Nationalism in Historic Ethiopia

Historic Ethiopia (now Eritrea and Ethiopia) has suffered from extreme forms of ethno-regional nationalism for far too long. By focusing on the interactions between state nationalism, which engendered a plethora of counter nationalisms, and Eritrean separatism (Eritreanism), this article shows the futility of excessive nationalism as the politics of imagined identities that do not necessarily reflect realities and the urgent need to chart a fresh road of dealing with the conditions that engender it rather than blaming those who are forced by circumstances to embrace it as "narrow nationalists" or "tribalists."