'No one remains living in the past': the dynamics of pottery technological styles in southwestern Ethiopia. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wayessa, Bula
• Is Part Of: Azania. Volume 56:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 115
• Page End: 139
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: chaîne opératoire -- technological changes -- social identity -- technological style; Archaeology -- Africa, Eastern -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Africa -- Periodicals; Africa, Eastern -- History -- Periodicals; Africa -- History -- To 1498 -- Periodicals; Africa, Eastern -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Africa -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 960
• DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2020.1865640
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0067-270X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article examines the pottery technological styles of the Oromo, the Yem and the Dawro ethnolinguistic groups in southwestern Ethiopia. It provides a comparative examination of the technological choices each group makes at different stages of pottery production, which, in turn, produce and reproduce their group identities. In southwestern Ethiopia, pottery-making lies within the domain of women, with social restrictions prohibiting male involvement. Potters are marginalised and transmit pottery-making knowledge and skills through learning networks, mainly between immediate family members. Each pottery-making community practises distinct technological traditions and styles, but all communities are now acquiring new technological skills in response to developing socio-economic dynamics. Examination of the incorporation of new elements into pottery-making due to both socio-economic changes at the local level and global phenomena may provide clues about the changing dynamics of the craft in the recent and more distant past.