AMU, Arba Minch, Ethiopia – In a substantial stride towards safeguarding the cultural heritage of the Gamo people, Arba Minch University (AMU) hosted a kickoff workshop for "Documenting the Indigenous Food System of the Gamo People in Southern Ethiopia" project on October 31, 2024. The project aims to document and conserve the rich Indigenous Food System associated with enset, a staple crop for the Gamo community. Click here to see more photos.
The workshop commenced with an insightful opening address by Behailu Merdekios (Assoc. Prof.), Vice President for Research and Cooperation at AMU; he underscored the critical importance of bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and modern scientific practices emphasizing on the immense potential of indigenous knowledge for scientific discoveries. "Although indigenous knowledge can be elusive, it holds the potential for scientific discoveries," he stated, highlighting the urgency for proper documentation and preservation of such knowledge to foster sustainable development. He emphasized on the historical significance of enset in Ethiopia and advocating it for enhanced research to unlock its full productivity potential.
Dr. Addisu Fekadu, project principal investigator and innovator, provided an overview of the EMKP Enset Project detailing its objectives and activities. According to him, the project, proposed by a team of senior researchers at AMU, seeks to catalog the endangered material culture surrounding enset cultivation, processing, and consumption. Enset food system is deeply intertwined with indigenous social and cultural practices, Dr. Addisu explained. He also addressed various endangerment factors impacting this food system including new technologies, bacterial wilt, labor-intensive processing, and urbanization.
Dr. Yihenew Wubu, the director for the office of Internationalization and Collaboration and project co-investigator, addressed the threats facing endangered material knowledge (EMKs) and the necessity for documentation. He highlighted the multifaceted benefits of documenting the enset food system, including cultural preservation, community empowerment, sustainable practices, research, policy development, and global awareness. Dr. Yihenew also outlined the expected outputs from the AMU-EMKP Enset Documentation Project which includes comprehensive databases and multimedia documentation.
Supported by funding from the British Museum, this project focuses on Chencha, Dita, and Kamba Districts in Gamo Zone and has an allocated budget of £50,000. In its two years span, the project strives to develop a comprehensive database containing 624 GB of audio-visual, photographic, and textual data. Throughout the course of its implementation, the initiative is committed to generating an extensive repository of information that will be stored at both AMU and the British Museum in an open-access. By doing so, the project fortifies the understanding of enset production ultimately providing invaluable benefits to the future generations.
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