Making Tribes: Social Engineering in the Western Province of British-Administered Eritrea, 1941-1952

In light of the results of this investigation, the administration proceeded to reorganize the tribal structure in the Nacfa and Agordat districts. It was first ascertained which groups seemed by virtue of their size to merit independent tribal status after an initial period to allow voluntary amalgamations. Second, arrangements were made to encourage voluntary amalgamations of the smaller groups. As a result 20 wholly new tribes comprising a total population of 147,164 have emerged as independent units, 8 former nonaristocratic tribes (total population, 32,899) have been refashioned, and the former aristorcratic tribes have been recast in light of their reduced population. Twenty chiefs and 591 subordinate chiefs have been elected, mainly by unanimous vote.

For many years now it has been accepted within academic circles that tribes and ethnicities are made and that traditions can be similarly made, invented, and imagined. ¹ Consequently, most historians dealing with Africa have come to include the obligatory paragraph referring to the literature, which notes that ethnicity, identity, and the like are fluid, malleable, and subject to historical change. The study of these issues and developments has been particularly apparent in southern and eastern Africa. ² Eritrea, a country that has just fought an extremely costly war, which some would argue was fought because of differing national attitudes toward ethnicity, ³ is home to people with a large number of differing ethnicities, religious beliefs, and identities. ⁴ Unfortunately, unlike in neighboring Ethiopia, no recent historical research on ethnicity has been conducted or published in Eritrea. ⁵ Such research seems to be sorely needed, given that Eritrea is currently attempting to forge national unity out of a multitude of diverse ethnicities. ⁶

Successive regimes have sought to remodel the ethnic landscape of Eritrea in accordance with their varied wishes. ⁷ This article deals with ethnic change in the Western Province of Eritrea during the period of British colonial administration. In this part of the country, the British administration, in an effort to curb banditry and social unrest, completely changed the manner in which people had access to power. To do this the British divested several political structures of legitimacy and invested others with state-sanctioned legitimacy. Some precolonial forms of governance were canceled, new forms were created, and some forms with alleged historical antecedence were invested with new legitimacy. In doing this, the British administration changed forever the society in the Western Province.

British Authority

On January 5, 1941, British administrative authority was proclaimed in Eritrea. The colonial armies of fascist Italy had been defeated in Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Henceforth, men drawn from the various branches and arms of the British Empire’s overstretched armed forces and colonial administrations were to administer Eritrea. They were faced with a daunting task. Over 60,000 Eritrean askari (colonial soldiers) had participated in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Before 1941 an estimated 40% of the Eritrean male labor force had been recruited into the Italian army as askari. Tekeste Negash remarked of the period 1935–41, “from the few studies available on the economy of the peasantry, recruitment to the colonial army appeared to have caused the virtual collapse of the subsistence economy.” ⁸ With the defeat of the Italian armies, no fewer than 50,000 Eritrean askari were demobilized. These men returned to a land ravaged by war, strewn with ordinance, and with little hope of economic development.

It is true that, because of allied wartime industries, there was an economic boom in the highland areas of Eritrea, but this did not extend to the western province. ⁹ Instead, from 1942 onward, armed bands of Shifta (bandits) began operating on an ever-increasing scale. ¹⁰ Initially, the Shifta operated solely as bandits, but they soon extended their enterprise beyond extortion and robbery to include taking on operations as guns for hire. Shifta bands came to be recruited by villages and pastoral bands to eliminate or drive off competing claimants to land and resources. ¹¹ The annual reports of the British administration mention the adverse effects of Shifta activity in virtually all spheres of life. Railways, hunting, agriculture, veterinary services, mining...