Honored, we are, to present Heran Sereke-Brhan, this month's featured guest in what is slowly becoming a regular SELEDA column. Soon-to-be Dr. Heran is a Ph. D. candidate of Ethiopian and African history at Michigan State University, East Lansing. Upon completion of her much anticipated dissertation, Heran will be the first Ethiopian woman to receive a doctorate in history. Yegna Set be East Lansing's thesis examines the role marriages of women of the imperial family, aristocracy and nobility played in the crystallization of a national identity and in the consolidation of central authority during Emperor Haile Selassie's reign.

Since we at SELEDA have this meTfo Tebaye of wanting to upstage our esteemed guests, we will restrain ourselves and let the woman talk, lest our readers and history remember our judgement.

1) "Saba" a popular Ethiopian magazine, recently featured a number of Ethiopian beauty contest participants in their late teens and in their twenties. The contestants listed Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana, Cindy Crawford, Julia Roberts, Mariah Carey, Meg Ryan and Tom Cruise as their role models. Two mavericks in the group chose Nelson Mandela and Anna Getaneh (the only Ethiopian in the role model category) as their role models. [We're still sizzling over the absence of SELEDA editors in the list of featured role models!]

a) Why do you think the contestants selected individuals who are primarily white and in one occupation (entertainment)? Were you as shocked and dismayed as we were that Kathie Lee Gifford did not make the cut?
The contestants may have thrown in Tilahun Gessese and Haile Gebre-Sellassie for good measure - but as you say, they selected primarily white entertainers as role models. (Kathie Lee ... inen mot yirsagn...[the blatant self-serving nature of this saying never ceases to amaze me... can you tell I was waiting for a chance to use it?]) The obvious answer is the persuasive power of commercialized entertainment and packaged personalities that make piecemeal of idle imaginations. (Whew!) That said, Seleda Editors... wedet kef kef?!

b) Should the educational system (at home, at school and in the society at large) take responsibility for this calamity?
The educational system, the weakening of our cultural vocabulary and paradigms, the dwindling supply of reference points all play a part in this calamity. Unless formal education is buttressed and balanced by a complementary cultural context, the outcome will be foreign and fractured.

c) Are the young people-who make an effort to know as much as possible about Mariah, Diana and Julia and who don't bother with the heroines in their backyards-to blame for their apathy?
Ignorance or innocence can only be forgiven so far. Yes - the very effort they expend on seeking these entertainers could be re-directed to people in their immediate surroundings. But this also assumes that there are elders poised to inform and enlighten the path of those seekers with their varied experiences. Homegrown heroines themselves may be disenchanted and difficult. So, with "take out" culture readily available, why bother?

d) Do you know how we can bellow the names of Asnakech Worku, Taitu Betul, Senedu Gebru, Jember Tefera, Yodit Imru, Salem Mekuria, Shoareged Gedle, Yeshiemembet Tessema, and Anna Getaneh (to name a few just from this century) at the edge of the Abay gorge before the beauty contestants erect monuments of the white goddesses in our collective minds?
To bellow out these names (... gasp! Is Mary Armday missing?!), we can begin with mobilizing efforts of documenting, in any form, the lives and deeds of our heroines. We can support the ventures they are involved in. When possible, engaging in critical dialogue with their works and creating suitable forums for showings or discussions will lend posterity to their contributions, and widen the scope of audiences. Each of us can take up the challenge of informing ourselves of their offerings and becoming conversant in this frame of reference of which they are the primary actors. (Call me a cynic, but I strongly suspect that the no nonsense beauty contestants would have successfully inaugurated the monuments in relief at the very same Abay gorge we are busily bellowing in...)

2) Does history repeat itself?
Dizzyingly!

3) What does your name mean? Ever checked how it sounds with a 'professor' in front of it?
My name comes from the Ge'ez root HER (as in IgziabHER). It means benevolent. Heran is the plural for HER. (Such responsibility to live up to!) Titles are only fun when they titillate... when taken too seriously, they become somber statements that signify selective solitude... (ye Graduate school fetena albeKa bilo!)

4)Who were the role models that inspired you to study African/Ethiopian history?
I don't know that I have role models in a separate category of my life. I took inspiration from Ethiopian music and theater early on. Both my parents had different passions in these areas that prodded my curiosity and fed my imagination. There are many I admire in the formal academic setting - but it is becoming woefully clear that where I draw my ideas from are not the conventional references.

5) Do you claim any association whatsoever to the cult of Ethiopiologists headed by Professor Harold Marcus? Also, just so you know we at SELEDA do not shun controversy, is there any truth to the rumor that some non-Ethiopian professors of Ethiopian studies became so just because no one in their defense committee would know enough to challenge their dissertation... huh? Ok, we take it back; we just made that up.
I would have to check the footnotes on the cult of Ethiopiologists (... they sound like eucalyptus flavored lollipops... but I could be off). Western scholars with some measure of accountability have a role to play in Ethiopian/African studies. Their perceptions and observations may not always reflect our instincts and should not replace our voices in the discourse. Our stories and expressions have a synthesis particular to our historical journey. That is a world all its own. Due to the nature of sources and academia in general, we cannot avoid interacting with the secondary literature of Western scholars in addition to the writings of Western explorers, travelers and missionaries. Pitching their views in contradictory terms to ours might provide a useful point of departure for discussions. Dwelling on it for any length of time may prove distracting. There are so many things we know nothing about... and, no doubt, folk who would pick on such obscure topics to write a dissertation. I say if they've navigated the treacherous tunnels of graduate programs, give them the darn degree ... before the All But Dissertation (ABD) stage comes to mean All But Dead, that is.

6) Up until the last twenty-five to thirty years, foreigners had written most of Ethiopia's secular history. What changes has the influx of Ethiopian historians into the profession brought about?
Formally trained Ethiopian historians have been writing and publishing since at least the early 1970's. Those that went to the London School of Oriental and African Studies, and other European institutions, employ similar methodologies and tools of analysis as foreign scholars. What makes their works unique is the use they make of traditional (or other Ethiopian) sources, and the sensibility they impart in their discussions. It would be difficult to summarize the general impact of this group, since it depends on their areas and particular time period of focus. Nor should it be assumed that the views of Ethiopian scholars are in complete accordance as a group (Thank God!). The obvious observation is that the current generation of Ethiopian scholars is concentrated in contemporary Ethiopian history (roughly 18th-20th century) as opposed to Medieval or Ancient Ethiopian history. Dr. Sergew Hable-Sellassie who was more active in former years, Dr. Taddesse Tamrat and Dr. Getachew Haile (Ethiopian Language and Linguistics), are highly respected scholars whose presence would be sorely missed upon their retirement from academia. There are a good group of younger Ethiopian scholars who have trained in their undergraduate and early graduate years with this crop of historians, including those that have benefited from instructions by Dr. Bahru Zawde, Dr. Merid Wolde Aregay and others at the Addis Ababa University. They constitute a large part of the students now found in US graduate programs, and in some cases are Associate professors with recent Ph. D's. The increasingly politicized nature of history makes the going difficult for those potentially interested, and taints the lens by which some Ethiopian scholars observe the past.

7) Are there accepted historical myths that upon closer examination prove to be false? If so what are the most widely held myths that don't stand up to scrutiny?
May myths multiply! I think history, as a field of study, cannot be a quest for the absolute. By that, I mean that judging and categorizing in areas of true and false may seem like a neat and orderly way to go about organizing events in the past. But it gets more complicated when you involve popular memory and perception. Myths are one such manifestation of popular memory. For instance, there is the long-standing myth of the 'Solomonic' ancestry of Ethiopian rulers. One could arrive at the conclusion that this was largely a figment of creative folly, or a ploy of legitimization. What is a bit more challenging is exploring why this idea took, why it grew to the magnanimous proportions it did, and lasted for hundreds of years-still making periodical appearances in the literature. Once freed from the burden of delivering the whys and wherefores, myths can inform us of socio-political climates surrounding historical events.

8) Why are you passionate about your field? Was there a moment of epiphany for you that made you say, "This is why I want to study history and not... home economics?"
My particular path reveals connections on so many levels - intellectual, spiritual and creative - that the least I can respond with is passion and curiosity. I fell into the formal study by way of an undergraduate paper in a history course. One of the books I was using was by an aforementioned Ethiopianist (ahem!), so I contacted him with my questions. He enthusiastically recruited me to the program - almost before I had time to realize what I was getting into. My moments of epiphany occur when I spend treasured moments with the elders (who sometimes put me through the ringer... but that notwithstanding)...they occur when a particularly delectable piece of narrative comes together...epiphany be epiphany membeshbesh new ilachihwalehu... conversely, when the details blur and merge, when the elders lay it on a bit too thick and even my kirar refuses kignit... Home Economics beckons, oh so invitingly....

9) What do you do when you miss home and wish to delude yourself into feeling like you are at home? Roast coffee beans on a flat pan? Burn incense? Hum along with a cranky, old, tape recording of Aster? Bizunesh? Of Kassa Tessema? Of MuluQen?
Home is often surprisingly close and tangible. In an every-day way, I have unconsciously created the physical and spiritual space that draws my musings and more settled reflections into an eccentric flow of sorts. I burn enough incense to chart the chaste path for even the most stubborn lost lamb with a wandering eye. My kirar companions - Kassa, Ketema, Mary and Asnaketch - provide me with dir dir phrases drafted by their deft fingers... always such feasts of delicacy. My own gebete kirar rekindles my center and silences falterings. Gebre Kristos Desta's poetry aches the storm through me. I have also been known to bust into spirited iskista moves at a whim. I remember the frozen surprise on my parent's face when at ten years old, I discovered the secret to the Walaita dance. An avid Hibret tir'it watcher, I would practice new moves in front of my bedroom mirror, often to exhaustion. This particular night, alem tena bilew betegademubet, I pounced unannounced and situated my legs on either side of their heads then proceeded to demonstrate, chatting the excitement of my discovery. "Menged situgn... seffi... sigwaz inoralehu..." says Gebre Kristos... maybe home is what gathers us on the journey.

10) For many of us, Ethiopian history means Lucy, the Axum obelisks, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Atse Tedros at Meqdela, Atse Menelik at Adwa and Jah, Ras Teferi. Do you think this is a correct assessment? If so, why do you think many of our compatriots (including all of us at SELEDA) have such a flimsy and shallow knowledge of our history?
I would agree with the assessment. Knowledge of history, at least in line of what you mention, is not a birthright. It requires some studied effort and interest to cultivate. What is officially documented seems to be the movement of history on a north to south axis, and this graced only by the big men leaders of different periods. In other words, the history of many groups of people in Ethiopia are overlooked as are aspects of social history (such as intellectual history) that could easily flesh out the story to realistic outcomes. The very history which we point to with pride can lull us into a falsified sense of well-being and permanence. My ideal self would hope that an interest in any of the things or people on your list would spur readings and ponderings that will continue unjaded, indefinitely.

11) How many vacations have you taken in the name of fieldwork? Now, c'mon...!
Brilliant suggestion! I say build the idea of vacations to recover from fieldwork into funding requests (post-docs included, minne mogn!)

12) You have taught classes as a graduate student. What breaks your heart about teaching? What makes it worth forging on?
Teaching has been a mixed bag of sometimes pleasant surprises and mostly routine nonchalance on the part of the students. I have encountered young minds that are absorbent and flexible, and others that are set in their thinking and unable to engage without taking it as a personal affront. The few breakthroughs make the difference.

13) Why, of all places, is perhaps the strongest Ethiopian studies department located in a region of the US reputed to be perhaps the most xenophobic?
Ay Nancy Drew indet agodelechibin! If they're still writing about her marvelous mystery-solving-a-minute mind, can we propose this to top off the list for the 2000 series?

14) Who is your favorite writer of Ethiopian history and what has s/he written?
I was hoping someone would ask! I admire quite a few Ethiopian historians, but my favorite is a man by the name of Shiferaw Bekele. Along with two others, he has edited a publication Kasa and Kasa: Papers on the Lives, times and Images of Tewodros II and Yohannes IV (1855-1889), (June, 1990) and numerous articles in different publications (including the Proceedings of the International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, the Proceeding of the Seminar of the Department of History (Addis Ababa University). What I love about his thinking and writings is the unassuming voice and nuanced approach that he gently cultivates. It imparts a certain reading of history that is not intrusive, but infused with affection and texturized treatment.

15) Can you recommend a list of Ethiopian history books/resources (English/Amharic/French /Italian...) for those of us who are in dire need of a crash course in our own history?
(This sounds suspiciously like a comprehensive question... grumble... mumble). I can think of a few of the top of my head. There are the works of traditional Ethiopian historians : Tekle Tsadik Mekuria (numerous publications), Blatten Geta Mahteme Sellassie Wolde Meskel (Zikre Neger), Kebede Tessema's Yetarik Mastawesha and Tsehafi Taezaz Guebre Sellassie's Tarike Zemen Ze Dagmawi Menelik. Among the invaluable documentation these provide, they also carry dazzling facts on who sat where at the great gibirs of the day... what do you think inspired Martha Stewart & c.o. to adapt management of dinner seating etiquette?! Of the scholars that provide transitionary links between traditional and modern historiography is Yilma Deressa's Ye Ityopia Tarik be Asra Sidestegnaw Kifle Zemen, (1966).

Contemporary historians established the foundation of western methodology and research techniques. Of the contemporary historians, Sergew Hable Sellassie's Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (1972) a thorough presentation with scholarly depth, Taddesse Tamrat's Church and State in Ethiopia 1270-1527 (1972) is a defining text. Bahru Zawde's A History of Modern Ethiopia (1991) is good general reading, as is Harold G. Marcus's A History of Ethiopia (1994). Berhanou Abebe has a recent publication in French, Histoire de l'Ethiopie d'Axoum à la Revolution (1998). There is much insight in Gabru Tareke's Ethiopia: Power and Protest, (1991) and Mohammed Hassen's The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860, (1994). The biographies of Emperor Yohannes IV (by Djz. Zawde Gebre-Sellassie who is a great-grandson of the Emperor and a trained historian), of Emperor Menelik (aforementioned and another by Harold G. Marcus), of H. I. M. Haile Sellassie I (including his two volume autobiographies), are focused efforts of historical representation. (Ere beKa beKa gurorwachin neKa!!)

16) Do you think academic environment fosters some sort of perpetual emotional childhood in which all interactions become stages for a duel on who has the most publications on which highly acclaimed journal? If so, how do you see yourself fitting into that frame?
The academic environment is not much different than the political, technological, or artistic environment in this sense. There are internal pressures and external expectations that justify the duel for some. Other times, it is just the hungry demands of an overgrown ego on the prowl. This may play out in the form of a performance, a publication, or the race for scientific breakthrough. You need only play the game if you agree with the rules. For now, I am an unobtrusive observer.

17) Which Ph.D. granting institution would you definitely NOT go to for a post-doc, given the opportunity? Which region of the US would you rule out: Left Coast? Right Coast? South? Midwest? Which state: Montana? Idaho? North Dakota? Utah?
East-side/West-side/World-wide... Maria Maria! (You know as soon as I heard that song the first time, I was so enamored that I quickly investigated the possibilities of adding the name Maria to mine in a gesture of hyphenated affinity - Heran-Maria! Igzer ayadris! ) World-widin atbiKachihu yazulign.

18) Who, in your books, is the worst writer of Ethiopian history? Why?
The worst writing of history is no writing at all. Ever convinced an older person to record what they remember of their lives and times?

19) Where did you do your undergraduate studies, regardless of whether you studied or not?
I studied few-few. Mills College in Oakland, California. When we graduated, we were swept up in our own fervor to keep the school single-sex and ran around unkempt in a strike that closed down the facility for close to two weeks. Our revolution was well organized and we forged on (even when threatened with no graduation) until at its wits end, the administration gave in. The graduating class met the challenge of fundraising the required money (and then some) within a five-year period.

20) Have you dabbled in Ethiopic Linguistics, i.e. linking G'iz and it's history to social/ cultural/economical/educational development in Abyssinia/Ethiopia.
I am fascinated by the possibilities, but am sad to report that I have dabbled not.

21) Do you sense that Ethiopian dialogues are held in different intellectual rooms? i.e. the historians in one room, the politicians in another, the economists in another, the artists in another... etc?
Are they or are they? The ideal solution would be inter-disciplinary or comparative studies, discussions, programs, conferences and publications that would foster and embrace the best thinking in different areas - and synthesize them. Although some programs are daring the waters (one such program is the Comparative Black History Program headed by Dr. Darlene Clark Hine, a distinguished scholar at Michigan State University), institutions as a whole are very resistant. Let alone institutions, individuals with such inclinations and interests are seen to have less focus, and are taken less seriously by colleagues and professors alike.

22) What are the coping mechanisms about loving what you do when it doesn't always love you back...?
The coping mechanisms are usually resorting to some of the same things I mentioned when I miss home. I speak of my trials and tribulations to my artistic friends, who inevitably cast it in film or theater-speak. Before I know it, I will be hooting and hollering over what may have been a very painful experience of an interview gone awry, for instance. I also reach for what were my most favorite encounters or illuminated epiphanies, and relive them with added tenderness (depending on how bad the particular rejection). I have friends that serve as my sky and my gabi, simultaneously letting me fly, and gathering me when needed.

23) As Ethiopians, we have an elitist belief that our history is unique when compared to other African nations. How true is this?
Our history is unique in some ways. Each African state has its own sense of unique. Many people in their minds begin African history at the point of European colonialism. There were places of ancient learning and instruction, of history and study of the cosmology. How much do we know of these places in what was called the western Sudan? Deliver us from the "we've never been colonized" line. As though that was the lot of other Africans. They fought and resisted as we did. How much do we know of their resistance struggles upon colonization? Why would they so wholesomely relate to Adwa if there wasn't a glimmer of something of themselves that they remembered?

24) Most history books now teach that both the Fidel and Christianity were imported to, not sourced in Ethiopia. Do you agree? Why? Why not?
Fidel... for a minute there, I thought 'Will ya look here... what levels of familiarity have my dear Seledawians achieved with Castro'... bristling beard and all.. ahem!) I recently read a compelling book by Ayele Bekerie entitled Ethiopic An African Writing System: Its History and Principles (1997). Poet Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-Madhin has been arguing the organic nature of language and religion for a number of years. Grover Hudson, an Ethiopianist (Linguist) suggested the African source of Ethiopic languages in an article published in Folia Orientalia, Volume XVIII in 1977. There is a fundamental tendency of looking elsewhere for our achievements (and our problems). I have not done in-depth research in this area, but if I was to, meKeneten tebek arige, I would follow the leads of these scholars to see if all roads don't lead to Abysinopia.

25) Do you, in the course of the Ph.D. program, sometimes wonder what in the world you are doing [there]? Do you, sometimes, feel like you just want to shave your head off, slip on your surfing suit, and run for the coast to be a beach bum? How do you lie to yourself that that isn't a better option?
Wonder bicha !? I don't know about the shaving head... even while at Mills College, we the sistahs just watched sanigdereder at the feverish way white women were shaving long locks of hair for the altar of dedication we had set up...but definitely finding a busy corner to mederder my kirar and hum in a lulled reverie... with a cracked Tasa of quiet charm my only companion...

26) Are there events in our distant history that we really should be ashamed of?
The slave trade internally and the export of servile labor to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean ports. The magnitude at which this happened is difficult to assess, since the average can only be calculated from nineteenth century documents. However, estimates run to almost 4.1 million of slaves exported across the Red Sea over several centuries (650-1920).

27) Name one work each for the following authors that are highly respected, and yet not so widely published, or not so widely appreciated:
(i) Danniyachew WorQu - Adefris for its beautiful language and imagery, for the quirkiness of characters and the unsettled energy of youthful ideal.

(ii) Sebhat Gebre-Egziabher - Tikusat for daring to go there... but I also love the humor in his columns, the dialogue with artists he initiates, or the tongue-in-cheek personifications of animals...that become household names among the literati. (Now who would have guessed that KompeTur, the wise-beyond-his- years dog was really Computer disguised? ... If you haven't heard the story, the big painted sign that said Shint Meshnat Kilkil New had long since lost its lustrous authority as people would laugh in its face and unbutton just the same. A smart man troubled by the rising smell of these offerings then painted Shintun Ginb Lay yemishena Wisha bicha New... which stopped many dead in their tracks. Another hip but equally troubled man across town took up the cry... Shintun Izih Yemishena KompeTur Bicha New...KompeTur saved the day...) Beauty contestants yihinin saysemu...

(iii) Solomon Deressa - Zebet Ilfitu - his latest collection of poetry. This is among the most graceful minds of contemporary Ethiopian writers. His short essays of the 1960's and 70's belie his intellectual scope and spiritual dasesas. All a sight to behold.

(iv) Seifu Metaferia Frew - I'm sad to admit that I have yet to read his creative works.

28) Wouldn't Atse Tewodros be a great guest on the Jerry Springer Show? "My husband cut off the arms of all the people in my village...?"
Who would dare to appear alongside him in the same show? Jerry puzzles over the telecast with burrowed frown.

29) Which Ethiopian historical figure was:
a) The most overrated?
You can never get too much of the best. Aren't we ready for our 113th Aleka Gebrehana joke?

b) The most underrated?
Underrated: A close tie between Abeto Iyasu and Gudit.

c) The most in need of intensive therapy?
Tewodros and Ahmed Gragn.

d) The best dressed of his/her century?
Can Maître Afework Tekle with his sweeping Jannos and impossibly plumed hats compete? I once saw a photo of the women of the Emperor Haile Sellassie's imperial family in a newspaper. It had an array of their necks with beautiful nickisats and strings of pearl around the base - I thought it gushed chic.

30) If there is one pinnacle point of Ethiopian history you could point to with pride, which would it be?
I would pick the moments in which the generous spirit of humanity prevailed. There is an image of painting discussed in Haile Gerima's film Adwa that I'm thinking of. The artist, Eshetu Tiruneh, was inspired by a passage he read in a book by an Italian, Albertoni. This man was charged with the responsibility of returning the shabola and booty of two Italian generals, Dabor Meda and Arimondi, who had died at the battle of Adwa. Menelik had requested their belongings be returned to their families in Italy. The image is of Menelik handing back the sword to Albertoni. My skin tingles with joy at expressions of such magnanimity.