Interpreting Ethiopia: Observations of Five Decades is a collection of scholarly essays that covers Donald N. Levine's fifty years of scholarship on Ethiopian Studies. From "The Conceptions of Time and Space in the Amhara World View" to the "Masculinity and Warriorhood in Ethiopia and Japan", and everything in between, the scope and depth of Levine's essays make this book a must-read for those interested in the past and present of Ethiopia.
Foreword Donald Levine’s Journey through Ethiopian Civilization by Andrew Decort
Preface by Donald N. Levine
Understanding Ethiopia Today: Some Observations of a Sociologist (1961)
Part I Ethos And Worldview
On the Conceptions of Time and Space in the Amhara World View (1959)
On the History and Culture of Manz (1964)
Legitimacy in Ethiopia (1964)
Ethiopia: Identity, Authority, and Realism (1965)
A Tigrean Legacy: The Kibre Negest as a National Script (1974)
Menilek and Oedipus: Further Reflections on the Ethiopian National Epic (1973)
A Note on Ethiopia’s Distinctive Religious Heritage (2007)
Greater Ethiopia Reconsidered (2014)
PART II Higher Education and Literature
On General Education and the Ethiopian University (1961)
Early Amharic Literature (1961)
Wax-and-gold Poetry (1965)
Is Ethiopia Cutting Off Its Head Again? (1993)
Kwillo amekkirru we-ze-senay atsni’u (2004)
On Cultural Creativity in the Ethiopian Diaspora (2006)
PART III History
The Battle of Adwa as an Historic Event (1996)
Coming to America (1996)
Amhara (2003)
Ethiopians in Israel (2006)
Tigrayawinet (2006)
Two Tales of One City (2006)
Oromo Narratives (2007)
Å um Å ir (2011)
Part IV Politics
On the December 1960 Coup Attempt (1961)
The Military in Ethiopian Politics (1966)
Concerning the Derg: Testimony for US Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs (1976)
On the Eritrean Referendum (1993)
Will the Real Spirit of Adwa Please Stand Up? (1995)
More People More Hunger (2006)
Ethiopia’s Missed Chances: 1960, 1974, 1991, 1998, 2005, and Now (2007)
The Promise of Ethiopia (2008)
Part V Comparative And Global
Ambiguity and Modernity (1985)
Ethiopia and Japan in Comparative Civilizational Perspective (1997)
Masculinity and Warriorhood in Ethiopia and Japan (2002)
Ethiopia, Japan, and Jamaica: A Century of Globally Linked Modernizations (2005)
Ethiopian Nationhood in a Global Era (2011)
A Revised Analytical Approach to the Evolution of Ethiopian Society (2012)