From the Editor

The 2018 volume of Northeast African Studies has been a long time in coming, and we thank both the contributors and our readers for their patience. Following this double issue, the journal will resume its biannual publication schedule in 2019 under the direction of our new general editor, Jonathan Miran. As outgoing general editor, I am happy to report that NEAS, both in scope and in substance, continues to lead the way as a journal publishing the best new scholarship on northeast Africa. In presenting the research of both established and younger scholars from multiple disciplines, in introducing new sources or examining familiar ones in fresh ways, and in challenging conventional interpretations or charting new directions for future research, we believe that NEAS reflects the continuing vitality of our field.

In this volume, Ethiopia’s rich cultural heritage—in literature and the visual and oral arts—finds expression in articles on Menelik II’s use of iconography, on the esteemed tradition of Azmari poetry, and on peasant oral literature as a form of popular commentary and criticism, in two fascinating studies of the Därgue era. Cultural heritage also extends to popular traditions of grassroots peacemaking and protest: one of our contributions examines indigenous practices of conflict resolution in southern Ethiopia, and another the responses of local residents to national and international pressures to preserve and promote the Simien Mountains National Park as a world heritage site.

As has always been the case in the pages of this journal, historical topics invariably inspire interest and provoke debate. Thus we find a contribution on foreigners’ (mis)representations of Ethiopian ethnicities in the era of Western imperialism, and another on the controversy surrounding Ethiopia’s efforts to charge Enrico Cerulli—the well-known Italian Orientalist scholar—with war crimes during the Italian occupation. We are also pleased to publish the first comprehensive survey of the history of archaeological work in Somalia and Somaliland, whose findings the author suggests are critical for helping us reconstruct the wider prehistory and early history of the greater Horn of Africa.

As I retire from my post as general editor, I do so with some sense of relief, to be sure, but also with an appreciation for the opportunity to meet (if only in print) so many outstanding authors, reviewers, and editors, who have educated me in multiple ways. I also think about the many scholars and friends of Northeast African Studies who have passed away since I took up the position in 2010, many of whom have been remembered and honored in our pages. Not least of these was our beloved book review and later associate editor Tim Carmichael, whose death in 2018 was for me the greatest loss and the saddest memory of my years as general editor. We have dedicated this volume—NEAS 18:1–2—to Tim’s memory.

I will always be grateful to my first associate editor, James De Lorenzi, without whose dedication, professionalism, and continual friendly reminders I would not have survived those publication deadlines, which for the most part we managed to meet. I was delighted when James agreed to publish part of his own current research here in my final issue. Finally, it gives me the greatest pleasure to welcome Professor Jonathan Miran as the new general editor of NEAS. Jonathan’s deep knowledge of northeast Africa, his many scholarly publications, his fresh ideas and energy, and his extensive contacts with scholars young and old both in the region and abroad, make him an ideal leader going forward. The future of NEAS could not be in better hands.