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Ethnography: Hamar of Ethiopia

Salt Lake Community College
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Introduction

The Hamar culture is the topic of study for this Ethnography. The Hamar are a people

located on the African continent in southern Ethiopia. The valley which the Hamar homesteads

are located is called Omo Valley, which is a land of dry brush and hills. This land is occupied by

many tribes which share the same language and many of the same traditions. For this

Ethnography, the tribe studied was a small village called Dumbaiti. During the time of which the

Hamar were observed in the 90s a dictator by the name of Mengistu was overthrown in 1991

and there was a large shift in politics during this time and some Hamar were forced to relocate,

the advancement of technology and the tourism industry has slowly over time effected the Hamar

and their way of life. My expectations upon beginning the study was that the tribes would have a

very simple way of life as they live so very remotely and isolated from the world, that their

rituals and religious views would be very nature based and have little scientific reasoning behind

many of their practices simply due to the lack of scientific technology and knowledge. I was very

unprepared for what I had learned from these people. The Culture shock which was experienced

alarmed me as well as intrigued me throughout the course of observing this people. They are a

hardworking people and rely upon their neighbors and community for support, some of the work

they put in daily may be an unimaginably hardship for some, these people however take it on

with a song and a smile even if some of their practices are deemed as harsh and cruel they do not

dwell on it and move along.

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Methods

The study was done through a series of videos, Hamar Trilogy: The Women Who Smile,

Hamar Trilogy: Two Girls Go Hunting, Hamar Trilogy: Our Way of Loving (produced by

Joanna Head 1996). Methods of study include: Direct observation with formal and informal

interviews. I took notes during each of these films and made sketches of daily items and homes

of the Hamar as seen through the videos. Research for more articles about Ethiopia and the

Hamar was conducted over the course of this study. The movies themselves was research done

over the span of four years with the Hamar people observing the lives of three women and their

families. Berinda: widowed mother, Duka: engaged soon to be married woman and her journey

as a wife/mother, Hylanda: an elderly woman with children that are ready to marry.

Communication

The Hamar refer to their own language as hámar aapó. This is spoken by roughly 46,000

people (Lewis 2009). While there are many neighboring tribes of the Hamar, they can understand

each other well enough to communicate effectively and it is noted that within the Hamar there

are a few phonological differences between villages. For example, when moving southward in

Hamar towards the trade town of Turmi, sounds like ‘z’ become more of a ‘d’ sound. The Hamar

also use a type of ‘pigeon Hamar’ it is the language they say foreigners or none-native speakers

use to communicate. There is use of gendered speech among the Hamar in nouns, the masculine

suffix is â/tâ, the feminine suffix is no/tóno (Petrollino 72). There are different terms for stating

the difference between kin as well, such as there are words for mother, father, sister, brother but

for extended family such as an aunt, one would say ‘my mother’s sister or my father’s sister’.

The Hamar are very expressive in the way they talk and usually will talk with a smile on their
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face even if discussing things that may appear alarming to others. There is also a sign of a bit of

reserve when the women are around men, not always, but I noticed the younger women were

much livelier around each other and with their siblings than they were with their father or

husbands. In one part of the film, Duka expresses how when her husband becomes irritated she

will remain silent and typically her mother-in-law will step in and scold her son and stand up for

Duka, but if her husband decides to beat her then there is no stopping it and Duka must accept it.

Subsistence

When it comes to food The Hamar are a hybrid of many types of food gathering

techniques. Each household has their own field of Sorghum which must be tend to daily, this

typically is a job given to women, but at harvest time men will help in the field to get the work

done quickly, women will wake each morning and go tend the field, the women will also clean

the homestead and cook meals as well as brew coffee. Because they live in a dry bushland

climate, they depend heavily on the weather to water crops and should it be a bad year the crops

will not produce enough, because of this agriculture alone is not enough to provide for the large

families. The Hamar also care for herds, the men will see to this job from the time they are

young men and even when they are married. The men spend most of their life following and

protecting the herd, there is also tradition among the Hamar for a man to pick a ‘favorite’ animal

in the herd. This animal is then marked and becomes a companion for the young men out with

the cattle and goats. Hunting is another way they obtain food, but not only that- killing a large

animal proves one’s manhood, hunting is only done by men. It is also important to note that

hunting animals like giraffe a man can sell parts of the animal for a lot of money or ‘birr’ as it is

called there. Other items gathered for food include nuts, milk, honey, and sorghum is gathered
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ground into flour or used to make beer. It was also observed that it was important for a woman to

have a prosperous field and to be able to make good coffee as it reflected well on the family, it is

also important for her to invite friends over and feed them generously so they would be willing

to help her during harvest. Having large herds and good fields was a symbol of wealth as result,

goats and cattle are often used for trade. Trade is another important part of the culture, each week

Hamar gather to a market in a village called Turmi to sell and buy non-local goods, here the men

are able to buy bullets, which are a must have for protecting herds, through a type of

‘underground market’ meaning the local officials cannot see these trades taking place as it is

illegal.

Marriage

Marriage is of high importance to the Hamar, it is determined and arranged by children’s

parents Children are often married to a cousin, but marriage between siblings is forbidden. “If a

girl is born, she’s a guest if a boy is born, he’s a person”- Berinda (The Women Who Smile).

This means basically that the boy inherits his father’s land and home, the women belong to their

future husband not her mother or father. A girl can become engaged at an incredibly young age,

but she may not marry until she is of age or for several years after, it all depends on when her in-

laws call for her wedding. The mother of the bride has little to no say in the matter. Girls are very

reluctant to marry and it is a time of mourning for them as they do not want to leave their home

and friends, they feel marriage is a trap where you never leave your homestead, not allowed to

go to dances or the market. It is also an important time for girls though- as it is the only way for

them to gain the ability to rise in status. When a girl is married her in-laws are expected to pay
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her family a bride wealth for her loss. This payment is usually in the form of goats and cattle as

those resources are highly valued in Hamar society.

Men are excited for marriage and look forward to it, they become ‘Elders’ the moment

they are married, Elder is the highest rank in Hamar society and women only become Elders

when their eldest child marries. It is important to note, the men are allowed to practice polygyny

and some have a second wife, but many will only take a second wife when their first wife is

older so the second wife can help her with chores. It is also acceptable for men to have

mistresses in other villages and even children, the wives do not seem to mind it, and some are

happy to receive gifts from the children of those mistresses. If a wife dies, a man may marry

again, if a woman’s husband dies by Hamar law she can never marry again. It is expected that

the brother of the deceased cares for the widow and she may have children with him, but not

marry him.

The biggest concern for a family in Hamar is having their daughters ‘stolen’. Meaning

they are literally kidnapped, or a man steals a girl and forces her to marry him, for this reason the

girl’s brothers are made keepers over their sisters and watch over them wherever they go.

Another rising issue is what they call “girls thievery” meaning a girl sleeps with a man out of

wedlock and a man that is not her betrothed, it appears to be a concerning rising practice among

young women as they try to fight tradition, but if a girl becomes pregnant the baby is aborted and

she is immediately given to her betrotheds family.

When a bride enters her husband’s home for the first time where she will live the rest of

her life, she goes through a type of ‘rebirth ritual’ which her head is shaved, and she is covered
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in a mix of red ochre and butter. She is taken care of by her mother-in-law for several months

and for those months her husband is not allowed to touch her only look at her.

Leadership

Each home in Hamar has an individual structure of leadership, the father is the head of

the household, He decides who marries who and is the one that if his daughter should marry

decides the terms for the bride wealth payment, men are expected to be obeyed and any

disobedience is met usually with a beating, if a man takes a new wife and she is used to doing

things differently he may beat her until she conforms to his ways and does them correctly, they

lead out of fear to gain respect and it is a common practice that is seen by everyone to be normal

and accepted, women do not fight it and shrug it off. The first wife is next, she is expected to

look after the children, feed, clean and tend to fields. If there is a second wife she would be next,

she has not much say but is expected to help the first wife, no one wants to be a second wife,

then the children who have no real status or rank they work the fields and tend to the herds.

Wealth is determined by how many cattle or goats you have, or the abundance of food stored.

Because of this the wealthy may be called to help those in the community who are struggling and

to avoid conflict food may be gifted. The wealthy speak loudly and boldly and the very wealthy

usually will have people talking for them.

Spirituality

The Hamar believe in a type of Animism. They believe that ‘fate creates things’ and the

great creator is Barjo, a being created by fate to create humans. They believe that nature is

spiritual, and many spirits roam the earth and can take shape as animals or even people from time

to time. Many of the rituals and ceremonies practiced by the Hamar are cleansing rituals to bless
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and dispel bad spirits. The naming ritual is a ceremony performed by members of the community

to not only name a child but to bless her and cleanse the mother by spitting water and brushing

leaves over the body. They believe that if a mother were to conceive another child before

partaking in this ritual the next child born would be ‘unclean’ which I have determined to mean

either diseased or cursed. There are also coming of age ceremonies performed to help and

individual move from one stage of life into the next smoothly. One such part of the coming of

age ceremony for boys is to ‘leap’ over cattle four times successfully. This means he must

essentially run across the backs of lined of cattle without falling to become a man. If he fails, he

cannot become a man and is humiliated. During a wedding, as a bride is passed from her family

to her in-laws, men will chant and spit water as a type of cleansing and as the bride makes her

way to her new home, she cannot be seen by anyone other than the few selected in her party for

fear of what they call the ‘evil eye’ which is also considered a bad spirit and a disaster should she

be seen. Many ceremonies involve singing, chanting, and walking.

Art

The Hamar express themselves through many mediums. Clothing can not only be a

symbol of wealth but of expression, women wear many iron rings which they might tap or rub

together to make music. Married women wear marriage bands to signify they are married and

often they will make goatskin skirts hemmed with beads and wear many beaded and shell

necklaces or headbands. Red Ochre is used also as a dye for hair and for paint along with white

clay, often men will put on white clay and draw designs in it before dances and ceremonies face

paint and feathered headbands are also worn. The Hamar express themselves mostly through
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dance and song as they sing while working, dancing, and resting. They have many tales and

legends passed down to inform and instruct them about their heritage and culture.

Conclusion
Before studying this culture, I had little to no knowledge about the Hamar, Ethiopia was a

far-off place that I had only heard mentioned in restaurant names. I was not expecting such a

complex system of marriage and their way of living nor the common customs that shocked me

but were normal to them. Their ideals are very set in tradition with little questioning to them and

their loyalty and complete obedience to their parents is something that I found unique about

them. In a world today where everyone moves at light speed and our lives consist of busy

schedules and chaotic issues, seeing conflict dealt with so simply and the way they went about

their days at a pace much different than my own life was a good way to step back and look at the

world with different eyes. If I could have studied the Hamar in person, I believe I would have a

much deeper understanding of culture in that I would be able to immerse myself in their day to

day life and ask questions on little details including symbolism, ask questions about lore and

legend, learn how they perceive the world as a whole, if they like the way they live or if they

would take the opportunity to do something different. All in all it is important for us to discover

and learn about different ways to live as it broadens our views and understanding, we become

more sympathetic to others when we understand where they come from instead of hurtful and

conceited.
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Fieldnotes
(example of home and items)
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(clothing example)
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(Harvest time)
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References

Petrollino S. (11/10/2016) “A Grammar of Hamar: a South Omotic Language of Ethiopia”,

Leiden University,
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/44090/AgrammarofHamarProefschrift.pdf?
sequence=1

Courtright P., Klungsoyr P., Lewallen S., Henriksen T., May 5th 1993, The Epidemiology of
blindness and visual loss in Hamar Tribesmen of Ethiopia: The role of Gender,
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Courtright/publication/14961757_The_epidemiology_
of_blindness_and_visual_loss_in_Hamar_tribesmen_of_Ethiopia_The_role_of_gender/links/5c8
4988492851c695067fdcf/The-epidemiology-of-blindness-and-visual-loss-in-Hamar-tribesmen-
of-Ethiopia-The-role-of-gender.pdf
Dubosson J., 2014, Human Self and Animal Other: The Favorite Animal Among the Hamar,
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