CMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Kemant peasant class By James Quirin Pre-twentieth century Abyssinian social formation can be considered a moderately developed class structure primarily resting on differential access to land rights. Using land-access criteria, three groups may be distinguished: the gult-holders who could exact tribute from the peasantry; the peasantry who maintained hereditary (rest) land-use rights; and the various groups of mostly landless people, including Beta Israel artisans and tenant-farmers, Muslim traders and slaves of various origin. Within these macro-divisions, Kemant in the early nineteenth century were part of the middle rest-holding group, while Beta Israel were mostly in the non-rest-holding group. Kemant lack of an independent economic base and their relatively less rigid ideology of social separation simultaneously allowed them to advance to high positions in the Ethiopian political-military hierarchy while making them more vulnerable to processes of acculturation and assimilation than was the case with the Beta Israel. As rest-holding peasants, Kemant were much less disrupted economically than Beta Israel by the decline in construction activity after I755. Karkar Kemant remained primarily rural agriculturalists who retained their own land-use rights going back at least to the confirmation of those rights at the time of azaj Chewsa. In Chelg-a, the other main Kemant area, most people also continued to work as peasants on their own land. But in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Chelg-a region became economically and politically more significant on the national level as Tewodros rose to imperial power and the trade route between Gondar and the Sudan increased in importance. Despite political decline, the city of Gondar remained the most important commercial city in the north, linking southern regions to external trade through Massawa and Matamm-a. In the I830s, trade was the principal occupation of the inhabitants of Gondar. Several caravans a year left or arrived in Gondar. The route from Gondar to Matamm-a passed through several markets, especially those of Chelg-a itself and Wahni, about 6o miles from Matamm-a. The staple of the Sudan trade had long been imports of raw cotton from Sennar and exports of coffee, skins, beeswax and slaves from Ethiopia. In the early nineteenth century, several international factors combined to cause an increase in the slave trade from Ethiopia, though the estimated numbers are in dispute. The Anglo-French rivalry of the Napoleonic era stimulated increased trade in general; the Russian capture of the Caucasus in the late eighteenth century had decreased the slave trade from there; a revival of Islam in Arabia increased the demand for male slaves from Ethiopia for military use; and Muhammad Alis initiatives for access to minerals and slaves in Sudan increased trade from Ethiopia, though of course the actual amounts of trade fluctuated with political conditions on both sides of the border. Whatever the exact causes and amounts of trade with Sudan, its increase greatly affected Kemant. Their strategic position was well-understood by contemporary observers: It is the duty of the Kamants to guard the avenues from the low countries to Abyssinia Proper. On this account the Kamants are very much valued by the Abyssinian rulers, to whom they can render great service, but also great harm, if they choose, as the mountain-passes are in their hands like a key, and nobody could go down to the low country, and, vice-versa, nobody could ascend the high lands, without their consent. Kemant owed their strategic position to their early support of the revolt of Kasa-Tewodros of Qw-ara against the kingmakers, ras Ali and his mother, Manan, who were entrenched in Gondar. Kemant traditions assert that Tewodros grew up with close relations with Kemant and spoke their language, while one foreign observer said he may have been of Kemant origin. The best-known early Kemant supporter of Kasas rise to power was a man named Galmo, who became a bala-mbaras and the governor of Chelga province, or the Governor of Western Abyssinia, by the i86os and one of Tewodros best and most trusted generals. So many Kemant responded to the military opportunities offered by joining Tewodros forces that they had acquired a well-deserved reputation by the i86os of being fond of military life, and they were said to have furnished him his best soldiers since the beginning of his rise to power. Oral sources agree that at the time of asei Tewodros, most of the soldiers were the Kemant . i650s.Kemant continued to support Tewodros throughout his reign and were accordingly given important military and administrative positions. The British mission to Tehwodros led by Hormuzd Rassam in early i866 came through Chelg-a because of the relative security of that route, and the five-man escort sent by Tehwodros included two Kemant, lej (prince) Tashu and General Walda-Gabra-M-ary-am. By 1 873, Tashu had replaced Galmo as balambards and governor of Chelg-a. The father of Thshu was behtwaddad Wase, said to be one of five members of Tewodros Privy Council in charge of the prisoners on Maqdala during the last days of the king. Because of this close political association of Kemant and Tewodros, the governorship of Chelg-a became hereditary in Kemant hands during his reign and remained so at least through the reign of Yohannes IV (I872-89). While the rest of the country was disintegrating around him, Tewodros could still count on Kemant loyalty in Chelga. Indeed, it was clear no king of Abyssinia ever had such loyal subjects as these Kamants have proved themselves by their devotion to Theodore, for they stuck by him to the last.One result of the increasingly close Kemant relationship with the Ethiopian state structure was a high degree of linguistic and religious acculturation and a decrease in practices that favoured social separation. Under Tewodros a rather large number of Kemant men converted to Christianity voluntarily because they wanted to advance their military careers rather than out of true conviction. Tewodros at one point may have wanted to force Kemant to convert, but he was dissuaded by his council, which argued they might not be willing to bring wood to Gondar once they converted.Such arguments, however, would have applied only to women, who were the ones bringing the wood by that time. For men interested in a military career, voluntary conversions were often seen as advantageous. Such expediency resulted in a dualistic religious practice in which their indigenous beliefs were not completely abandoned. The main sign of their conversion was the wearing of the matab, a colored cord worn around the neck by Christians. Some Kemant wore it in sign of Christianity, which they outwardly pretend to profess to a certain extent. Two Kemant officers in the army in Dambeya-, for example, asserted that they were not Christian, though their names and the blue cord they wore might have led to that impression. An oral informant asserted that his own ancestors nominal conversion for political reasons was easily reversed when he retired to his own village. He explained the pressures as follows: You see, at that time, unless one was a Christian he did not have much chance to participate in the government facilities. They wanted to get close to the rulers and get offices ... Unless one was converted to Christianity his survival was doubtful. In the army, unless he ate and drank together with the rest of the army, how do you think he would survive? He must be converted. Thus, many Kemant who wanted to take part in the broader society followed a strategy of outward acquiescence and inward withdrawal. Such a strategy was pursued mainly by a minority who wanted a political-military career, but most Kemant continued to maintain a degree of separation by hiding their religion from outsiders, by washing themselves after they came into contact with Christians, and by eating only meat they slaughtered themselves, similarly to Beta Israel. For an elite, however, nominal conversion and extensive interaction was possible because Kemant religion was flexible enough to allow it and Kemant culture did not arouse either the fears or the negative attitudes which characterized Abyssinian views of Beta Israel society. They had special outdoor places of worship, such as certain groves of trees, where prayers were recited, sacrifices performed and offerings left. They had a married priesthood, though no written books. They venerated Saturday, though not as strictly as Beta Israel. They also observed the tazka-r, or memorial service for the dead, in common with Beta Israel and Christians. Thursdays after the new moon were half-holydays. Once a year, they assembled on a hill and performed sacrifices in a Day of Atonement, a ceremony resembling the Beta Israel segd. Also in common with Beta Israel, they kept women separate for seven days during their menses. Other beliefs included the concept of a supreme God, personal immortality, and the recognition of Moses as one of Gods prophets. The worst epithets by which Kemant were known were wood, worshippers of wood or born of wood (ya-enchat fere) because of their associations as carriers of wood, worshippers in sacred groves of trees, and wearers of wooden earrings. iEnchat fere-, however, did not compare with buda as a derogatory or feared epithet. Therefore, no prayers or magical prayers against Kemant or enchat are found in Ethiopic literature, in contrast to numerous anti-buda and anti-Falasha prayers. Thus, from both Amhara and Kemant perspectives, the lines of separation between them were less rigid than those between Amhara and Beta Israel. Hence, most Kemant remained peasants on their own land up through the reign of Tewodros, though a few rose to high positions in the Ethiopian hierarchy, sometimes nominally converting to Christianity to ensure their advancement. Though Tewodros undoubtedly favored the conversion of all non-Christians, including Muslims, Beta Israel and Kemant, he generally did not force the two latter groups to convert. During the reign of Yohannes IV (i 872-89), this laissez-faire policy changed, however, and Kemant proved more vulnerable than Beta Israel to forced conversion because of their lack of an autonomous means of livelihood. Yohannes IV issued several edicts stating various non-Christians had to convert. In the case of the Beta Israel, the enforcement of such edicts was ambiguous. With regard to the Kemant, however, the edicts meant that they either had to convert or lose their rights to rest (inherited) land. In Karkar, Yohannes eliminated the collection of gult (tributary) payments for those Kemant who converted. Kemant traditions agree that more Kemant converted than other peoples, such as Beta Israel, as a result of Yohannes decrees.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 06:22:12 +0000
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