article

The status of craftsmen among the Konso of south-west Ethiopia

Africa38 (3) • Published In 1968 • Pages: 258-269

By: Hallpike, C. R. (Christopher Robert).

Abstract
This article discusses the social status in traditional Konso society of a class of artisans, consisting of blacksmiths, weavers, potters, and tanners. It is proposed that the low status of these occupational groups has to do with longstanding and irreconcilable contradictions between craft-making and commodity exchange (believed to be foreign induced) and the value systems of a predominantly agricultural indigenous people. Artisans produce crafts individually and sell them at a price they want, while dominant Konso values demanded that one farms cooperatively and exchanges products among friends and family without assigning values. This has led to the marginalization of artisans into an endogamous, caste-like and landless group, subordinated to the dominant agriculturalist class.
Subjects
Community structure
Occupational specialization
Ceramic technology
Smiths and their crafts
Work in skins
Clothing manufacture
Tillage
Real property
Social personality
Ethos
Avoidance and taboo
Community councils
Organized ceremonial
Social control
Ethics
Etiquette
Acculturation and culture contact
culture
Konso
HRAF PubDate
2016
Region
Africa
Sub Region
Eastern Africa
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Anthropologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Teferi Abate Adem
Field Date
1965-1967
Coverage Date
1965-1967
Coverage Place
Konso Special Woreda, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, Ethiopia
Notes
C. R. Hallpike
Includes bibliographical references
LCCN
29010790
LCSH
Konso (African people)