The Low-Caste Fuga Occupational Group under the Italian Administration in the Horn of Africa

There are several occupational groups in the Horn of Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular that have long been engaging in diverse occupations like smithing, pottery production, tanning, weaving, and woodworking. These groups were generally understood and identified by scholars as completely landless, despised communities. In the past, both the dominant populations among whom these minority groups have lived and the government denied them any social, economic, or political representation or rights.

Until the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, no government officials paid attention to the Fuga or other low-caste occupational groups in Ethiopia and the Horn in general. With regard to Italian colonial policy during the occupation of Ethiopia, 1935–1941, it seems that the Italian government of the time was not worried about the low-caste groups. It was interested only in the major ethnic or religious groups in Ethiopia. But it is obvious that the Italians' policy in the colony was not consistent.¹ The Italian officials in Ethiopia at the residente level seem to have acted pragmatically in their treatment of occupational minorities who were ignored by overall colonial policy. Locally based Italian officials, probably to get the support of the Fuga, recognized the existence of this minority group, which had not until then been recognized by Ethiopian officials at any level in the political hierarchy. The Fuga had always been at the mercy of the lower officials and the members of the major social groups. The Italian officials, through the administration of the collaborator chiefs, are said to have been willing to recognize the existence of the despised Fuga community, which needed support in creating self-identity and awareness in the process of becoming a self-administered community. Some enlightened Fuga elders were identified and appointed as chiefs of the Fuga community in the Gurage, Hadya, and Kambata areas. However, this positive policy toward the Fuga did not continue after the liberation of Ethiopia.

Many African majority populations have kept low-caste occupational minority groups under their domination. The low-caste occupational groups took on vital responsibilities, responsibilities that they could not disregard and that they took seriously as obligatory duties. The occupational engagement of these low-caste communities, concentrating on the production of items that were essential for both agro-pastoral rural societies and urban dwellers, was considered as a vital and indispensable service. It was a service provided to help both the low-caste communities themselves and others (the nonoccupational groups) by providing products not available elsewhere. Besides benefiting greatly from their products, the Fuga craftsmen have played important roles in the maintenance and improvement of traditional technology among those with whom they have lived. The Fuga experienced a very low status in society and suffered from harsh treatment at the hands of the majority groups they were serving. Some scholars assume that this has been a "pan-Ethiopian cultural trait."² In Ethiopia, such scholars assume that low-caste occupational minorities evolved or originated first as remnants of ancient submerged groups or peoples unable to assimilate into dominant populations. Another view, according to a hypothesis supported by David Todd, is that low-caste groups were created as a result of a social status based on occupational social stratification and specialization.³ According to my findings, most of the occupational minorities are immigrants into the area in which they reside and are unable to obtain land or to intermarry with the landed majority groups.

In Ethiopia, as in other African countries, there are large numbers of low-caste occupational groups known by various names and residing in a scattered fashion in various regions. In southern Ethiopia, several ethnic or linguistic populations have minority low-caste occupational groups living among them. The majority populations have despised the occupational groups, looked on them with contempt, and brutally exploited them.

It may be worth mentioning some of the low-caste occupational minorities. Among the Walayta, these include the Chinasha, among the Konso, the Hawda, and among the Shekacho, the Kejo (smiths), the Mano (tanners potters), and the Manjo (hunters).⁴ In...