Entire Volume 17 issue 1 - Journal of World-Systems Research ...

169 JOURNAL OF WORLD-SYSTEMS RESEARCH
debate with regard to Ethiopia: did snow exist in Ethiopia’s mountains and did this contribute to
Nile flooding? (e.g., Simoons 1960). The conclusion reached was a qualified “yes” regarding the
snow, and “no” regarding the flooding. Much of the European world’s awareness about Ethiopia
and its history was similarly late in coming and subject to qualification. Ethiopia’s very existence
as a functioning, independent state was subject to ongoing modification and negotiation. Indeed,
Ethiopia’s status as an independent state appeared as tenuous as the debate over the existence of
the mountain snows. Much like the tradition of snow in the Ethiopian highlands, the history of
the Ethiopian state in European context is a debate over something that has been there all along.
ABYSSINIA IN A WORLD-SYSTEMS CONTEXT
It is to get at a better understanding of Ethiopian history that Tibebu (1996:428) argues a
“political-economy approach to Ethiopian history, within the larger cosmos of African history,
can be an alternative paradigm for the study of Ethiopian history.” While this reframes Ethiopian
history in a larger perspective, it also contributes to the dialogue of African development. If the
isolationist paradigm of Ethiopia lacks support, what does this have to say about other instances
of African political development and colonial contestation? To what extent was the region linked
to the political, economic and social developments of the surrounding region? How relevant is
this for the understanding of the emergence of the world-system and the process of incorporation?
In turn, this has implications for the understanding of state development in Africa and other non-
European regions, the emergence of the state system as a whole, and the gradual expansion of
‘international society’ (cf., Bull 1984).
Instead of approaching Abyssinia as an anomaly or paradox, a world-systems approach
allows us to study the history and evolution of Abyssinia as a palimpsest. Quite literally, instead
of a text of Ethiopian history as isolated and removed from the surrounding region, this
emphasizes the interactive, constantly revisited nature of socio-political evolution; the text of
history is always in the process of being partially erased and overwritten. This allows for the
exploration of recurring themes in Ethiopian history: 1) the relationship to the Arab world and the
Arabic slave-trade, 2) the institution of Christianity and rule by Coptic Egyptians, 3) the creation
of a European ‘myth’ of Prester John, 4) the benign isolation afforded by the high plateau of
Abyssinia, 5) the emergence of an agricultural society, 6) the relationship with the Red Sea trade,
and 7) the evolution of Ethiopian interaction with Europe.
Abyssinia in Antiquity
Contrary to the paradigm of isolation, the history of Abyssinia is a long and interactive affair. As
Diamond (1997) reminds us, humans as a species came ‘out of Africa’, and the Great Leap
Forward for human societal development dates to around 50,000 years ago, when the first signs
of standardized stone implements and preserved jewelry 3
are found in East African sites
3 Diamond identifies the jewelry as ostrich-shell beads. Elsewhere, jewelry or ornamentation is also part of
the story when discussing trade networks or patterns of exchange, especially among “primitive” cultures
and prestige goods (cf., Bennyhoff and Hughes 1987, Karklins 1980). This raises a potential avenue of
specific research for examining the timing and extent of down-the-line trade and growth of prestige goods