Mao

Grottanelli, Vinigi L.

Book

Mao

Missione etnografica nel Uollega occidentale • 1 • Published In 1940 • Pages: 397 , plates

By: Grottanelli, Vinigi L..

Abstract
This work traces the division of the Mao people into linguistically and geographically distinct "Northern" and "Southern" communities to the first decades of the fourteenth century, when a group of Sidama immigrants established themselves as ethnically superior chiefs and lineages over the previously egalitarian Mao people. In response to this conquest, some Mao fled to the north where they continued to live in more egalitarian village communities. Over the years, Northern and Southern Mao evolved into two linguistically different and politically contrasting groups. Beginning in the second half of the sixteenth century, a large number of Oromo migrants settled along the valley region that separates the Northern and Southern Mao, further reinforcing the schism. A significant part of the text is devoted to reconstructing the cultural history of different Mao groups, as they migrated and interacted with people of other ethnic, linguistic, religious, and politico-economic backgrounds.

Inter-community relations

Ethnic stratification

Status, role, and prestige

Form and rules of government

Linguistic identification

Inter-ethnic relations

Internal migration

External migration