Kebede Michael

Kebede Michael (Amharic: ከበደ ሚካኤል; Käbbädä Mikaʾél?; Nov. 2, 1916–Nov. 12, 1998) is an Ethiopian-born author of both fiction and non-fiction literature. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and versatile intellectuals of modern Ethiopia – he was a poet, playwright, essayist, translator, historian, novelist, philosopher, journalist, and government officer.[1][2][3] He has produced about 90 published works in several languages, some of which have been translated to foreign languages, and has greatly influenced 20th century Ethiopian literature and intellectual thought.[1] He has received ample recognition domestically and internationally, including an Honorary Doctorate from Addis Ababa University.

Birth and early years

Kebede Michael was born on November 2, 1916 in the city of Debre Berhan, in a town called Gerb Gabriel, in Ethiopia.[2][4] Soon after his birth, his father, Ato Aytaged, left him and his mother, Woyzero Atsede Michael.[5] Hence Kebede Michael came to be known under his mother’s last name, instead of his father’s as prescribed by the standard Ethiopian naming tradition.[5]

Education

Kebede Michael attended church education is his early days.[2] It is reported that his grandmother, Woyzero WoleteGabriel, took him to his first day of church education at the age of four at his nearby Gerb Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church.[5] His mother is said to have instilled a sense of ethics in him by raising him with Christian values, and telling him stories from the Bible.[1] By age nine, he had acquired traditional church education and had good mastery of the church language, Ge’ez.[1] In about 1924, when his mother and grandmother moved to Arsi for work, he came to Addis Ababa where he joined Catholic Cathedral School as a boarding student.[5] His mother moved back to Addis Ababa in 1929, so 14-year-old Michael moved back in with his mother, and enrolled in Alliance Éthio-Française School with the help of his mother’s brother (his uncle) Ato Seyfu Michael.[1][5] It is said that he grew tired of the beatings and punishments by teachers at the school, and thus switched to Lazarist Catholic Mission School for some time.[4][5] Then, when concerns at his former school improved, he switched back to Alliance Éthio-Française.[5]

Kebede Michael studied at Alliance Éthio-Française for three years before he got the opportunity to be introduced to the art of literature through the school director, a Lebanese man called Malhabi. The director was himself a novelist and thus wanted to teach the art of writing fiction to six outstanding students of his choice in his own house, and one of the six students was the young Kebede Michael. The lessons were given in French, and Kebede Michael proved to be highly proficient and hard working.[5] During his student years, Kebede Michael proved that he had a high receptive capacity for education. He had a strong affinity for the French language, and earned high grades in his French exams.[4] Taking note of his apt command of the French language and his high potential, his school officials recommended him for a scholarship opportunity under the then monarch, Emperor Haile Selassie I.[5] Also impressed by his abilities, the Emperor granted him a full scholarship to go to France and pursue his studies. However excited Kebede Michael was about the unique opportunity, he could not make use of it because he had fallen ill at the time.[4][5] Alternative arrangements were set up so that he could instead stay in the palace while he recovered and served as one of three French teachers to Prince Makonnen, the emperor’s son, alongside French instructors visiting from France.[5] The plan to send him to France for further French instruction was, however, thwarted by the onset of the five-year war with Italy (1936-1941), particularly because of the declaration of the Battle of Maychew (1936).[5]

Kebede Michael was an avid reader and learner.[1] Although formal education did not extend beyond high school, his life of writing was informed by his vast reading as he himself revealed in an interview with Yekatit, a widely-read Ethiopian newspaper, in September 1980.[2] From his readings, Kebede Michael was greatly influenced by the teachings of prominent Ethiopians such as Aleka Atsimegiorgis, Aleka Kidanewold Kifle, Professor Afework Gebreyesus, Negadras Gebre-Hiwot Baykedagn and Kegn-geta Yoftahe Negussie.[1] At school, he used the resources provided by his teachers and carefully studied the Who’s Whos of the great people of Greek, Roman, English, French, German, Russian and Italian philosophers and scientists.[1]

Italo-Ethiopian War (1936-1941)

Even though he could not go to France and pursue his studies because of the Italo-Ethiopian War, Kebede Michael spent a lot of time reading in the library founded by Mr. LeMoins, one of the French instructors of Prince Makonnen. It is reported that one of the books he most frequently read was “Napoleon”[5] and that he had great admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte.[2] He also picked up Italian during those years of extensive reading and learning. That was only one of the many languages he spoke. He wrote “Berhane Helina,” a fiction largely considered his debut, during these years. He also wrote “Ye Qine Wubet” (የቅኔ ውበት) in which he proved his command of the unique Ethiopian literary tradition of Qine (ቅኔ).[5]

Official positions

After the defeat of Fascist Italy, Kebede Michael has served in government in several capacities between 1941 and 1974 (when Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed).[4] He served as a journalist and radio program announcer, as Inspector and Vice Director and later, Director General of the Ministry of Education, as Director General and head representative as well as Translator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1950), Director of Postal Administration, Director of His Imperial Majesty’s Private Information Cabinet, Director of National Library and Archives (1952).[4][5] Kebede Michael has participated in important international conferences as a special representative extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Ethiopian government.[4] He was a regular Ethiopian delegate to numerous international conferences at the United Nations in New York.[4]

Even while holding these positions, Kebede Michael did not stop writing. He has published a total of 26 books during these years of government service.[5]

Death

Michael died at the age of 82 on November 12, 1998.[1] June 28th has been designated as a memorial day to commemorate him.[1]

Honors and Recognition

Kebede Michael was the first ever winner of Haile Selassie I Prize Award in Amharic Literature in 1964,[1][4] a prestigious award that was later conferred on other Ethiopian literary giants like Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin.

In November 1997, Kebede Michael received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Addis Ababa University for his unparalleled excellence in literature and role in being an inspiration to generations of Ethiopian authors and writers.[4][6]

He also received distinguished awards from the governments of other countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, USSR and Mexico.[4][6]

Those who knew him closely say that he loved to go to church and was a very polite and spiritual man.[6]

Works

Kebede Michael’s literary works reflect on the many facets of character and behavior of Ethiopian society in his time. The contents of many of his many books touch upon history, education, development, philosophy, religion, culture, science, ethics and morals, and so on.[1][4] About five of his books have been translated into French and English languages.[4]

A respected multilingual, Kebede Michael spoke several languages including Amharic, Ge’ez, English, French and Italian.[5] He also wrote and published in, or translated from these languages. He has produced a plethora of original and translated works – 90 of them published, and 200 unpublished.[1] Later on in the time of the Derg military regime, it is said that Kebede Michael was so frustrated with the tyranny and harassment from the state that he ended up burning a lot of his unpublished works.[6]

At least two of his works Berhane Helina, and YeQine Wubet were written during the Italo-Ethiopian War,[5] but the majority of his works were published after the war, and were reprinted four times and more due to popular demand.[5] He has produced several poems, plays, anthologies of Qine, history books, translations from foreign tongues, fictions, essays, and critical philosophical works regarding modernization.

Kebede Michael’s most prominent translated work is his Amharic translation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This Amharic version of the play was composed of rhythmic verses. He received great acclaim for this work because not only did he show his linguistic competence, but he also combined his poetic talent and play-writing prowess into a single, well-flowing product.[5] He also translated Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Charlotte M. Brame’s “Beyond Pardon” into Amharic.[4]

From 1940 to 1970, Kebede Michael wrote Amharic school textbooks in which he provided several generations of Ethiopian students with literature covering a wide range of issues and disciplines.

Below is an incomplete list of his works[1][4][7]

Educational

Poems/Poems and Qine

Plays

History

In all his works Kebede Michael uses simple Amharic words that can be comprehended by anyone with basic schooling.[2] Particularly his translated works are known to present new, foreign concepts in localized and contextualized words that any Ethiopian could easily digest.[2]

Era of Japanization

The Japanese miracle after the Second World War “provided a model for other Asian and African countries in their quest for rapid modernization” to the extent that the Japanese have considered it necessary to found a famous and well-endowed institution, Institute of Developing Economies.[8] There was heavy focus on emulating Japanese developmental and political model in 20th century Ethiopia as well.[9] Popular Ethiopian historian, Bahru Zewde writes that intellectuals of the early as well as mid-20th Century have called for ‘Japanization’ and ‘rapid development’ if Ethiopia is to sustain its independence and pride.[10] Kebede Michael is one of the most prominent in this camp of Japanizing intellectuals and has even written one of his most prominent books on the topic with the title, ጃፓን እንደምን ሰለጠነች? “Japan Indemin Seletenech?” [How did Japan become Civilized?/How Japan Became Civilized].

In his book, Kebede Michael provides a summary of how the Japanese aristocracy managed to build a strong, self-supporting and technologically advanced state under the Meiji Dynasty, and draws lessons for Ethiopia.[11] He recommends that since Ethiopia and Japan have many socio-economic and political similarities, Ethiopian policy should follow Japan’s footsteps toward an advanced economy in the shortest possible time.[11][12] He points out striking similarities between Ethiopian and Japanese histories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as the fact that there were both people of color who enjoyed victories over White European colonizers (Ethiopia against Italy in 1896, and Japan against Russia in 1905);[9][13] withstood imperial powers in prior history (Japan against Mongols in the 1280s, Ethiopia against Ottoman Turks in the 1580s);[13] the Portuguese had visited both countries at about the same time (16th century) and both had driven them out to preserve their religions;[12][13] and politically, that both countries were subsequently isolated from the world for about 250 years during medieval history[12] and that their states were feudalistic with steep hierarchies.[9] Kebede Michael wrote that Japan had charted its own course and had maintained its independence through education, and just like other Japanizers before the Italian invasion, he hoped that Ethiopia would learn this.[12] He also pointed out the differences separating the two countries: Japan was more developed relative to Ethiopia even before its contact with the West, especially in shipbuilding and arms manufacture; while Japan had adopted European ways with remarkable speed, Ethiopia was much slower; and moreover, what Ethiopia’s intellectuals had most feared—the loss of independence if Ethiopia failed to modernize—had already occurred during the Italian occupation of 1936-1941.[12]

There were several attempts to emulate the Japanese economic model in Ethiopia, including the crafting of the contents first constitution of Ethiopia in 1931 after the 1889 Japanese constitution.[9] Through these efforts were interrupted by Italo-Ethiopian War, it was scholars like Kebede Michael that kept the dream of Japanization alive after the Italian invasion was over in 1941.[9] Even after the expulsion of the Italians and the Second World War, there was not much progress made before the dictatorial military regime took over in 1974, and deteriorated the economy.[10] Population growth surpassed expansion in food production and agricultural productivity was decreasing and the country even experienced severe famine in 1984-85.[14][15]

Ultimately, the Japanizer movement in Ethiopia failed, and Clarke writes that Kebede Michael’s yearnings illustrate Bahru Zewde’s criticism of Japanizers.[12] Zewde argues that it is more worthwhile to compare the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905 with Ethiopia’s defeat in 1935 and 1936, instead of comparing it with the Adwa victory of 1896 because Japanese victory was the logical outcome of three decades of fundamental transformation of Japanese society, whereas the Ethiopian defeat “was the penalty for the failure to modernize[12] Even before the Meiji reformation, Japan had attained a higher state of social development, literacy, agricultural commercialization and specialization than had Ethiopia in the twentieth century.[12]

Legacy and influence

Kebede Michael has influenced Ethiopian thought, identity, and government through his writing and service in office. His textbooks and general knowledge works have informed the values of young Ethiopian students, and widened their literary understanding. Bahru Zewde, also writes that Kebede Michael’s writing contributed a lot to the cultural vibrancy of the 1960s.[8]

Kebede Michael’s avid support of Japanization has also informed the development theory and strategy of his contemporary Ethiopia. Even in the present regime, the tendency to emulate East Asian countries’ development models also seen throughout the rule of Meles Zenawi, the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia, who was set on mirroring South Korean and Taiwanese growth in Ethiopia.[9][10][16]

Some Ethiopian scholars such as Ghelawdewos Araia prescribe to his vision for Ethiopian unity and call the present generation to “to carefully read the vision of Kebede Michael and seriously consider the current prevailing narrow and annoying hate politics”.[17] Araia notes that he prescribes Kebede Michael’s vision for unity and development, because “Kebede Michael uniquely combines both patriotism and development vision as demonstrated in his book How Japan became Civilized?”.[17]

Kebede Michael also influenced and inspired other Ethiopian literary figures through his works. Tesfaye Gessesse, one of the transformers of Ethiopian theatre who started out as an actor and later on headed the National Theater in Addis, writes about how crucial Kebede Michael’s play, “Yetinbit Qetero” was in informing his passion for theatre saying:

"When I was in elementary school, I watched a play entitled 'Yetinbit qetero'. The play was written and staged by Kebede Mikael. More to the point, I was able to learn by heart Kebede's poem entitled 'Iroro'. In reality, I was simply doing things in view of the fact I saw others doing. Furthermore, I saw films seeing that others did so. Honestly speaking, when I was a tenth grader, I managed doing well and turned out to be an outstanding student. Above and beyond, when I was in grades eleven and twelve, I kept on the same path despite my focus was not knowledge”[18]

No other Ethiopian in the country’s history so far has been able to write as extensively on a wide variety of disciplines as did Kebede Michael. His contributions are enormous to the development of education and literature in Ethiopia.[3]

Arefayné Fantahun writes that while we associate most other authors with a single, emblematic work that they have produced, “[i]n the case of Kebede Michael … what echoes in our [Ethiopians’] head is some sort of an institution rather than the title of a book …. That institution is the collectivity of Kebede Michael’s literary production”.[2]

It is said that Kebede Michael faced many struggles after the revolution of 1974 when the Derg toppled the imperial monarchy headed by Haile Silassie.[5] To some fans’ dismay, his house was nationalized by the Derg in 1975 because Kebede Michael was believed to have benefitted from the previous feudal regime and as a result, he led most of his remaining life alternating between Awraris and Tourist Hotels in Addis.[1] Some sources also claim that he faced some discrimination based on rumors of mental illness in his late years.[5] In 2012, his two-story house is being used as a hotel, bar and restaurant. Those who were children during the Emperor’s regime recall that Emperor Haile Selassie used to visit Kebede Michael and greet the village children, and give them 2 Ethiopian Birr.[19] However, ever since the Derg regime confiscated it, Kebede Michael’s house has gone through an unusual series of rebranding and remodeling: since 1974, it has been used as an office of local Derg rulers, and a prison for their inmates, a clinic, a bar, a billiard ball game center and as recently as 2012, Menaheriya Hotel, Bar and Restaurant.[19] Residents of the vicinity, and his fans express their disappointment that “his walls that were once covered end to end by book shelves are now stacked with alcoholic drinks”.[19] There has been a call for concerned parties to memorialize his name and legacy in the space.[19]

Criticisms

Commenting on Kebede Michael’s world outlook, and general writing rationale, Fantahun writes:

“his world outlook tends to be more universal than particular; more spiritual than material; more classical more than contemporary. And in his obsessive search for the great men of all time he tends to forget the ‘small men’ around him who are the specimens of the vast majority of mankind”[2]

In his general analysis of Kebede Michael’s work, Fantahun criticizes him for failing to criticize the shortcomings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which he followed devoutly even when other Ethiopian intellectuals who promoted Christian values like him criticized the church’s failings.[2] Fantahun also criticizes Kebede Michael for being a man of faith and idealism instead of rigorous rational arguments because his criticism of Karl Marx and Fredreich Nietzsche (his “Superman” in particular) was based not on rational arguments, but on his aversion to their promotion of materialism and will to power, respectively – two things which Kebede Michael believed led men away from a spiritual life.[2] While he was so repulsed by Nietzsche’s Superman for bringing the rise of men like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler into power, he was a big fan of another such ‘superman’, Napoleon Bonaparte.[2] Thus Fantahun also criticizes Kebede Michael for his inconsistencies.

Some Ethiopians, including the famous scholar Mesfin WoldeMariam, claim that Kebede Michael was unpatriotic, and criticize him for holding office in the propaganda section of the Italian occupiers during the five-year Italian occupation of Ethiopia.[6] However, others defend him saying that he was forced to do it, and would not have labored to produce many books for the advancement of his country and been so frustrated with the oppression of the Derg that he burnt his unpublished works had he not been patriotic.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Dejene, Berhanemeskel (2008). "Dr. Kebede Michael". www.ethioreaders.com. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Fantahun, Arefayné (2015-05-08). "Intellectual Outlook of Kebede Michael". Ethiopia Observer. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  3. 1 2 Administrator. "Dr. Kebede Michael". www.ethiopianstories.com. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Honorable Dr. Kebede Michael (Nov. 2, 1916―Nov. 12, 1998)". Ethiopia Online. 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "ከበደ ሚካኤል (ደራሲ)". Sewasew. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Augustine (2015-11-30). "ትዝብቶች፣ ቁዘማዎች እና የንባብ ፍሬዎች Observations, Reflections and Fruits of Reading: ከበደ ሚካኤል". ትዝብቶች፣ ቁዘማዎች እና የንባብ ፍሬዎች Observations, Reflections and Fruits of Reading. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  7. ↑ "Mereb.com.et - "Kebede Michael" - Books". www.mereb.com.et. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  8. 1 2 Zewde, Bahru (2002). Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century. Ohio University Press. p. 211.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Habisso, Tesfaye (February 14, 2007). "Ethiopia and the Quest for East Asian Model of Development: A Historical Perspective". www.ethioobserver.net. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  10. 1 2 3 Gebresenbet, Fana (2014-10-03). "Securitisation of development in Ethiopia: the discourse and politics of developmentalism". Review of African Political Economy. 41 (sup1): S64–S74. doi:10.1080/03056244.2014.976191. ISSN 0305-6244.
  11. 1 2 Michael, Kebede (2001). ጃፓን እንደምን ሰለጠነች? [How Did Japan become Civilized?]. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Mega Printing Press.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Clarke, J. Calvitt (2002). "Seeking a Model for Modernization: Ethiopia's Japanizers". fch.ju.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  13. 1 2 3 Levine, Donald N. (2001-04-01). "ETHIOPIA AND JAPAN IN COMPARATIVE CIVILIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE". Passages. 3 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1163/156916701753447536. ISSN 1569-1675.
  14. ↑ Library of Congress – Federal Research Division. Country Profile: Ethiopia. April 2005. PDF.
  15. ↑ Milner, Kate (April 6, 2000). "Flashback 1984: Portrait of a famine". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News - Africa. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  16. ↑ E, Fourie. "East Asian lessons for Ethiopia's Hailemariam and Kenya's Kenyatta?". European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  17. 1 2 Kiros, Teodros (January 11, 2012). "Engaging the Ethiopian Imagination". The Ethio Sun. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  18. ↑ Mulat, Addisalem (2016-09-25). "Ethiopia's Professional Theater Icon - Associate Prof. Tesfaye Gessesse". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  19. 1 2 3 4 rohasol (2012-02-07), የደራሲ ከበደ ሚካኤል መኖሪያ ቤት አስገራሚ ታሪክ, retrieved 2016-11-28
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.