#12338. The untold stories of militiamen from Gojjam, Ethiopia: voices of distress and desperation from the Ogaden and Eritrean fronts, 1977–1991

August 2026publication date
Proposal available till 29-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

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Journal’s subject area:
History;
Cultural Studies;
Anthropology;
Political Science and International Relations;
Sociology and Political Science;
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Abstract:
Using untapped archival documents, this study attempts to investigate the untold stories of militiamen drafted into the Ethiopian army in 1977 on the eve of Somalias invasion of Ethiopia and in the wake of the fall of many towns in Eritrea in the hands of insurgents. These men played a critical role in reversing these threats (temporarily in the case of Eritrea, on a much longer-term basis in that of Somalia), and their impact on the regions history was massive. The archival evidence gathered from the former Gojjam province sheds new light on their personal lives, and the dislocation for those left behind, which is often missing from the larger histories of the Dergs wars. Those stories have been substantiated by interviewing ex-militiamen. Many of the stories revealed in the archives are quite disturbing–broken marriages, emotional distress, separated families and the like. This study, thus, attempts to show the importance of ‘history from below’ in the construction of narratives of the Ethiopian revolutionary wars.
Keywords:
conscription; Gojjam; insubordination; insurgency; insurgents; militiamen; mutiny

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