article
The status of craftsmen among the Konso of south-west Ethiopia
Africa • 38 (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.
- 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 ; 2015
- 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)