Thanks Elias for your very informative post on Hamid Idris Awate where,
qouting Markakis, you wrote:
>Raided and enslaved by all their neighbors (their name is synonymous
>with 'slave' in the highlands, {and Markakis keeps using that offensive
>term throughout the book, which I will not}), the [Nara] were much
>reduced in number (about 15,000) and circumstances.
What do these wonderful people call themselves, do you know? My
recollection (you know how that can be, though, right?) is that they use the
name "Barya". In Tigre, for example, they say "Baryay tu" to mean 'he is
from the Barya (Nara) people.' That is said without a hint of prejudice.
My point: If they refer to themselves as Barya, eventhough it sounds (or is)
offensive in tgrNa, perhaps we shouldn't be afraid to use the word or
expression. Conversely, if they call themselves Nara, then we should never
use the other word.
By the way, now that we have agreed on Awate's roots, I think it is fitting
that Hamid Idris Awate, the father of our armed struggle, comes from this
wonderful tribe who, in my experience, were not only decent, hardworking,
and above all brave warriors, but also very unassuming, people who did not
care much about the constant power struggle and personal gains within the
struggle. Something to cherish in their (and as Eritreans, our) tradition!
Paulos
At 07:51 PM 9/8/97 -0500, AFRICA WORLD PRESS wrote:
>Selam Dehai:
>
>Here is what I found about the background of our national hero, Hamid
>Idris Awate, from Markakis' book, NATIONAL AND CLASS CONFLICT IN THE
>HORN OF AFRICA. I quote from Chapter 4, entitled "Anti-Colonial
>Nationalism" pp., 64, 65, 66 the relevant passages with a background.
>Most of the questions I raised last week seem to be answered here.
>Hope this will stimulate interest in the ongoing discussion. [Note: All
>typos mine.]
>
>
>--Elias