. Thus, this paper tries to depict the tides of such mind set.

The competing needs and prejudicial consequences entailed by a unilateral exploitation of shared ... more The competing needs and prejudicial consequences entailed by a unilateral exploitation of shared waters have created technical and juridical problems. Thus, the search for plausible criteria for defining the water right of states has ultimately resulted in the formulation of diverse legal doctrines, which failed to specify how much of a state sovereignty is going to be compromised. The researcher contends that the incompatibility of the sovereign needs with the legal doctrines, particularly in Africa, is due to the imposition of territorial states over the natural highways created by rivers. Therefore, without addressing the problems of the state system, it is impossible to come up with binding legal doctrine and the Nile Basin is not an exception to this rule. In short, this study's premise towards the legal understanding of the distribution of the shared water resources of Africa and of course the Nile is pan-Africanist. As long as the African states undo the concept of the maladapted state system of Europe with notion of pan Africanist understanding, the controversies and arguments based on sovereign interest give birth for a new form of understanding.

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS is peer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenc... more INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS is peer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenced article ranking and qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatest substance and highest significance is published. INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS is indexed in wellknown indexing diectories with ICV value 5.90

Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 2020

The study was undertaken in central Tigray which is the epicenter of many of the world wonders an... more The study was undertaken in central Tigray which is the epicenter of many of the world wonders and legacies of the past civilization. It also harbors a living museum which indicates artistic excellence and innovation of the artisans. The indigenous craft knowledge system was very decisive in producing technology incubating minds and cosmic hands pivotal for the transmission of intellectual traditions and technical skills from generation to generation and for keeping the lamp of civilization burning. However, as time went on the profession lost social support and technological innovation and excellence was declined with alarming rate for the new generation became indifferent towards craft vocation and education. Therefore, this research was conducted to examine the causes for the marginalization of artisans (craftsmen and women) and its concomitant effect on the rural economy in central Tigray. The examination of the date collected from FDG, in-depth interview, observation, informal discussions with various sections of community in the environs of Axum along with secondary document analysis indicated that in spite of the high demand for the products of artisans in the rural economy, artisans are spatially segregated, politically disempowered, economically alienated, socially excluded and subordinated. The causes that produced this paradox include economic competition and the conspiracy of foreign craft workers, power preservation move of feudal technocrats, monastic orders and association of evil eyes to the profession. Hence, the realization of technological renaissance in the country at large and the transformation of the rural livelihood in central Tigray demands to be routed in resuming of the indigenous skills of the crafts men and the demystification of myths held about artisans by empowering them socially, economically and politically.

This paper tried to show how the Ethiopian educational system was sidelined in favor of western s... more This paper tried to show how the Ethiopian educational system was sidelined in favor of western system of education, and it calls for the need for re-Ethiopianising it. In the analysis of the historical evolution of the educational system in Ethiopia , we can witness about the existence of indigenous educational system that had left its imprints in the socioeconomic and political facades of the Ethiopian society. However, the system was eventually superseded by religious schools (church schools, mission schools, Quranic schools" and finally by western schools under the guise of modernization. Due to the quest for absorbing western modern values, in the late 19 th century western school system initiated by missionaries who plan to use it for religious proselytizing became dominant. Thus, Ethiopia had imported western education by sidelining its traditional education system instead of creating at least a synthesis. Therefore, the country failed to create a uniquely Ethiopian system of education. Hence, the educational system was de-Ethiopianised and thereb y produced intellectual dependency that triggers many social evils and served for colonization of the non-colonized state.

Academia Journal of Agricultural Research, 2014

African Journal of History and Culture, Jan 31, 2014

African Journal of History and Culture, Feb 28, 2015

This paper tries to show the evolutionary development of education in Ethiopia along with its his... more This paper tries to show the evolutionary development of education in Ethiopia along with its historic dysfunctions on the prospect of social transformation. The historical backdrop that centered on traditional educational system, which was predominantly ecclesiastical, is also briefly outlined for the sake of coherent understanding of the link and the miss-link in the educational system of the country. Ethiopia had started indigenized education in the Pre-Christian Eraatin Aksum as we witnessed it from local tradition. However, systematized ecclesiastical traditional education enshrined following the adoption of Christianity and the rise of Islam. These Educational institutions were not bereft of scientific thinking in their essence as in the usually discourse. But due to this misconception, in late 19thcentury they had given way for the newly inaugurated western school system initiated by missionaries who plan to use it for religious proselytizing. Thus, Ethiopia had imported western education by sidelining its traditional education system instead of creating at least a synthesis. Therefore, the country failed to create a uniquely Ethiopian system of education. Hence, the educational system was de-Ethiopianized or de-Africanized and thereby produced intellectual dependency and mind colonization that triggers many social evils as it has been witnessed since 1960s. Thus, this paper attempts to show how the conviction of being tabula rasa, otherwise called a zero beginning, for the commencement of modern education in Ethiopia served for colonization of the non-colonized state and polarized mindset among its citizens.

, and traced the missing link in their historical biographic narratives. The social philosophy ab... more , and traced the missing link in their historical biographic narratives. The social philosophy about death, funeral rituals and manifestation of grief were also analyzed from oral narratives and inference from practices. The critical examination of the collected data provided baseline information about the lives of unknown but historically important personalities such as Christopher Dagma, son of Vasco Dagma, who came to Ethiopia leading the Portuguese soldiers in the war against Gragn. It also shed light on some controversial issues such as the periodization of the Christianization of Ethiopia and Ethio-Eritrea relations.. Furthermore, the study attested that the funeral rituals and the bio-data carved on physical setting of the cemeteries and inscriptions(symbols) had immense dataset about family line, demographic and social pattern, biographies, social status, causes and the society's view of death in the study area. As these graveyards are deteriorating and disappearing very fast, the study emphasizes the urgent need for the deployment of a multidisciplinary research team in order to digitize, document and rescue the vanishing dataset in these sites. .

Africa Spectrum, Apr 1, 2014

This paper attempts to analyse the efficacy of the water treaties of the Nile in light of the pri... more This paper attempts to analyse the efficacy of the water treaties of the Nile in light of the principles of international law. The following critical examination of the treaties brings to light numerous legal defects associated with fraud, coercion, exclusivity and the deficiency of many of the precepts of the international law. Moreover, the lower riparian states' advocacy for the succession of colonial treaties, which is branded as the re-affirmation of colonialism, is found to be incompatible with the principles of the clean-slate theory adopted by the upper riparian states. Therefore, the region lacks an efficacious regime that could address the interests of all riparian states.

MMW - Fortschritte der Medizin, 2020

This paper tries to depict out the evolution of education in modern Ethiopia since its first inau... more This paper tries to depict out the evolution of education in modern Ethiopia since its first inauguration. However, the historical back drop that centered on traditional educational system, which was predominantly ecclesiastical is also briefly outlined for the sake of coherent understanding of the link and the miss-link in the educational system of the country. Thus, this paper attempts to show the dynamics in the evolution of higher education under the three regimes: the Imperial Regime, the Marxist Military rule and the FDRE. It’s believed that Ethiopia had started education in the pre Christian era, at Bet ketin, as we witnessed it from local tradition. However, systematized ecclesiastical traditional education enshrined since the adoption of Christianity as official religion. In fact, Quranic schools were also established in Wollo, Arusi, Bale, Harar, Kaffa and in areas bordering Sudan following the rise of Islam. These traditional educational institutions were basically not ab...