African History Commons^™

Rooted In History: Representations Of Ethiopian Identities In Canada, Nassisse Solomon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In his exploration of overlapping territories and intertwined histories, Edward Said declares “appeals to the past, are among the commonest of strategies in interpretations of the present.” Ethiopians and other interrelated Horn-of-African groups living in the Diaspora embody the tenets of Said’s argument. This observation led to a search for modalities to interpret the meanings of how and why this was the case. In response to this phenomenon, this research sought to ascertain the nexus between personal, cultural and national histories when reading contemporary expressions of Ethiopian identities. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, this dissertation examines the historical roots of …