In Memoriam: Yonas Admassu (1942–2013)
- In Memoriam:Yonas Admassu (1942–2013)
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Men Yishalal
Should we not seek to recollect and treasure such a life, his memory and the memory of his generation, which are inseparable to one another but also to a period in our history? His passing and the passing of many of that generation make this all the more important. The mutilation of their history and the history of that period make it even more urgent. A perfect tribute and celebration of Dr. Yonas, and his generation at large, begins but does not end with a remembrance of his and their lives. In a land where past is present, saving and understanding that not-so-past past and learning fromit is as crucial as saving the nation.
Rest in Peace, Dr. Yonas, teacher and mentor. [End Page 237]
Shimelis Bonsa is a graduate of Addis Ababa University (BA and MA) and the University of California, Los Angeles (PhD). He was a faculty member at the Addis Ababa University for more than ten years. Currently he teaches at SUNY Stony Brook. A student of modern Ethiopian and African history, he has undertaken research, combining fieldwork and archives, on issues ranging from the media and gender to city and the state. His research interest revolves around the study of post-colonial formations including transnational identities, ideologies, and discourses. His recent interrogations include the study of state and society, especially of cities, in Ethiopia. He has published a monograph The State of the Private Press in Ethiopia (2000) and a number of articles including “A History of Kistane Migration to 1974” (Azania and The Urban Experience in Eastern Africa, 2002). Currently, he is preparing a book, City as Nation, a multidisciplinary study of the role of cities, especially the capital, in the shaping of modern Ethiopia and its modernist state.
