Konso - Sociopolitical Organization



Social Organization. Although wealth is admired, Konso society is basically egalitarian, and the only major difference of status is that between farmers and artisans. Generational seniority, rather than inherited status or kinship, is the most important principle of Konso social organization, although the pogalla is greatly respected. Each region has its own System of age grouping, according to which a man enters the system a fixed number of grades behind that of his father, rather than being automatically initiated into the most junior grade. After a fixed period of years, everyone is promoted simultaneously into the next grade. In Garati, this interval is eighteen years, in Takadi nine, and in Turo five. This type of age-grouping system is known as gada and is distinctive of peoples speaking East Cushitic languages. The systems stratify society into three categories: boys, not allowed to marry or to take part in councils; warriors, who may marry and take a junior part in councils; and elders, whose functions are judicial and religious. The systems are primarily concerned with men rather than women; women are excluded from the Takadi and Turo systems once they have reached the grade in which marriage is allowed, and although in Garati they retain the same grades as men, this is only in relation to their maternal role. The members of each grade are grouped into age sets, but every town has its own sets, and the grades are not corporate groups.

Political Organization. Each region has a priest, who lives in isolation, and whose function it is to bless the towns of his region and to perform the ceremonies that are associated with the gada system. In the past, when warfare broke out between towns, he would send his deputies, drawn from the most important lineage heads of the region, to run between the opposing warriors and cast down their staves, and, ideally, this was supposed to prevent further fighting. The regional priests lacked political authority, however, and the towns were autonomous units in this respect. Each town has a council of elders, drawn from the ward councils. Councilors are elected informally on the basis of their personal qualities, and traditionally they acted as a court to hear civil and criminal cases.

Social Control. Formerly, thieves could be punished by whipping or, in extreme cases, by execution, administered by the warriors. Today, however, the Ethiopian courts have taken over much of the administration of justice, but towns still fine those who disturb the peace by quarreling or by other antisocial behavior. Expulsion from the town is another sanction that was traditionally employed. Those who are quarrelsome or uncooperative, especially to fellow ward members, may be ostracized and denied help—for example, in the form of fetching water in time of sickness or burying their dead—by the ward. Civil claims for compensation are also the responsibility of the councils. In some towns there is an annual ceremony at which leaders from both elders' and warriors' grades exhort their fellow townsmen to behave responsibly and to respect traditional values. These values emphasize peace and truth above all else, and public opinion is an extremely powerful force in maintaining them. The Ethiopian government has authorized a headman ( balabbat ) in each town, who is always an important lineage head. He has no real authority, but the Konso consider him their chosen representative in dealings with the government.

Conflict. The Konso admire bravery, and in the public places there are many "stones of manhood" commemorating victories over other towns. They believe that conflict displeases Waga, the Sky God, however, and that blood defiles the earth; therefore warfare and violence should be resolved by ceremonial reconciliation. Barbed spears are forbidden, and although the Konso are familiar with bows and arrows, these have never been made. Only in rare instances were towns burned during warfare, which was conducted with spears and stones in the open fields. Towns formed stable alliances for military purposes. Homicide was the only crime that could not be punished or expiated by compensation. The victim's closest agnates had the duty of killing the murderer, and this act of vengeance was supposed to settle the matter and not produce a feud.


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