Their Bricks, Our Homes: An Ethnography On The Duality Of Eritrean Nationalism In Relation To Its Customary Laws
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2014
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Haverford College. Department of Anthropology
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
Nationalism is not reliant upon position or locality. Nationalism is fluid and dynamic, and it is a combination of give and take between the people and their state; resulting in fluctuations of intensity and public presence based on the situational circumstances of the time. So as their colonizers imposed upon their customary laws, one by one, we see a surge of nationalism from the Eritrean population in defense of their orally translated doctrines. Keeping the same logic, it is clear that during times of relative peace and tranquility that nationalism becomes subsidiary to more localized and particular issues. In a sense, times of crisis and turmoil bring with them the opportunity for the people to triumph over a common enemy. Hopefully in doing so, I will show that nationalism has never been abandoned in Eritrea but instead that it is so deeply engrained within adherence to the customary laws that during times of domestic and particular calm it re-mains dormant-waiting, to pounce. Eritrea's historical context, in light of its current status, provides for a complicated and often times misleading interpretation of nationalism and identity. My initial assumptions about Eritrean nationalism were incorrectly formatted around a single obsession; the desertion and defection rates plaguing the country. My mistake was thinking that I could define or classify nationalism without first understanding the "cultural system" by which the nation operated. Without locating the significant elements of power with a given society, it is impossible to adequately represent something so diverse and encompassing as "nationalism" towards one's country. As for its customary laws, which have not been well documented in the past, Eritrean identity and cultural systems have not strayed far from its initial dogmas even in the face of constant colonization and degradation. So to the outside world, myself included, it may be hard to see past the isolated nature of a nation so intent on liberating itself without the political, financial, and moral impositions of western society. However, in response to such critics I would like to offer the position of one of the leading figures in "interpretive Anthropology," Clifford Geertz. In the opening section of The Interpretive Culture, entitled "Thick Description," Geertz offers his opinion on the matter of observing or classifying cultural systems. He writes, "Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of meaning. It is explication I am after, construing social expressions on their surface enigmatical" (Geertz 5). Keeping said logic, my aim is to provide both historical context and ethnographic observations in order to persuade you that despite external interventions, true analysis demonstrates adherence to the customary laws above all else.