The Act of Living , livre ebook

THE ACT OF LIVING
Street Life, Marginality, and Development in Urban Ethiopia
Marco Di Nunzio
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS    ITHACA AND LONDON
 
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Glossary Introduction 1.   Migrants, Gentlemen, and Thugs 2.   A Thug’s Life 3.   Donkeys with Ashes 4.   Do Not Cross the Red Line 5.   Keep on Hustlin’ 6.   Life Is a Paradise 7.   The Time of the Bumpkins 8.   Embracing Uncertainty Conclusion Works Cited Index
 
Illustrations
Fig. 1.1. A partial view of Arada © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 1.2. A bar in Arada © Adelaide Di Nunzio
Fig. 3.1. A line of container shops © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 3.2. A suq (retail shop) © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 3.3. “Gizachew” © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 7.1. Addis Ababa’s construction boom © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 7.2. A real estate venture in Addis Ababa © Marco Di Nunzio
Fig. 8.1. Mikias’s house © Marco Di Nunzio
 
Acknowledgments
This book is the product of a long journey to which many people have contributed. First of all, I thank the Wenner Gren Foundation, the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Wolfson College and All Souls College at the University of Oxford, the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi, and the Fondation Wiener Anspach and Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique in Brussels for their support of the different stages of my research in Addis.
In Addis Ababa, I was affiliated with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and the Department of Sociology at Addis Ababa University and the Centre Fran ç aise d’Etudes Ethiopiennes. I am deeply grateful to Aklilu Yilma, Zelalem Teferra, Ezana Amdework, Selam Esayas, and David Ambrosetti for their support and understanding. Wondwosen Admassu, Seble Ayalew, and Nolawit Teshome helped me with my archival research on crime and urban life in Addis Ababa. Without their help, I never would have been able to write a history of street life. The care and companionship of Marco Pittalis, Alessia Villannuci Mattia Grandi, Elisa Barracu, Marianella Lippi, Graziano Sav à , and Kate Fayers Kerr made my life in Addis Ababa more joyful, especially when my ethnographic restlessness became overwhelming. I owe my knowledge of Amharic to the kindness and devotion of the teachers of the Joint Language School in Addis Ababa. Among them, Yenesaw Wasihun assisted me and supported me as both a friend and an attentive mentor.
The generosity of my neighbors and friends in Arada, their willingness to help me in my research, and their patience in listening to and answering my insistent and naive questions allowed me to learn much more than I had anticipated during the initial stages of my research. My friends Tadious Genebera and Wasihun Gebre and my research assistant Zelalem Yilma made me feel at home and welcome. The people in the book I name Fasil, Teshome, Wondimu, Gizachew, Fatima, Sara, and Netsanet were always ready and open to talk to me about their lives and experiences. The men I call Ibrahim, Mikias, and Haile deserve a special mention. They were my source of inspiration in Addis Ababa and continue to inspire me in life more broadly. This book is a testament to your search for open-endedness, living, and hope. Your friendship and trust are humbling and precious to me.
Over the years I received mountains of generous comments and suggestions. Laura Camfield, always prompt with comments and suggestions, supported and advised me at the early stages of my research. I am deeply grateful to Shiferaw Bekele, Bahru Zewde, Yeraswork Admassie, Andreas Samuel Admassie, Julian Taddesse, Semeneh Ayelew, Simeneh Betreyohannes, Shimelis Bonsa, Dagmawi Yimer, Fasil Giorghis, Elias Yitbarek, Zegeyye Chernet, Bisrat Kifle, Rahel Shawl, Alula Pankhurst, Sarah Vaughan, Catherine Dom, Lovise Aalen, Ren é Lefort, and Kjetil Tronvoll for insightful discussions on Ethiopia, its present, past, and future. Michelle Osborn, Abby Hardgrove, Neil Carrier, Jacob Wiebel, Ewa Majczak, and Marlene Schafers read early versions of the chapters of the book and offered precise and inspiring comments.
I am indebted to Jim Lance at Cornell University Press for believing in my book when it was a draft manuscript and for always being ready with helpful and joyful advice. The two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments and advice that helped me tease out more effectively the complexities and tensions of the act of living. Henrik Vigh and Jonny Steinberg read an early version of this manuscript and provided helpful feedback and encouragement. You have both been of such great inspiration. Special thanks go to Fatima Raja, who helped me find the words when I did not have them.
An early version of chapter 8 was published as “Embracing Uncertainty: Young People on the Move in Addis Ababa’s Inner City” in the volume Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa , edited by Elizabeth Cooper and David Pratten and published in 2015 by Palgrave Macmillan. The comments I received in the process of writing and rewriting that chapter, in particular by Elizabeth Cooper, helped me shape my understanding of open-endedness and uncertainty. Extracts from chapter 1 appeared in “Marginality as a Politics of Limited Entitlements: Street Life and the Dilemma of Inclusion in Urban Ethiopia,” American Ethnologist 44, no. 1 (2017): 91–103. Parts of chapter 4 were published in “Thugs, Spies and Vigilantes: Community Policing and Street Politics in Inner City Addis Ababa,” Africa 84, no. 3 (2015): 444–465. Extracts from chapters 4 and 7 were originally written for a piece called “ ‘Do Not Cross the Red Line’: The 2010 General Election, Dissent and Political Mobilization in Urban Ethiopia,” African Affairs 113, no. 452 (2014): 409–430. I wish to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers of these journals for their advice.
I owe a lot to the institutions where I have been based over the years. At the Universit à di Napoli “L’Orientale,” Andrea Manzo, Alessandro Triulzi, Cristina Ercolessi, and the late Rodolfo Fattovich inspired me as a young student and taught me about the importance of combining passion and commitment in the study of history and politics. At the Universit à degli Studi di Torino, I owe to Pier Paolo Viazzo my commitment to ethnography. At the University of Oxford, I was fortunate to mold my anthropology and thinking on Ethiopia at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the African Studies Centre. David Anderson, Marcus Banks, Wendy James, and David Turton gave me invaluable advice and guidance. I was blessed to be part of the discussions and debates at the Horn of Africa Seminar and to share that forum with Toni Weis, Julianne Parker Weis, Jason Mosley, and Iginio Gagliardone. At the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains at the Universit é libre de Bruxelles, I was honored and fortunate to have the support of my colleagues Joel Noret and Pierre Petit and my friend Hannah Hoechner, and the comradeship of the ABBA gang, in particular Denis Regnier and Laurent Legrain. At LSE Cities at the London School of Economics, I am deeply grateful to Ricky Burdett, who ensured I was able to write the final revisions of this book. I am thankful for the support and encouragement of Philipp Rode, Nuno Ferreira Da Cruz, Suzi Hall, Claire Mercer, Sue Parnell, and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam as well as Deborah James, who provided me with the encouragement to ask for what I needed to complete the book. Finally, I want to thank Insa Nolte, Keith Shear, Kate Skinner, Benedetta Rossi, Juliet Gilbert, Leslie Fesenmyer, Reginald Cline-Cole, and Max Bolt at the Department of African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham for their encouragement. I look forward to many discussions to come.
Friendship has been my keystone during the process of writing this book. I owe a lot to my partners in crime Sara Marzagora, Davide Chinig ò , Diego Maria Malara, and Alessandro Jedlowski; to my mates Olly Owen and Insa Koch; and to my brother from another mother, Simone Montella. Without the support, the encouragement, and the example of my mentors, I would have been lost and this book unfinished. I owe much to David Pratten, who attentively guided me throughout this journey, showing me ways of dealing with the challenges I encountered and teaching me how to write the complexities of what I witnessed during my ethnography. Dinah Rajak has been a model of scholarship and engagement and a thoughtful, concerned, and supportive friend and mentor. David Berliner helped me navigate the hard years of writing. His wit, unconditional support, and belief in shaping anthropology so as to make sense of the multifaceted nature of the human have guided my scholarship, kept me sane, and inspired many of this book’s reflections on the act of living. A special mention goes to the late Mathieu Hilgers, a friend and mentor whose brilliance and advice I deeply miss.
I dedicate this book to those people who mean the most to me. To my father, Arcangelo, and my mother, Mariacira, who taught me the sense of justice and love for humankind. To my sister Adelaide, with whom I shared dreams and beautiful experiences of growing up. And to Emma as always, who inspired me to keep writing this book and whose love, imagination, and care make me every day happier.
 
Glossary
Amharic words in the text appear in their singular form.
abbat : father
adegegna bozene : dangerous vagrants
ammet bal : holiday
Arada: name of the inner city
Arada : a smart person
arakie : strong local brandy
bale-wuqabe : person with a relationship with a spirit ( wuqabe )
bammilo : thug realism
bergo : cheap hotel
birr : Ethiopia’s currency
čaqquli : hurry
čebeta : squeezed
čebu : stealing after hitting the victim on the back of the neck
chewa : good, genuine guy
č’iggir : problem
č’inqet : stress, worry
čista : broke
COOPI: Cooperazione Internazionale I (nongovernmental organization)
debtera : religious expert
Derg: “the comm