Les enfants du Wolaitta n’apprendront pas en wogagoda : les enjeux linguistiques et politiques d’un conflit scolaire en Éthiopie (1999-2000)

Abstract

A revolt broke out in Wolaitta, Southern Ethiopia, in 1999-2000, about the language to be taught in schools. Led by teachers, students and distinguished local personalities, it immediately involved the whole population, without distinction of class. While the Wolaittigna (a local language) had been used in schools for six years, the government suddenly decided to introduce Wogagoda, a kind of Esperanto created by mixing the four Omotic languages of the region, Wolaittigna, Gamo, Goffa and Daoro. The government’s objectives were to unify culturally and politically the region in order to reinforce its control and to neutralize the Wolaitta hegemony over the region. Based on the discourses and memories mobilized by the actors, the analysis of this education conflict reveals critical cultural and political questions that are closely linked up with the language issue. It raises the questions of passed and present relations between Wolaitta society and the central power in Addis Ababa, as well as the place of Wolaitta in the present federal Ethiopian State.

Keywords

• Ethiopia
• Educational conflict
• Federalism
• Identities
• Language of education