Seeking out Wise Old Men: Six Decades of Ethiopian Studies at the Frobenius Institute Revisited

From 1935 to 1992, the Frobenius Institute focused on studies in southern Ethiopia. The results of its empirical research are not only of ethnographic, but also historical value since the work was conducted before the Christian proselytization of the local population and the ascendance of the socialist DERG regime. The anthropologists of the Frobenius Institute were among the few researchers to have documented South Ethiopia’s cultural diversity before this change. This publication provides a critical look at the resulting ethnographic studies and renders an overview of Ethiopian studies and the political situation in Ethiopia during those sixty years.