So today I’m browsing through YouTube trying to find something interesting to watch, and I come across this video; Africa: Will You Marry Me? I know poorly documentaries can portray Africa so I cautiously start the video.
To my surprise the first story in the video takes place in my motherland - Ethiopia. We are told the story of Rahel Girma; a young woman from the city of Harar who flees an arranged marriage with her uncle to Addis Ababa. We see she now works as a waitress in a bar and is in a relationship with a man who works at the bar. Her story is heroic and we see she is a modern, independent woman. This is when a first sensed something wasn’t right. Ethiopians generally don’t have arranged marriages, and have strong taboos against marrying close relatives.
The video then shifts to the city of Harar. Harar is an ancient city in the eastern part of Ethiopia. The city has been a trade center for centuries and developed and unique culture amongst it’s inhabitants called Hararis. Harari people have their own language and culture, and are all Muslim.
The video makes note that Ethiopia is a “Christian island” surrounded by Muslims, and that Harar is an island surrounded by Christians. This is an often repeated idea; that Ethiopia is a “Christian country,” but now Ethiopia is a secular republic that is approximately 40% Muslim and 60% Christian. It also borders the predominately Christian countries of Kenya and Eritrea, as well as South Sudan where the majority of the population follows traditional religions. The city of Harar itself is surrounded by a region of Ethiopia that is over 90% Muslim. Harar itself is 70% Muslim and 30% Christian, and Muslims and Christians live in harmony with one another. A large church sits next to the entrance of the old city.
We are then introduced to Rahel’s “father” Ali Girma. Immediately I know something isn’t right. Ethiopian naming conventions (followed by both Muslims and Christians) follow the pattern of [given name] [father’s name], meaning Rahel’s father would be named Girma. There is no such thing as family names in Ethiopia. Muslims and Christians usually have different sets of names. Muslims use Arabic derived names, while Christians use Amharic or Ge’ez derived names. “Ali” is a Muslim name, while “Girma” is a Christian name. The name Ali Girma itself isn’t unlikely, it would indicate that the father - Girma converted to Islam from Christianity at some point; but the video insinuates that Rahel (which is a Christian name) comes from a Harari Muslim family. Hararis are all Muslim and no Harari person would have a Christian name. Rahel was also shown to be wearing a cross, which obviously wouldn’t be worn by a Muslim. Even if she had converted to Christianity at some point, her name wouldn’t have changed. It really became bizarre when we met the “uncle” she was supposed to marry who was named Melaku Tadese. Melaku Tadese is a completely Christian name, a name that a Harari person wouldn’t have.
The Harari people are portrayed in the video as conservative and religious. While Harari people are virtually 100% Muslim and Islam is an important part of their history and identity, they have a reputation amongst other Ethiopians as being rather bawdy and free-spirited. When my cousin was working as a doctor at a hospital near Harar he would joke that Harari women would always show no hesitation to show their private parts when being examined, while other women would. Hararis are nothing like the conservative backwards religious people talked about in the video.
There is a lot more that could be said on the inaccuracies and falsehoods in the video. It seems that “Rahel’s” story is completely made up for the purposes of the video, and her “family” consisted of random people used by the production who may or may not have been using their real names.
I’ve talked on here before about how often the media is often more interested in presenting a well-known narrative as opposed to actual stories. Here we see a familiar and heartwarming tale - a “traditional” family trying to force their daughter into an arranged marriage with an old rich uncle. She flees and finds independence and “freedom” (and a boyfriend) in the big city. The story is a mixture of Islamophobia and Orientalism. The “exotic” ancient Muslim city of Harar (in a Christian country) frames this story of the breaking of tradition and oppression.
It becomes an issue when people sitting in their homes in places like the US or the UK sees these stories and think they’re true. It helps to form their images and ideas of how Muslims and Ethiopians are. It becomes part of the mental idea of the Other. No wonder Islamophobia and Oreintalism have made such a resurgence these days when crap like this is easily accessible. The most bizarre thing is that there are plenty of stories of Ethiopian women helping to change and progress Ethiopia so why do they need to completely make-up stories?
