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The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present)

Received: 16 January 2017    Accepted: 29 January 2017    Published: 27 March 2017
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Abstract

Statues are symbols which represent dynamic societal values. They serve as a rallying point for shared common memory and identity and, hence, are used as a collective remembrance. They also have a power to immortalize an intended ideology. Statue is an object that represents the religion, history, culture, art, socio- economic and political practices of one nation. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the political representation of iconic statues erected in three, Imperial monarchy, Derg Military Junta and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regimes in Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, several documents from Culture and Tourism Bureaus and library archives are analyzed qualitatively. The study lastly summarizes the erected statues in the three Ethiopia regimes are highly tied with the political manifesto each regime. In the process of political shift, when the former regime replaced by the new one, simultaneously, the former statues are dismantled and dislocated and the new statues that represents the current political ideology are constructed and replaced. Accordingly, it concluded that, statues represent the political context of these three consecutive regimes in Ethiopian polity.

DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11
Published in Social Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2017)
Page(s) 35-44
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ethiopia, Historical, Political, Statue, Representation, Identity

References
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Author Information
  • Department Public Relation and Strategic Communication, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia

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    Mulualem Daba Tola. (2017). The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present). Social Sciences, 6(2), 35-44. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11

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    Mulualem Daba Tola. The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present). Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(2), 35-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11

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    AMA Style

    Mulualem Daba Tola. The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present). Soc Sci. 2017;6(2):35-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11,
      author = {Mulualem Daba Tola},
      title = {The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present)},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {35-44},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170602.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20170602.11},
      abstract = {Statues are symbols which represent dynamic societal values. They serve as a rallying point for shared common memory and identity and, hence, are used as a collective remembrance. They also have a power to immortalize an intended ideology. Statue is an object that represents the religion, history, culture, art, socio- economic and political practices of one nation. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the political representation of iconic statues erected in three, Imperial monarchy, Derg Military Junta and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regimes in Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, several documents from Culture and Tourism Bureaus and library archives are analyzed qualitatively. The study lastly summarizes the erected statues in the three Ethiopia regimes are highly tied with the political manifesto each regime. In the process of political shift, when the former regime replaced by the new one, simultaneously, the former statues are dismantled and dislocated and the new statues that represents the current political ideology are constructed and replaced. Accordingly, it concluded that, statues represent the political context of these three consecutive regimes in Ethiopian polity.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    Y1  - 2017/03/27
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    AB  - Statues are symbols which represent dynamic societal values. They serve as a rallying point for shared common memory and identity and, hence, are used as a collective remembrance. They also have a power to immortalize an intended ideology. Statue is an object that represents the religion, history, culture, art, socio- economic and political practices of one nation. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the political representation of iconic statues erected in three, Imperial monarchy, Derg Military Junta and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regimes in Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, several documents from Culture and Tourism Bureaus and library archives are analyzed qualitatively. The study lastly summarizes the erected statues in the three Ethiopia regimes are highly tied with the political manifesto each regime. In the process of political shift, when the former regime replaced by the new one, simultaneously, the former statues are dismantled and dislocated and the new statues that represents the current political ideology are constructed and replaced. Accordingly, it concluded that, statues represent the political context of these three consecutive regimes in Ethiopian polity.
    VL  - 6
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