Oromian Economist

Oromo Studies Association: OSA 30th Annual Conference #OSA30:Theme: Knowledge, Collective Consciousness & Transformation of Oromo Politics:Peace, Governance & Dev’t in the Horn of Africa July 30, 2016

#OromoProtests and the future of Oromo struggle:A keynote speech of Dr. Merera Gudina, Chairman of OFC At OSA Annual Conference 2016.

The 2016 annual conference of Oromo Studies Association  in Washington D.C. July 30-31, 2016 Blackburn Center Ballroom, Howard University 2397 Sixth Street NW, Washington, DC 20059

#OSA30 30th Annual Conference theme: Knowledge, Collective Consciousness & Transformation of Oromo Politics:Peace, Governance & Dev’t in the Horn of Africa

 This conference offers a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Oromo Studies Association (OSA). For three decades, OSA has successfully engaged in knowledge production and dissemination about the Oromo people. It has been instrumental in deconstructing exclusionary Ethiopianist narratives that justified the suppression of the Oromo and other southern nations, many of which were overtly antagonistic to people’s identity, politics, language and history. At this stage in its history, OSA is pleased that it continues to provide a discursive platform for generating new discussions concerning a broad range of issues that affect the Oromo, non-Oromo Ethiopians and other peoples in the Horn of Africa. As OSA celebrates its 30th anniversary, we recognize we are at a conjuncture in the Oromo nation’s history. OSA is marking its achievements as the Oromo nation is undergoing epochal transformation in the wake of the Oromo protests of 2014-16. In light of three decades of scholarship and advocacy and in the wake of the transformative events of the Oromo protests, it is an apt time for OSA to take stock. This year’s conference will highlight the trajectories of change as the Oromo and other marginalized peoples in Ethiopia continue their inexorable movement from the political periphery to the center. OSA’s annual conference has proven to be a productive platform for lively exchange among scholars on what is required to imagine and design innovative/alternative frameworks for understanding and shaping events and processes that bring about sustainable change for the Horn of Africa region. Oromo scholarship since OSA’s founding has effectively refuted the distortions and misrepresentations of the past. Anthropologists, sociologists, historians and other scientists have presented descriptions and analyses of demographic dynamism, theories of economic growth, democratic political culture, cultural and religious expressions, and indigenous views on cosmology, time-reckoning systems and moral traditions. Oromo literature is flourishing, creative arts are thriving and various other genres of Oromo aesthetic heritage are prospering. To date, there has been a dialectical relationship between Oromo scholarship and rising Oromo collective consciousness. In the next decades, we trust that these symbioses will continue with greater determination, purpose and confidence.

More at:- OSA 2016 Annual Conference program

#OSA30 #OromoStudies16 @OromoStudies