As we mentioned in our post yesterday, we’ve divided each day of this week into regions. Today, we’ll be looking at east Africa. We’ll start this post with a short response on the question of borders from author Caroline Kurtz. We’re proud to publish two of Caroline’s memoirs— A Road Called Down on Both Sides and Today is Tomorrow— the former a recounting of her childhood in rural Ethiopia as the daughter of American missionaries, and the latter revisiting the era that she and her late husband began working with civil war refugees in South Sudan and Kenya. Both are thoughtful examinations of a life straddling cultures, and of the inherent complexities that exist when intentions don’t always match realities.
Borders delineate power, and territorial wars have marked Ethiopia’s history. Italians tried twice to colonize , sandwiched as the country was between Italian Eritrea and Italian Somalia. After fascist dictator Mussolini invaded, he erased the borders between the three countries, and declared a new country: Italian East Africa.
When the war ended, Allied powers broke the three countries up again and federated Eritrea and Ethiopia. But that set in motion a vicious liberation struggle. Eventually, a new Ethiopian constitution gave each state the power of self-determination, up to and including secession. Eritrea promptly seceded. But the two countries disputed a rocky triangle on their border and went to war with each other again.
Around that same time, in what now looks like the wind that created a whirlwind, Ethiopia was internally re-districted along ethnic lines. This has created border disputes throughout the country and has pitted Ethiopians against each other. Even the borders of Addis Ababa are now being disputed in riots by farmers and ethnic radicals in the neighboring state.
Invasions and disputed borders have led to death and war throughout Ethiopia’s history. And the end of her story is not yet written. —Caroline Kurtz, author of Today is Tomorrow and A Road Called Down on Both Sides
As for reading choices from this corner of the continent, there are so many choices. We’re proud to publish Caine Prize winning Kenyan author Idza Luhumyo in our collection co-published with Short Story Day Africa, Disruption. And next year, you’ll be able to read more east African writers in our collection, Captive, again co-published with SSDA. We’re also proud to publish Somali author Ahmed Ismail Yusuf, and his wonderful short story collection The Lion’s Binding Oath.
For more reading check out:
Femrite, a Uganda Women Writers’ Association founded in 1995. They have several collections of writing, many of which are available through the African Books Collective (another great resource!)
