Migration to Shashemene: Ethnicity, Gender and Occupation in Urban Ethiopia

Abstract

This book is about migration to Shashemene, a small town in southern Ethiopia, before 1974. In the book, the migration to Shashemene elucidates the mechanisms behind the movement to small African towns experiencing rapid populations increase but having few opportunities for formal employment. A main issue is how the political and economic history of the southern central region of Ethiopia, as well as, the structure of the Ethiopian urban economy in the early 1970's, has influenced migration patterns of people from different ethnic groups coming to Shashemene. The ethnically stratified occupational structure is outlined, and the role of women in urban Ethiopia is discussed. Studies of other urban areas in Ethiopia are interpreted in the light of the findings from Shashemene.