Documenting Indigenous Enset Food System of the Gamo People in Southern Ethiopia

This project is proposed by a team of senior researchers at Arba Minch University to document the endangered material culture of the indigenous food system of enset in the Gamo people of South Ethiopia. Enset is a neglected indigenous plant used as a source of food by ethnic groups inhabiting southern and the Southwestern Ethiopia. The Gamo people are one of these ethnic groups that have a strong attachment to and rely on enset for food and sources of income, but also consider it part of their culture. However, the indigenous enset-based food system of Gamo people is in sharp decline because of infestation of enset by Bacterial Wilt (BW), laborintensive and time-consuming enset food production processes requiring extra effort, increasing urbanization, globalization, and the attention given to popular cereal crops at the expense of indigenous food systems. Arba Minch University, in collaboration with its partners, implemented several interventions aimed at mitigating the challenges posed against enset-based food system. However, no organized attempt was made to document and preserve the material culture of enest food-based system. This project intends to preserve this endangered material culture of enset-based food system by doing thorough and scientifically designed documentation through on site collection of audio-visual data, interviews, focus group discussions, and observation. Accordingly, this project will produce 624 GB of data in audio-visual, photo, text, and other formats. The project will be completed in two years (October 2024 September 2026), and the total budget requested from EMKP is 49,688.26 pounds.