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■ ASSEFA MEHRETU / TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER ResidentialMarginality,Erasure,and IntractabilityinAddisAbaba Addis Ababa is one of the most fascinating multicultural cities in Africa. The city’s diversity is characterized not only by the physical environment of the built up area, but also by the social environment of the various peoples of Ethiopia who reside there and exhibit their various cultural and linguistic traits. The official language is Amharic, but people speak tens of their mother’s dialects, and almost all who have had grade school education speak some English. News dailies are printed in Amharic, English, and a few of the major Ethiopian languages. The city is replete with contradictions. To a visitor who arrives at the Bole International Airport, the eastern part of the city, and proceeds to the city center, Addis resembles any modern metropolis, with double-lane tree-lined boulevards, multistory buildings, modern shops, cafés, and resplendent squares and roundabouts. If one proceeds from the center to the western outliers, one gets a completely different impression of the city: substandard housing, ramshackle shops, huge open markets, streets filled with people, and poor high-density residential neighborhoods. Some of the most advanced urban attributes and modern cultures characterize the eastern (Bole) sector of the city, while more authentic Ethiopian and traditional structures and ways of life abound in the poorer boroughs of Addis Ketema (fig. 1). There are tej bets and moseb bets (traditional taverns that serve local brews and foods), contrasted by modern restaurants that would satisfy the most discriminating cosmopolitan palates. Addis has the largest African open market and is full of suks (tiny neighborhoods stalls) (fig. 2) and goolits (meaning squatting produce vendors with their goods spread on the ground) (fig. 3) serving the poor, as well as American-style malls for the affluent (fig. 4). Donkeys loaded with goods have as much claim to Addis Ababa’s roads as Mercedes sedans (fig. 5). Slums and glossy high-rises are found side by side in the inner city (figs. 6 and 7). Most of the city’s population lives in unhygienic slum conditions, but there are business, political, nongovernmental organization, and diplomatic 284 ■ ASSEFA MEHRETU / TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER elite that reside in multimillion dollar homes (fig. 8) in a city where the average annual household income is below $1,000 (table 1). Addis is a city of phenomenal contradictions. However, it continues to be a peaceful, relatively crime free, and effervescent city with courteous and friendly people. The city has served as the hub of political power, industrial activity, and modernization since Figure 1. Addis Ababa street and location map. Table 1. Distribution of households by income group, 1998 ANNUAL INCOME INCOME U.S. DOLLARS NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PERCENT CUMULATIVE PERCENT Below 70 8,396 2.6 2.6 71–118 5,971 1.8 4.4 119–164 14,907 4.6 9.0 165–234 21,691 6.6 15.6 235–305 24,100 7.4 23.0 306–400 32,453 9.9 32.9 401–494 28,131 8.6 41.5 495–635 37,195 11.4 52.9 636–776 26,932 8.2 61.1 777–1058 38,655 11.8 72.9 1,059–1,482 32,314 10.0 82.9 1,483–1,905 15,742 4.8 87.7 1,906–2,352 11,194 3.4 91.1 2,353 and over 29,159 8.9 100.0 Total 326,840 100.0 100.0 Source: Central Statistical Authority, 2004. Figure 2. Suks: Small retail shops in poor neighborhoods. PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER Figure 3. Goolit: A small outdoor produce retailer squatting in poor neighborhoods. Figure 4. Upscale shops and malls in Bole. PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER Figure 5. Loaded donkeys in Arada streets of Addis. Figure 6. Substandard housing in the Arada area of Addis. PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER Figure 7. Modern mid-rises in upscale neighborhoods of Addis. Figure 8. Upscale homes in Bole. PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSEFA MEHRETU AND TEGEGNE GEBRE-EGZIABHER RESIDENTIAL MARGINALITY, ERASURE, AND INTRACTABILITY IN ADDIS ABABA ■ 289 the Italian occupation in 1935. As one of the most indigenously authentic cities in Africa, Addis has few colonial relics that anchor its modern core. It grew from a collection of...

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