Music, Ethnicity, and Violence on the Ethio-South Sudanese Border

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2020

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This dissertation explores the relationship between music, ethnicity, and violence in Gambella, a region in western Ethiopia that borders South Sudan. Ethnic identity in Ethiopia and South Sudan has become increasingly politicized in recent decades and is cited as a cause of protests and conflicts in both countries. The multi-ethnic region of Gambella particularly struggles with ethnic tensions and cycles of violence, especially between the two majority ethnic groups in the region, the Anywaa and Nuer. The present study focuses on these two ethnic groups, exploring how local music-making and interpretive frameworks of listening reflect, shape, and produce Anywaa and Nuer ethnicity in the context of the Ethio-South Sudanese border. As scholars now recognize, ethnicity is not a self-evident category but is socially constructed, produced in encounters with perceived Others. Ethnic differences also tend to arise under circumstances of inequality, as ethnicity is a mode of identification by which marginalized social groups can organize themselves and vie for recognition, political representation, and access to resources. Gambella is one of the most underdeveloped and neglected regions of Ethiopia, and its populations are the targets of cultural denigration in Ethiopia’s national imaginary. The marginalization of peoples has played a role in the rise of politicized ethnicity in Gambella. Cycles of state-sponsored and ethnically-based violence on both sides of the border further sharpen ethnic divisions, a heightened need to defend the ethnic Self against threatening Others. Communities on the Ethio-South Sudanese border utilize music to define a cultural identity and history, cultivate a shared ethnic consciousness, and delimit ethnic boundaries. In Ethiopia, traditional musical styles are frequently linked with ethno-cultural identities, and song lyrics overtly or covertly appeal to ethnic identification and affiliation. In Gambella and South Sudan, music-making is also inspired by experiences of ethnicized violence, as singers compose songs that recount instances of ethnic massacres, encourage ethnic cohesion based on shared experiences of trauma, and, in some cases, overtly threaten others and valorize warfare. In the face of cycles of violence, state neglect, and the pressures of globalization, ethnicity for Anywaa and Nuer has existential stakes. Music protects the ethnic Self by generating ethnic solidarity; artists furthermore garner their musical abilities to attempt to make their ethnic groups visible to governments and other constituencies that can potentially offer security and ensure their livelihood. Song is a particularly privileged medium in Gambella region: singers pointedly use their songs to teach and advise their ethnic communities, and people often listen to songs specifically for their lyrical messages. At the same time, the ambiguity of musical aesthetics opens up space for multiple interpretations and recontextualizations based on each individual’s personal history and concerns. Ethnic groups are not monoliths, and this dissertation includes many variations in musical interpretation, exploring the multi-layered and sometimes unpredictable meanings and significances of these songs and highlighting the complex and contradictory processes of making ethnicity.

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