Changing Patterns of Interethnic Conflict and Mediation in the Lower Omo Basin: The Daasanech and Their Neighbours, Ethiopia

This project examines the nature of the conflict between Daasanech and their pastoral neighbors mainly the Hamar and Nyangatom and the way how it is mediated and resolved across time. The study takes into consideration the recent dynamics in resource use and social interaction to understand how local level conflicts are formed and shaped by wider scales of socio-economic and political changes and the resulting strategies of conflict resolution are used. In doing so, the study shows how people like Daasanech and Hamar with an egalitarian form of Socio-political structure respond to and identify themselves with a large-scale socio-economic and political system and at the same time struggle to maintain their own values. The way how they are located in and integrated into the national systems is also carefully considered.