The Oromo Studies Association annually hosts a mid-year academic conference on Oromo Studies. The conference includes a diverse array of panels, roundtables, keynote speakers, and guest speakers. For more information, please see the flyer
Theme: Conflict Resolution & Peacebuilding: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Prof. Hamdesa Tuso
The Oromo Studies Association has over the years encouraged, facilitated and organized its members and scholars who study the socio-political, socio-economic and political history of the Oromo and other peoples of the Horn of Africa to present the findings of their research at mid-year and annual conferences held by the Association. OSA also has encouraged scholars of the Oromo to publish their research papers in The Journal of Oromo Studies (JOS). Scholars of many disciplines have taken up research of the Oromo and other nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia and the Greater Horn of Africa (HoA). Many have presented their findings and analyses at OSA conferences and participated in debates and careful assessments of the roles of the Oromo in maintaining peace and stability, fighting wars for and against its oppressors and occupiers during the past several centuries. Many who have studied the Oromo – and their legacy of successive governance of the peoples residing in vast territories of today’s Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia – have proposed that Oromo organizational features provided an underpinning that served to anchor the populations in the region. This suggests that Oromo forms of organization cement and ensure the coexistence of peoples of diverse livelihoods and creeds. The claims that these Oromo mechanisms served as guarantors of peace, stability and justice everywhere that Oromo influence prevailed deserve further study. Before the precolonial era, according to many accounts, the Oromo managed to create alliances with many large and small societies living within territories it administered and with many neighboring groups that were once rivals for influence and territory. These traditional forms of peacebuilding are the primary focus of this conference. Do these historical influences persist? Are they waning? If so, how and why? Can they be revived? What sorts of investigations are required to address the theme of the conference?
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