Web Conference Dates:

          Week 1: Saturday and Sunday, April 13 &14, 11:00AM to 3:00PM EST

          Week 2: Saturday and Sunday, April 20 &21, 11:00AM to 3:00PM EST

Venue: Virtual Meeting Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82977694414

Topic: Assessing the Role of Oromo Civic Organizations (OCOs) in Nation Building

The 2024 Oromo Studies Association (OSA) Mid-Year Conference will focus on the role of OCOs in the Oromo struggle for national self-determination. The Oromo struggle has been going on since the Abyssinia colonization in the late19th century. The formation of the first OCO, the Macha Tulama Self-Help Association, in the 1960s laid the foundation for the creation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in the early 1970s. After the OLF officially launched an armed struggle to liberate Oromia, the first Oromo diaspora groups, the Unions of Oromos in North America and Europe, enhanced the popularity and legitimacy of the OLF among Oromo and others. The OSA was established in 1986as a multidisciplinary research institute to promote the understanding of Oromo causes and the Oromo struggle, including evidence-based refutations of false narratives about the history of the Oromo. Read more