End of Acadamic Year and 2012 Summer EESO Events Update

Hello Everyone,

It is my hope that everyone is having a great summer whether working, taking classes, and or just enjoying the break.  I know it has been a while since I have written a report so my apologies. EESO  would like to congradulates its member whose name listed below and graduated from UIC. The folowing is a brief summary of the parties and special eventes we had in 2012 summer.

Four EESO members graduated this May 2012 from UIC. 

1. Dr, Abebe Assefa Abate (PhD in Social Work)
2. Dr. Meseret Kassahun Desta  (PhD in Social Work)
3. Miriam Berhane (MS in Computer Science)
4. Eyob Meles (BSC in Accounting).

Dr. Abebe hosted a graduation dinner party on May 4/2012 at his place where all members of EESO were invited. It was nice to see EESO members joining hand in hand to celebrate the achievements of their members. The dinner party was organized to give value what education could give to those who made their way to the finish line and to recognize those who supported our members in their long academic journey.  Dr Abebe recognized that some EESO and non ESO members participated in the planning and organizations of the event.

At the event more than 40 people including EESO members, family members, friends and professors of Dr. Abebe and Dr. Meseret were present. EESO founder Fasika made a short speech about EESO and awarded certificate of appreciations to one of the founding members of EESO and to three non EESO members for their effort in providing academic and social support to two of EESO members.

The following are the recipients of the 2012 EESO certificate. 

1. Dr Abebe A. Abate "For being the glue that held us together and whose inspiration will guide us. We are proud of you!". 
2. Dr. John Morrison "In recognition of his hospitality and family environment he offered to our member Abebe A. Abate during his stay in Chicago pursuing his PhD study in Social Work 
3. Dr. Donna Petras "In recognition of her hospitality and family environment she offered to our member Meseret K. Desta during her stay in Chicago pursuing her PhD study in Social Work."  
4. Dr. Nathan Linsk "In recognition of his continuous mentorship he offered to our member  Abebe A. Abate & Meseret K. Desta during their time at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work pursuing their PhD study." 

Dr. Abebe on his part expressed his feeling that he didn't expect this owner to be given to him because there were other members of EESO including Faiska who contributed a lot in the foundation of EESO. He also appreciated the energy and enthusiasm of the new EESO members that made him certain that EESO is moving forward faster to a better future.  

On Memorial Day, many of EESO members got together at Lowrence beach and gave warm welcome to the new member Miriam Berhane, shared meals, played volleyball, and talked. We all had such a great time.

On June 7^th 2012, we celebrated Bylul and Eyob’s birthday at Addis, Aissetue, and Tsige’s apartment. We ordered pizza and cake and most EESO members were present. Afterwards we watched a movie. We thank you Addis, Aissetue, and Tsige for providing their apartment for the EESO members to get together.

So I hope this gives you a constructive idea of what we have been up to as a group. I hope we continue to have fun this summer. Please share any ideas that you have.

We also would like to know what everyone is doing this summer. Please share it on facebook or this blog.

Thanks and have a great summer

Sincerely

Tsige.

p.s. if I miss anything please feel free to add it here.  

Friday March 16 meeting

Hello Folks,

It has already been two weeks since our last meeting. I have not written the summary of our discussion however. Here I will give a quick summary of what we did.

Our beloved sister Aissetu gave a wonderful presentation. She talked about her life journey and related it to an article she handed out at the meeting: resilience. Here I will try to say a bit about her; however the best way to know her is through spending time with her.

Aissetu was born and raised in Addis Abeba Ethiopia. Her father is from Guinea and her mother from Ethiopia. She is the oldest of three children.  Her father left her mom at young age and her mom whom she considers her hero raised the three kids in the farm.  Aissetu attended school in Addis Abeba. When she was young she loved reading and read many novels. Her mom believed in education and Assetu took that very road that her mom though her. 

At the age of 15 (in 11^th grade) Aissetu had a boyfriend who was 10 years older than her. At the age of 16 she got pregnant and gave birth to her daughter at the age of 17. Aissetu was 1^st year student at Addis Abeba university when she had her daughter and seven days after her birth she left her daughter with the dad and returned to school. Aissetue did not tell her situation to her mother and kept it secret until she graduated from Addis Aeba University (four years later). After graduation she started living with her boyfriend (her daughter’s father) and continued her master’s degree. After completing her masters she had her second child (a boy). Aissetu explains her transition from living with her mom to living with her husband as “going from everything to nothing.”  Until she got a job, they struggled financially.

Last year she reunited to her mom and moved to the US to pursue her PhD in social work. Aissetu has hit many brick walls, however never learned to give up, and all the complications in life have thought her to be the person she is today: resilient, compassionate, strong, and loving. She concluded her talk with “I have no surprises in life.”  

I know I did not include every little detail she mentioned in the meeting; however you got the highlights and please do set appointments on your own time with her and get to know her more individually at your and her convenient times. She truly is a great person.

I am blessed to be a part of this group. What a diverse group we have!

Thank you all for being there.

Aissetu, would you please upload/post the article you passed in class? Thanks and please feel free to add and or correct anything to this note. 

Tsige.

P.S.  I will not be in the meeting tomorrow, I am asking Bylul to take notes for me and post them on the blog. If she cannot please somebody take over.  Thanks guys and have fun. I will miss you :(

INTRODUCTION TO ETHIOPIAN CIVLIZATION: INTRO TO AFRICAN CIV III

FYI. If any body wanted to audit some of the classes, please contact Professor Levine.

The University of Chicago

Spring 2012, MWF 11:30am-12:20pm        SOCI 20213 = ANTH 20703, CRES 20303, HIST 10103                

D. Levine

Social Science 302

INTRODUCTION TO ETHIOPIAN CIVLIZATION:

INTRO TO AFRICAN CIV III

	Topics	Required Readings		Supplementary Material
I.	CONSIDERING ETHIOPIA
1. Mon  Mar 26	What is a Civilization?	Lecture: “Why Does the College Have a Civ Requirement?” Redfield, "Civilization" [CHALK]		Levine, “What is Educational About the Study of Civilizations?” Powers of the Mind, 146-74
2. Wed  Mar 28	Popular images:  5 + 2; Scholarly perspectives: 4+1	Levine, Greater Ethiopia, chs. 1 and 2		Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture
AS A SEMITIC OUTPOST
3. Fri Mar 30	The civilization of Aksum	Munro-Hay, Aksum, selections from chs. 1, 4, 5, 7, 9 (SR I)		Aksumite coinage display
II.
4. Mon Apr 2	Semitic and Cushitic Language Families	Hetzron "Afroasiatic Languages” and “Semitic Languages” (SRII.1) Gragg, “Ge’ez (Aksum)”, 427-32 (SR II.2)		Languages in Ethiopia, ed. M. L. Bender et al
5.Wed Apr 4	Judaic traditions in Ethiopia	Kebra Nagast, 5-51 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 1-4, 15-30, 87-113 (SR II.3)		Moscati, Ancient Semitic Civilizations Leslau ed., Falasha Anthology Kaplan, The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia
6. Fri Apr 6	Early Christianity	Munro-Hay, Aksum, chs 10 and 13 (SR I)		Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils
III.
7. Mon Apr 9	Ethiopian Christianity, The Zagwe Period	Tadesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527, 21-68 Heldman,  "The Zagwe Dynasty" (SR II.4)		Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, ch.1 Pictorial representations of Lalibela
8. Wed Apr 11	Ethiopic literature	Getatchew Haile, "Ethiopic Literature" (SR II.5) Kebra Nagast, 53-87, 119-30; GE, ch. 7		Grierson and Munroe-Hay, The Ark of the Covenant Kebra Nagast Parts IV and V
9. Fri Apr 13	Ethiopian Christian art	Heldman, “Maryam Seyon: Mary of Zion” (SR II.6)		Field Trip #1: Art Institute of Chicago Presentation by African Art curator Kathleen Berzock
IV.
10. Mon Apr 16	The medieval polity	Tadesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527, 69-106 The Glorious Victories of Amda Tseyon 52-75, 80-110 (SR II. 7)		Pankhurst, ed.  The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles
11. Wed Apr 18	Medieval religious movements	Tadesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527, 107-18 Gedle Estifanos (Acts of Saint Stephen) [CHALK]		Slides of Ethiopian Christian art
12.  Fri Apr 20	Post-medieval Amhara culture	Wax and Gold, 18-54, 148-77 Greater Ethiopia, ch. 8, 113-27		Tekalign Gedamu, Republicans on the Throne, chs 1-3 Wax and Gold, ch. 3
V.	AS AN ETHNIC MUSEUM
13. Mon Apr 23	Islam in Ethiopia	Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 76-93, 147-53, 225-81 (SR III.1)		Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 153-225 Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa Lewis, I.M., Peoples of the Horn of Africa (Afar, Saho, Somali)
14. Wed Apr 25	Oromo peoples I	Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 93-95 (SR III.1) Greater Ethiopia, ch. 9, "The Oromo System" 128-145		Bahrey, History of the Galla Hassen, Oromo of Ethiopia, 1-47 Legesse, “Class Systems Based on Time"; Gada
15. Fri Apr 27	Oromo peoples II	Legesse, Oromo Democracy, 41-131 (SR III. 2)		Lewis, Herbert, Jimma Abba Jifar:  An Oromo Monarchy Lewis, "Values and Procedures in Conflict Resolution among Shoan Oromo" Baxter et al ed., Being and Becoming Oromo
VI.
16. Mon Apr 30	Peoples of Greater Ethiopia	Greater Ethiopia, ch. 3; Appendix		Field trip #2: Regenstein Library
17. Wed May 2	Peoples of Greater Ethiopia	Greater Ethiopia, ch. 4		Reports from the field
AS A MODERNIZING NATION-STATE
18. Fri  May 4	Modernizing impetus: international context	Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974, 1-49 (SR III.3)		Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 98-114 Abir, Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes Crummey, “Doctrines and Divisions”   (SR IV.2)
VII.
19. Mon May 7	Political foundation of a modern nation	Zewde, History, 49-80 (SR III.3)		Rubenson, The Survival of Ethiopian Independence Tesfaye Tegenu, The Evolution of Ethiopian Absolutism
20. Wed May 9	Sociocultural foundations of a modern nation	Levine, Greater Ethiopia, 69-86, 109-11, 146-64		Marcus, The Life and Times of Menilek II Greater Ethiopia, Ch. 11 Merse Hazen Wolde Qirqos, Of What I Saw and Heard
21. Fri May 11	Climax at Adwa	Levine, "Adwa as a Historic Event" Zewde, History, 81-85 (SR III.3)		Field trip #3: TBD Film screening: Haile Gerima, “Adwa?” Ethiopian Review, Issue on Adwa Centennial
VIII.
22. Mon May 14	Haile Selassie’s Coming to Power	Zewde, History, 111-49, 189-209 (SR III.3)		Marcus, Haile Sellassie I Del Boca, The Ethiopian War, chs. 13-21
23. Wed May 16	Haile Selassie I, Triumph and Downfall, 1942-1974	Levine, Wax and Gold, 177-217		Gilkes, The Dying Lion Abebe Ambatchew, A Glimpse of Greatness Yemane Demssie film: Twilight Revelations: Episodes in the Life & Times of Emperor Haile Selassie
24. Fri May 18	An Era of Revolution:  1960 to 1974	Zewde, History, 209-26 (SR III.3) Gilkes, The Dying Lion, preface (SR) Tekalign Gedamu, Republicans on the Throne, chs. 4-7		Ottoway, Ethiopia, Empire in Revolution Bereket Habte Selassie, Riding the Whirlwind Messay Kebede, Political Radicalism in Ethiopia and  d the Fall of emperor Haile Selassie
IX.
25. Mon May 21	The Derg period, 1974-91	Clapham, Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia, chs. 3-4 (SR) Tekalign Gedamu, Republicans on the Throne, chs. 10-12	Clapham, Transformation, chs.1-2 Wolde Giorgis, Red Tears Spector, Operation Solomon Henze, “Behind the Ethiopian Famine”
IN WORLD HISTORIC PERSPECTIVES
26. Wed May 23	In the “Post-Communist” Era: the EPRDF period	Henze, "Ethiopia: The Fall of the Derg & the Beginning of Recovery   under the EPRDF" (?) Levine, "Paul Henze & the ERPDF" (?) Cohen, “Ethnic Federalism” (?) Henze, "Who 'Lost' Eritrea? What Has Been ‘Lost'?” (?)	Lewis, "Ethnicity in Ethiopia: The View from Below (and from the South, East, and West," in Crawford Young, ed., The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism Hoben, “Paradigms and Politics” Vestal, Ethiopia: A Post-Cold War African State
27. Fri May 25	Ethiopia’s Nationhood in a Global Era	Levine, “Ethiopia’s Nationhood Reconsidered” (Handout) Kaplan & Rosen, "Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel” (?)	Field trip #4: TBD
X.
28. Wed May 30	The question of Ethiopian civilization  today	Levine, “Ethiopia and Japan in Comparative Civilizational Perspective” [CHALK] Levine, “Evolutionary Grades in Greater Ethiopia” [CHALK]	Eisenstadt, “On Multiple Modernities” Eisenstadt, “Mirror Identities: Japan and the United States”