Subject: ART HISTORY Tit Fashioning History: Women's Costumes from Eastern Hararghe, 1850-1886 Author: Peri M. Klemm* Extract: Proceedings of the XIV International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Vol 1. L Introduction When foreign travellers and ethnographers first negotiated the terrain of present-day Ethiopia, they came ‘across a surprising assortment of costumes among the people they visited, including finely woven cotton tobes, ornate filigree silver ornaments and plaited hair styles prepared with clarified butter. Two explorers took the liberty to record in detail the fashions they encountered in eastern Ethiopia -- Sir Richard Burton who reached Harar in 1854 and Dr. Philip Paulitsheke who travelled throughout the Hararghe area in the mid-1880s. Through their observant eyes, we have several descriptions, sketches, and photographs that illuminate aspects of regional dress including aesthetic sensibility, stylistic choices, trade access, and technologies like metallurgy and weaving. Their documentation of adomment, coupled with indigenous accounts of classical costumes, serve as unique historical evidence of how the peoples of Harar and neighboring regions experienced and embodied the events and processes of the later nineteenth century. ‘This preliminary investigation will address the formal and symbolic developments in certain aspects of costume from 1850 to 1886 in and around Harar among the Somali, Oromo, and Harari peoples. The objects under investigation include select clothing, jewelry, and hair styles worn by women in eastem Hararghe and featured, in part, in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Museum 2000 exhibition, Women's Costumes of Eastern Ethiopia curated by the author. It is hoped that a brief description of the historical dress from this region will demonstrate the value of material culture as evidence in historical analysis. Changes brought about through the disintegration of traditional institutions during the Egyptian ‘occupation, I will argue, had a profound effect on the Harari, Oromo, and Somali cultures and these changes found tangible expression through the decorated bodies of women, Women in the Eastem Highlands in and around the ancient trade center of Harar live as traders, wood carriers, shepherds, weavers, and agriculturalists. They have lived with the uncertainties of drought, famine, war, and political unrest for several generations and have experienced poverty, disease, and severe restrictions on personal freedom. Yet, these same women, both young and old, adorn themselves with an elaborate array of body modifications and supplements. A woman's dress is layered with messages that communicate her social and biological position in society, impart information about her political and spiritual beliefs, and visually indicate her ethnic identity. The emphasis on women's body arts stems from my own observations that women in Eastern Hararghe have held a longstanding role as, anchors of material and expressive culture through which they define themselves and their communities. ‘As one Oromo proverb states: Abaan/ muka alaat ayyoon utubaa manaati (While the father a tree outside, the mother is the center-post for the house) Men of all cultures in Harar usually wear Western-style pants or Arabic wrappers with long-sleeved button shirts and are virtually indistinguishable by dress. This homogenous look is due in part to men's access 10 public spheres and long distance travel through their engagement in activities such as trading, cattle herding, working communal farms, and Islamic pilgrimage. Women, on the other hand, leave a distinct impression. They share certain modem articles, like polyester t-shirts, butterfly hair clips and nail polish, but they systematically maintain their own unique style. As a whole, their costumes resist the indiscriminate acculturation of global fashion trends and the stylistic choices of women outside their clan. This should in no way suggest, however, that women's costumes have remained stagnant orunimpressionable since the time of Burton's visit. Rather, their ensemble of body arts is constantly negotiated and predicated upon traditions, social suitability, religious codes, and personal choice. Richard Burton was intimately aware of the politics at play between identity and costume when he pondered whether to don Muslim or European dress for his reception by the Amir of Harar in 1854, Contrary to popular opinion, he chose the garb of an Englishman instead of the Muslim attire he had wom throughout his wip. While he assured the concerned East India Company in Aden that he would uavel Harar in disguise before he departed, when he neared Harar he changed his mind. He writes, "As I approached the city men turned out of their villages to ask if that was the Turk who was going to his, death? The question made me resolve to appear before the Emir in my own character, an Englishman ... as fa general rule, the Ottoman is more hated and feared than the Frank. On the 3rd of January I entered Harar" (Burton 1855:143), Burton understood that a turban and a tobe might incite the Amir. Secondly, he knew from experience that the local demand for the raw materials he carried such as indigo-dyed cloth, coarse canvas, calico and white beads were the building blocks of costumes of particular clans (Burton 1987: 170) As such, an arrangement of these materials would clearly state one's origins to neighboring groups. He writes that "all the races amongst whom my travels lay, hold him nidering who hides his origin’ (Burton 1987: 197). Therefore, he changed his clothes. Burton even advises travellers to Harar to know the specific kinds of materials that go into cultural costumes. He warns, "before entering a district the traveller should ascertain what may be the especial variety [of beads}. Some kinds are greedily sought for in one place, and in another rejected with disdain” (Burton 1987: 61) In these early writings, Burton reveals three important things. First, he describes the trade goods that were in demand in the various regions he travelled. Secondly, he gives brief descriptions ‘of women's costumes. Lastly, he emphasizes the significant regional and cultural preferences placed on atts of the body by the Oromo, Somali, and Harari peoples he encountered. These preferences are still in place today. ‘Contemporary Adornment in Harar On any given day, the main thoroughfare in Harar is usually crowded with long lines of pedestrians ‘weaving back and forth between taxis, domestic animals, and vendors. Oromo women driving donkeys or with bundles of wood on their heads make their way to and from the main market, Gidir Magalaa. They are clearly distinct ~- a knee length skirt of Abu Jedid factory cloth, wide beaded necklaces of colorful seed beads, an old sash with which to secure small children or merchandise on their backs, and a tight- fitting, striped t-shirt made in China. Harari women pass in knee length, pleated dresses of sumptuous material gathered at mid-torso that reveal finely embroidered pants beneath. Their hair is tucked into two balls under a black imported hairnet. Somali women conceal their bodies and hair in wide Indian gauzes of crimson and tangerine, that they hold together on windy days with black henna-stained hands covered in locally made gold rings. Just as imported tin platters, cast-iron cooking pots, and plastic containers are today replacing indigenous fiber baskets and black pottery, many manufactured items have taken the place of locally-produced dress wom by women in the past. From interviews conducted with Harari, Somali, and Oromo, women confessed that while they are faced with more and more choices in self-presentation, they have a responsibility to hold onto the visual markers that connect them to their family, clin, and ethnic group. With the influx of social, political, religious, and economic changes brought about during the Egyptian presence, dress is one of the few visual remnants of the past that can be called upon continuously. As one ‘Oromo informant noted when asked how Oromo culture continued to thrive with such drastic changes in lifestyle in Eastern Hararghe, she said, "We teach our children who we are in the songs we sing, in our dance movements, and in the beauty of women's dress" (Il)1. The Ethnic Groups in and around Harar ‘The three largest ethnic groups in and around Harar encountered by Burton and Paulitschke were the Somali, Oromo and Harari. For over two centuries these diverse ethnic groups have lived in close proximity to one another and have been coupled through marriage alliances, business and social partnerships, shared languages, and Islamic practice. ‘The Harari, the original inhabitants of the ancient walled city of Harar who speak a Semitic tongue, call themselves Ge usu’, meaning inhabitants of the city’ (Gibb 1996: 3). The term “Ge usu” suggests a fluid category that allows entry to other urbanites who have adopted the proper language, religion, and culture of the city, including local Harari dress styles. Gibb writes that “assimilation into the group is made conceivable by considering the Ge usu’ as a cultural category derived from a myriad of influences rather than a closed group to which it has, at different points in time, been considered desirable by those on the ‘outside to seek membership” (Gibb 1996: 9). In the last one hundred and fifty years, many Oromo and Somali have moved to the city, intermarried, and produced children who are recognized as urban Ge usw’. ‘As regards costume, since Harar served as the import/export locus for trade goods, those who became Ge usu’ had the most direct access to new kinds of ornaments and textiles. This is clearly seen today in the expensive, imported silk dresses of the Harari women, ‘The Oromo, who dominate the region numerically, come from the Barentuma branch or eastern division of the great Oromo confederacy. Those near Harar, the Nole, Jarso, Ala, and Baabile are known as the ‘Afraan Qallo’, the four sons of Qallo from whom each clan traces its line of descent. Once referred to as ‘Qotu” or those that dig!, these Oromo agriculturists have largely given up pastoralism and gada, their traditional governance system. The Oromo who worked outside the walled city as tenant farmers during Burton's day had considerable influence over Harar and required gifts of cloth from the Amir, who awarded them 600 tobes annually (Burton 1987: 19), ‘The pastoral Issa, Hawiyya, Gadabursi, and Githi Somali were still semi-nomadic during Burton's time, travelling with their animals and trade goods from port towns along the Gulf of Aden into Oromo and ‘Afar areas. They were perhaps the last group to move into the Eastern Hararghe region from the northeast of the Horn. Since Somali traders had early exposure to Islamic centers on the coast and travelled extensively, Islam had penetrated much of the Somali regions near Harar early on. From Burton's account a picture emerges of a trade relationship centered in Harar between the farmers, herders, and merchants of the above mentioned groups based on the exchange of goods moving to and from the Gulf of Aden and the Ethiopian interior. Merchants from Harar, travelling with large caravans of slaves, ivory, coffee, tobacco, wars, and woven cottons sought out "American sheeting, and other cottons, white and dyed, muslins, red shawls, silks, brass, sheet copper, cutlery, Birmingham trinkets, beads and coral...” (Burton. 1987:24). Burton's narrative and ample trade records from the period prior to the Egyptian invasion, tell us that these objects with which to adorn the body -- cloth, metal, beads -- were the backbone of trade in Harar. How and why these items were incorporated into existing styles of wear is crucial to understanding their importance as markers of cultural and historical identity. [As is true with much of the imported materials in Harar, trade records tell us that cloth was often named after the place from which it originated: Bombay (Geganafi) women's embroidered trousers. with threads from India, Amerikati ~- American sheeting, Kuich- cotton from the westem India, Calicut or Calico patterned, plain-woven cotton cloth from Calicut, Gujarati-- cloth from Gujerat in Northwest India, Jiddawi - black cloth from Jiddab, and Buckram-- a stiff coarse cotton from Bukrara in Southwest Asia. Along with the merchant economy of Harar that brought the names of foreign places, the tongue of the Arabic travelers also affixed itself to local dress Tasbii (wooden prayer beads), Foota (dress), Qartasa (eather talisman), Henna (plant dye)The names of adornment attest to both the [ong distance the items had to travel and their Arabic origins, {granting the owner cosmopolitan and Muslim prestige. Islamic preaching that came through Muslim ‘merchants via the trading channels with the Red Sea, was taken up with zeal by the inhabitants ofthe walled city However, not all groups embraced Islam like Harar's urban population. Neighboring Oromo agriculturalsts and semi-nomadic pastoralists did not receive the same exposure to Qoranic education and many were only nominally Mustio unt the forced conversions tmplemented by Egyptian commitiees Burton notes that in 1854 only a few Nole and Ala Oromo had received much expasure - to Islam while ‘the Baabile and mixed Somali groups had largely been converted before the Egyptians arrived (Burton 1987:79), IV. The Egyptian Occupation ‘The Egyptians were initially interested in the city state of Harar because of its prominence as a trading center, its geographical location along several East Affican trade routes and its opening into the Ethiopian interior, a point from which the Nile River could be secured (Paulitschke 1888:237). Their eleven-year ‘occupation had a profound effect on the aesthetic expressions of the Oromo, Harari, and Somali peoples in eastem Hararghe. Caravans from the east began pouring in, bringing a number of merchants from ‘Turkey, Syria, Yemen and India to Harar. The coastal caravans coming to Harar increased six-fold, from seventy caravans during the time of the Amirs to four hundred under the Egyptians (Paulitschke 1887: 588). During the Egyptian period, rural people were first subject to the effects of severe taxation, massive Islamic conversion, land reform, new forms of governance that outlawed indigenous systems, and new material goods (Mohammed 1980:224), When Ismail Pasha, the leader of Egypt from 1863 to 1879, decided to conquer the Red Sea littoral and by extension, Ethiopia, he began by capturing the Red Sea ports of Masawwa, Berbera and Zaila. In October 1875, the Egyptian troops reached Gurgura, where the Nole Oromo unsuccessfully fought them in a seven-hour battle. After almost three hundred years of Harar’s independence, Amir Abdullahi ibn al-amir Mohammed surrendered peacefully when Ismail Pasha's army arrived in Harar. The chiefs of the Oromo bands who had tried unsuccessfully to push the foreigners back at the outskirts of the city were immediately imprisoned and forced to “dissolve their parliament, deliver up their Abba Bokku, cut off their dufiwras or long hair, and submit to circumcision. That was the end of Oromo supremacy in south- astern Ethiopia" (Trimingham 1965:121), Harari informants claim that the Egyptian soldiers were also notorious for raping local women. As Harari tradition states, these violations caused women to begin wearing tight-fitting pants during the Egyptian ‘occupation that would make such forceful assaults less easy to execute, Oromo informants claim that some women were forced into slavery and prostitution during this eleven year period. In order to make themselves less attractive and less likely to become captives, Oromo women spoke of their great grandmothers disfiguring their faces with deep scars and tattoos. Among the Somali, wearing repelling leather and metal amulets to ward off the harmful intentions of the intruders was on the increase among ‘women and girls. All these body art practices are still carried out today. While their historical meanings have been largely forgotten or are now altered, the visual connections to a period in which women's bodies were under crisis are still evident. The following section examines the specific changes brought about in cloth, jewelry and hair design among Somali, Oromo, and Harari women during this pivotal periodV. Transformations in Clothing Material A. Somali On his journey with the East India Company from Aden to Harar, Burton encountered many nomadic and semi-nomadic Somali groups with which he traded in "Wilyati or American sheeting, Duwwarah or Cutch canvass ... beads ... mosaic gold earrings, necklaces, watches and similar kick-kacks" (Burton 1987:95- 96). He found that most of his larger purchases require cloth. The Gadabursi demanded six to eight tobes of coarse canvas for a camel, two tobes for a two-yesr-old heifer, and half a cloth for a ewe (Burton 1987: 169). With this material Somali men dressed themselves in white cotton tobes with red borders: and carried canvas-covered shields (Burton 1987.92, 97). Despite the great amounts of cloth being traded and worn by men in the mid-nineteenth century, women dressed only in hides. Among a nomadic Issa/Gadabursi clan, Burton reports that the women and children "were habited in chozolate-coloured leather fringed at the border" (Burton 1855:140). Another woman on the road from Zaila to Harar wore "a petticoat of hides, [which] made no great mystery of forms" (Burton 1987: 137). In fact, few Somali women who were not in direct contact with the city-state of Harar wore cloth in the mid-nineteenth century. ‘Thirty years later, Baudi di Vesme and Candeo found the same thing. These Italians, who collected marro cloth in the Ogaden, describe Somali men dressed in Merikani, a specific kind of Abu Jedid (Arabic for ‘of the new) from America while Somali women wore hide dresses called div as their only clothes (Paulitschke 1896:278) It was not until Burton advanced farther into the interior, only a few miles away from Harar, that he found Issa and Hawiyya Somali women wearing cloth dresses. A traditional Hawiyya wedding song still sung today, states, "Let us marry women and they will stay in the house. Let them put down their hides. We will buy high quality sheeting to clothe them.” ‘A photograph from Robecchi-Bricchetti's book taken in the 1890s shows a young Somali woman of an unidentified clan wearing a striped cotton cloth that wraps around her waist (Figure 1). Over her left shoulder is a longer white textile. Her cloth is most likely one described by Paulitschke as a kheili, a striped cotton cloth of red, white and blue. Each color has a black outline and a hem with yellow fringe (Paulitschke 1896:278). While the cloth originated as part of a man's costume, Somali women appear to have adopted it during the Egyptian occupation. Swayne reports that the keili was worn by male "elders, horsemen, and those who wish to assume a little, extra dignity" (qtd. in Paulitschke 1896:278), Paulitschke, who undertook ethnographic research around the same time this photograph was taken, states that refined women could also wear kheili themselves in the style depicted (Paulitschke 1896:278). Kheili cloth, here rolled around the waist with the breasts and shoulders left bare, could also be undone to cover the upper body in the chill of the early morning. The cloth draped loosely on the Somali woman's shoulder is called marro, a kind of long cotton tobe measuring four and one half meters long with varying widths (Paulitschke 1896-278). By the 1900s, Somali women in Baabile were already wearing a dress made of two pieces of marro. The dress was wrapped around the stomach with a simple cotton belt called deherki and pleated with long folds and fringe (12), ‘The waist wrap of fringed leather encountered by Burton is remarkably similar in design to the Kheili fringed, wrapped cloth, and the marro dress with cotton tassels described by Paulitschke. While, women adopted the cloth that Somali men had been wearing at the end of the Egyptian occupation, the stylistic integrity of their leather costume is not compromised. This continuity of dress form, despite the changes in material, is also apparent in Oromo women's dress.B.Oromo In the 1780, we learn from Caulk that Amir Abd al-Shakur went from Harar to the Nole clans in the north and to the Jarso in the north-east and brought "bales of sheetings for the first time to those Oromo in order to civilize them" (Caulk 1977:372). Just as is the case among various Somali clans, Jarso and Nole Oromo men adopted cloth to their wardrobe while women continued to dress in the animal skins that men and women had wor in the past (Moktar 1876:383), In other Oromo areas, cloth was adopted much later by Oromo men who accepted "the wearing of woven {in place of hide) cloth from the Harari as late as the reign of Amir Abdallahi in 1885" (Caulk 1977:373). It is likely that women, especially those in more isolated areas, kept up the tradition a little longer. An ‘Anniyya Oromo women in her seventies told me that rural Anniyya women, just forty years ago, were still wearing a leather dress called wadaroo or uwa like the Arsi do today (13). The wadaroo was a leather skirt of tanned goat or camel hide that hung to the mid-calf The leather was dyed a deep red made from the Sarkama tree and butter was used to soften it. The hide wrapped around the waist and was secured with a leather belt decorated with cowry shells. The upper body was left bare. A leather strap over the right shoulder kept the skirt in place. Later, when cloth was accepted by women in the region, they wore textiles only around their upper torso, keeping their leather wadaroo. In Figure 2, another 1890s illustration from Robecchi-Bricchett's book, ‘one notices this new cloth wrapped around the torso, leaving both shoulders exposed. When this cotonnade or heavy, coarse fabric of mixed fiber came to Harar is unknown, One informant recounts how it was brought by suitors to her grandmother as a young girl (14). The torso cloth was kept in place with a leather band attached to the leather skirt and worn over the right shoulder. Somewhere between the Egyptian occupation and 1960 the leather skirt and the leather shoulder tie were replaced completely by cloth. As is the case in most areas, Oromo girls donned the new cotton wrappers before their mothers. Paulitschke states, while women around Harar wore leather, their daughters wore batjela, a simple cotton dress as seen in Figure 3 (Paulitschke 1888:52). In Figure 3, the girls wear a single, white, cotton cloth wrapped first around their waist then over their right shoulder and finally across their torso. Due to the complex folding and tucking, the dress appears to be constructed of two pieces of cloth, like the leather skirt and cloth wrapper in Figure 2. This white dress, now called saddetta, is still seen daily as one travels further away from Harar to towns like Fedis and Jarso. It is made of factory-produced Ahu Jedid or Mamuudi cloth, ‘The materials of Oromo women's costume have changed from leather to canvas to soft cotton, The original leather skirt of Burton's time became a leather skirt with a canvas wrapper by the 1880s. Finally, some time after the tum of the century, a single coiton sheet became the dominant dress style. Yet this saddetta still references the two-piece ensemble in Figure 2 with its visual suggestion of two separate pieces of cloth Moreover, the final tie on the right shoulder suggests the leather strap that once held up the leather skirt worn regionally up until the turn of the century. Oromo women, like their Somali neighbors, chose to produce their traditionally leather garments from fabric much later than men, This resistance to new materials up until the time of the Egyptian occupation and the conservative approach to stylistic innovation still practiced today, suggests the symbolic importance of the decorated female body in this early period, independent from and possibly also in ‘opposition to the male body. The role of women's dress is instrumental in reinforcing cultural norms and establishing an historical identity.C. Harari While we do not have documentation of Harari women's dress that indicates clothes made of hides, we do find a major shift in material from that of cotton to that of silk during the Egyptian Occupation. In Figure 4, another photograph by Paulitschke from the 1880s, we find a young Harari woman in a plain loose- fitting dress, with three-quarter sleeves and a low neckline. Burton tells us that the Harari woman's dress is “a long coon robe, indigo-dyed, with large inverted wiangles of scarlet upon the chest and the shoulders: it is girt with a long zone of Harar manufacture" (Burton 1855: 145). "The thread is spun by ‘women with two wooden pins; the loom is worked by both sexes" (Burton 1987:28). We learn from this account that the dress in Figure 4 was made mostly from imported material and trimmed with locally ‘woven pieces, Poulitschke, thirty years later, describes the dress as a long, low-cut red tunic of cotton, tied around the ‘waist with a sash, The edge of the neck opening is embroidered with colorful decoration (Paulitschke 1888:69). Here, the once plain dark tunic, is granted fancy needlework and, at least among upper class women who could afford it, ‘red silk at the bib" (Paulitschke 1888:69). Further, the embroidery patterns along the v-neck each have individual names. For instance, i the embroidery has a trapezoidal form itis called fargu or zichtan sila ifthe colors are new. The dress itself is referred to as woki if the upper bib hhas a great deal of stitching, or abdullachani, if the bib is checkered with yellow brown stripes (Paulitschke 1888:65). The contemporary dress for women that has remained black and indigo is today called te eraz (black cloth) while the brightly-colored crimson dress lined with satin is known as atlas ((silk' in Arabic), Hecht states that the fe evaz collected by Paulitschke and housed in a Viennese museum is almost identical to the Harari cultural dresses worn today (Hecht 1982: 5), ‘The blossoming of Harari dress designs, the incorporation of fine Chinese and Indian silks, and the great increase in stitching at the chest and arms suggests that during the Egyptian period, Harari dresses were in the hands of foreign tailors or local tailors with new skills. The influx of Arabic, Yemeni, Indian, and Pakistani traders undoubtedly brought craftsman looking for new business. The stitching of the first atlas is said to have been accomplished by a Yemeni tailor, who came to Harar in the 1870s with a sewing machine (15). Gradually, as local Harari men were trained in embroidery, local patterns emerged. Today, few women can recognize the difference between Harari and Yemeni patterns although many still know their names. A circular design called Hatanagosh came at the time of the Egyptians and was said to symbolize one's devotion to Allah. Although greatly embellished today, Harari women's gowns are still found in the same indigenous design as the one featured in Figure 4. (One of the most drastic changes in Harari dress came about with the introduction of the Ge ganafi. Ge ganafi are the ‘trousers of the city" (Gibb 56: 1996). They are drawstring pants, loose fitting at the waist and cut to fit very tightly at the calves and ankles. The visible cloth at the ankles is often embroidered. ‘with velvet and gold threads while the upper cloth is a left plain, Oral history states that during the Egyptian residence these trousers were introduced by the Amir "as a defensive measure against the attacks bby Egyptian soldiers upon Ge kahatach, the ‘girls of the city" (Gibb 57:1996). The tight lower leggings that take several minutes to pull off coupled with the plain or ‘ugly’ upper cloth ‘of the Ge ganafi was thought to have deterred soldiers who might lift the skirt of a Harari girl (Gibb $8: 1996). The various ‘names of pant styles like Bombay genafi, suggest the origin of the omate cuff material Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Harari woman's dress has preserved its size and cut. However, since the Egyptian occupation, fitted trousers have been added to the ensemble. Today, whether wearing a traditional or modern dress, a Harari woman is never without these leggings which reference a historical period in which women felt physically threatenedVI. Jewelry A. Somali ‘The Somali woman in Figure I wears a large metal pendant, several armbands, a ring, and beaded necklaces called audlulli. Burton states that among the Issa Somali, all married women seek to obtain an audulli, a necklace of amber, glass beads, and coral (Burton 1987:61). Somali women in Baabile today showed me similar necklaces that combined beads of amber, coral, glass, and leather pouches that belonged to their grandmothers and great-grandmothers. ‘These necklaces evidence the importance of trade in Somali life. The coral in and around Harar during Burton's time came mostly from the Red Sea floor and was traded through Zaila. On the coast near Zaila, Burton spied "a few specimens of fine sponge, arid coral, white and red” (Burton 1987:52). Yellow and red oval amber beads found throughout northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula come from fossilized tee resin. Though originally from the Baltic Sea or Indian Ocean, these beads were traded throughout East Africa and could have come either from the interior or the coast several decades ago. ‘The metal pendant worn over the right shoulder of the figure shows repousse chasing and a chain fringe that once held four metal bells. It is possible that the pendant consists of thin sheets of silver, allowing an ‘opening in the middle for Quranic verses or charms. While the design of the two intersecting lines is quite simple and could have been created by a local smith, the bell design and construction suggests Yemeni origins. Hollow silver bells, which are attached to bracelets, anklets, belts and necilaces throughout the ‘Arab world, came originally from Narjan in what is now southern Saudi Arabia and were taken up as a decorative feature of Bedouins throughout the Islamic world (Ross 1981 :66). Burton, describing a ‘woman's necklace called Jilbal or Kardas on the road from Maran Prairie to Harar, states that the piece is "a string of little silver bells and other ornaments made by the Arabs at Berberah” (Burton 1987: 181). It ‘was not until the influx of Yemeni smiths to Harar in the last quarter of the nineteenth century that many pieces like this turn up in illustrations and photographs. ‘The bracelets worn on the upper and lower arm in Figure I were most likely fashioned from zine, tin or copper alloys. Burton saw Somali armlets that he described as zine or pewter made by local blacksmiths (Burton 1987: 13 7) Metal bands on the upper arm are called dutki or durma by Somali today. While an indication of earrings is not discemibla, itis likely that the woman in the photo wore earrings both in her lobes and in a hole pierced in the upper part of the ear. Her lobe earrings might have been flat crescent- shaped silver hoops hammered out of tin called sagaa, Horsehair threaded with colorful beads would have fitted in the outer shell of the ear. Women were also known to wear earrings that did not attach to the ear itself but connected by a metal chain called silsilah that hung over the top of the head. This style of wear is called ilagah and is worn throughout the Arab world. Modified versions are still worn today at Somali ‘weddings and among the Argobba peoples, who live inthe hills south and southeast of Harar. Somali women's jewelry has changed little from the time of Burton, While women may possess a few omaments of Arabic design, their body arts consist mostly of an assortment of beads strung together on hair or fiber. These audulli necklaces are made up of whatever materials are available to their owner who is responsible for their threading and upkeep. Each piece is therefore a unique creation. B.Oromo Oromo women's jewelry suggests an aesthetics of accumulation. In Figure 3 young Ala, Nole, and Jarso ‘women are lavishly adorned with many layers of beads and bracelets. Paulitschke, writing in 1886, first described Oromo women's adornment as a conceptual system (Paulitschke 1888:52). He wrote that women's jewelry is a whole arrangement of omaments ~- forehead pieces (zargaf), earrings (kulkulta), necklace (allad), and chest pieces (aba), metal arm bands (dermado) and butfalo horn (sanher), and rings(chatim). The outer ears hold small red and blue coral chains (murdjan or fora, the lobes hold wide rings strung with little beads and tin earrings (horror korkorva). On the side of the forehead, an unmarried girl is decorated with a chain (addo), which may run along the middle of the parted hair to the back (addo) (Paulitschke 1888:52). This exhaustive list of pieces, when worn in various combinations, creates a complete aesthetic expression to the familiar onlooker. While chain headbands and necklaces have largely bbeen replaced by colorful seed bead patterns in the last twenty years, Oromo women still carry on the tradition of wearing an array of materials and colors. ‘The young women in Figure 3 wear gumme and girja. Girja is the thick silver armband worn just above the elbow, while gunme is usually a thinner silver bracelet that decorates the wrists. One of the most important ornaments that usually accompanies these armbands is the ear decoration of red and blue beads called Joti A saying recorded by Paulitschke states: gurrakoti lori raraxi (Paulitschke 1.896:279). This literally calls for the loti to be placed in the ear. Figuratively, however, the caller is asking her suitor to be a hero and bring grace to her name. Worn with specific kinds of girja on the upper arm, loti earrings reflect the deeds of a woman's husband or suitor. These two armband styles are still worn today but girja is less commonly found in Islamic communities where women cover their arms. No longer found are the leather chokers that over half the women in Figure 3 wear. These necklaces hang. just past the collarbone and resemble the neck ornaments worn by the women in Figure 2 as well as contemporary Arsi necklaces. Like girja, these necklaces have probably disappeared from Oromo costume today because when Islam came, women began concealing their neck and shoulders. This leather necklace is most likely the protégé of jewelry made of bleached leather worn around the neck, wrist, or upper arm, called madiicha. Two generations ago, madiicha, when tied on the left wrist, could signify a young woman's availability to a suitor; when tied on the right wrist could announce her engagement; ‘when adorning the upper arm, could stand for marriage (16). Oromo elders state that it was once tied on animals and slaves es a mark of their ownership. Burton notes that he saw a ram with a cord of light leather tied around its neck for luck (Burton 1987: 101). The madiicha mentioned by Paulitschke can be ‘wom when a female animal is to be slaughtered or, when made with the leather ofa hyena, lion or civet cat, it can protect against the evil eye (Paulitschke 1896:279). ‘The madiicha necklace has today fallen out of use and been replaced with other types of necklaces, ever alerting us to the fact that fashion, no less than identity, is not static and in flux. Gumme and girja are ‘examples of objects that have stayed the same in material and design in the period under investigation, but have lost their symbolic meanings. They no longer need to be worn in conjunction with foti and they no longer communicate the bravery of a partner. However, Oromo women insist that their bead necklaces and metal bracelets are a vital part of their costumes and on special occasions like marriages and holidays, they would not be without them. C. Harari ‘The Harari woman in Figure 4 wears only one strand of beads around her neck. Paulischke tells us that only upper class women wear silver Arabic bracelets and earrings and the excess of jewelry types worn by the Oromo women is not considered an appropriate aesthetic among Harari women (Paulitschke 69). By contrast, Burton describes a more extensive pool of objects: "The ear is decorated with Somali rings or red coral beads, the neck with necklaces of the same material, and the forearms with six or seven of the broad circles of buffalo and other dark horns prepared in Western India. Finally, stars are tattooed on the bosom, the eyebrows are lengthened with dyes, the eyes fringed with kobl, and the hands and feet stained with henna” (Burton 1987: 16-17) Paulitschke also mentions the practice of tattooing the face with blue ink along the bridge of the nose, the eyebrows, around the eyes, and on the neck (Paulitschke 1888: 69).‘The great decrease in silverwork after the time of Paulitschke may reflect the extreme taxes that were levied on local people at the time of the Egyptian occupation, Not only were people forced to surrender large amounts of currency and agricultural surplus, when the Egyptians pulled out of Harar, they are said to have taken sacks of Maria Theresa coins with thera, The Maria Theresa thaler, a silver coin first minted in 1780 with the portrait of the Hapsburg Queen, has remained the main source of silver for jewelry and other decorations throughout eastern Hararghe. If many of these coins left Harar between 1875 and 1886, fine jewelry making must have been on the decline. ‘The town of Harar is renowned for its smithing families who create silver and gold jewelry of very high quality and superior craftsmanship. Today women wear cylindrical metal containers called wakari, hollow, granulated silver bead necklaces called muriya, and metal chain headpieces with five or seven suspended chain triangles called sivassa. These objects, especially those of finer quality worn on special occasions like the sivassa forehead band, bear direct correspondence to Arabic sources introduced prior to the arrival of the Egyptians. Though these pieces share much in common with silverwork from North ‘Aftica and the Middle East, they are considered a key accessory in the traditional ensemble of Harari personal arts, VIL. Hairstyles and Hairdressings A. Somal A married woman is reported by Burton never to be far from a purple-blue cloth to cover her hair (Burton 1855:140), "The Somali matron is distinguished from the maiden by a fillet of blue network or indigo- dyed cotton, which, covering the head and containing the hair, hangs down the neck" (Burton 83). The ‘woman in Figure | is wearing a cloth over the back portion of her hair and the dark string hanging over her left shoulder comes from the head tie. More clearly evident are the strands of braids that hang down around her face. As Burton tells us that unmarried girls "plait their wiry locks into numerous little pigtails” we may guess that this figure is unmarried (Burton 1855:140). Today women cover their hair with a brightly colored silk cloth but the plaited, universal Ethiopian hairstyle known as shurubba, is still worn. The style of wear -- braids created from the central part and falling on the shoulders in three layers - - is uniquely Somali B.Oromo ‘One of the most crucial elements of a married woman's costume is her gufta. A gufta is an imported, black, hairnet covering used by both Oromo and Harari women. Although woven hair pieces can be found throughout east Africa, this style of headwear is found nowhere else in Africa. To wear a gufia, the unbraided hair is pulled back to form two balls, tied at the nape of the neck, and covered with the netting, Undemeath the gufta, a thin fiber headband called miggaaja is tied to keep the hair in place. On top of the gufta other threads called naasi are laid down to secure the gua. ‘The young women in Figure 3 do not cover their hair. While their young faces and ample adornment suggest that they are unmarried, and hence would net yet wear gufta, itis also possible that the gufta had rot yet been adopted in their regions. Oromo women in outlying areas like Fedis and Jarso claim that gufta has only been worn there for two generations. Other Oromo groups say that it was adopted with the introduction of Islam to the Hararghe region, Since we know from Rurton's illustrations that urban women ‘were wearing gufta as early at the 1850s, it is likely that gufta wearing originated in Harar and was adopted outward to more distant areas. One particular kind of gufta, gufia bombeyi, suggests the possibility that guffa migrated from the Red Sea with Indian traders ftom Bombay. But since the gufia ‘was also made locally on looms by Argobba male weavers, its origins are unclear.C. Harari Burton describes the gufia of the Harari women in the 1850s: Women of the upper class, when leaving the house, throw a blue sheet over the head, which, however, is rarely veiled. The front and back hair parted in the center is gathered in two large bunches below the ears, and covered with dark blue muslin or network, whose ends meet under the chin. This coiffure is bound round the head at the junction of scalp and skin jaw by a black satin ribbon which varies in breadth according to the wearer's means (Burton 1987: 16-17) Paulitschke tells us: "The women wear their hair in two balls behind the ear and held together by a fine blue or violet veil called gufia. Under the chin the two hair balls are tied with the tassel of the veil” (Paulitschke 1888: 69). Today the gufa is no longer tied underneath the chin but fitted back along the hairline. While Oromo ‘women are known to wear their two balls of hair toward the back, behind the shoulder, Harari women keep their gufias directed forward. Harari women also tend to wear the more expensive kinds of gufia, namely those finely woven and hand-embroidered with colorful yarn. While both Oromo and Harari ‘women wear gufia, the quality of materials and their styles of wear create two distinct kinds of hair dress. VIL. Conclusion: Changing Costumes and Curreat Styles During the Egyptian occupation we have found that there were distinct transformations in women's dress mainly brought about by enhanced trade relations during the Egyptian period, Islamic reform, and the social upheaval of foreign rule. Printed calico textiles made in Manchester and imported via Bombay, red and blue cotton cloth from the Dutch East Indies, ard commercial grey sheeting were suddenly available in abundance and incorporated into existing costumes. Jewelry once used to decorate the upper arms and ankles was discarded when modest modifications in dress were enforced. And women began to make their bodies less accessible to intruders through leggings, scarification, and amulets. Some of the changes hinted at in Harari, Oromo, and Somali social, political, and religious arenas are still visually manifest in women's costumes today The cloth embraced by Somali and Oromo women after 1875 still references stylistically their traditional leather garments and Harari women’s dress, although enhanced with imported cloth, remains similar in size and shape to the costume encountered by Burton during his travels. While filigree and repousse jewelry became popular during the Egyptian occupation and foreign and local metallurgists incorporated foreign designs into existing patterns, locally-produced jewelry types, including metallic, leather, and beaded necklaces and earrings persist and are still wom today. The unique hairnet of the Oromo and Harari has also endured since before the time of Burton, The fact that these aspects of dress have survived through the Egyptian upheaval and the ensuing incorporation of Harar into the Ethiopian empire, suggests that a woman's decorated body is an important vehicle through which the past can be tangibly summoned especially at moments of crisis when identity is called into question. In the century since Egyptian rule, an influx of new commodities and events have further defined how ‘women adom themselves. Hand-woven dresses like the Oromo saddemta, are today made from Ethiopian ‘or Japanese factory cloth. Gold, having been discavered in the streams af Oromo villages, began replacing silver at the turn of the century, becoming the jewelry of choice among urban Harari and Somali women. Today, the main thoroughfare in Harar has ten gold shops. The sprawling contraband market, nicknamed ‘Taiwan, is full of inexpensive manufactured shirts and scarves that are smuggled weekly from the coast. In Taiwan Market, Oromo and Harari women have locally tailored dresses sewn. One of the most fashionable styles today is a rayon dress with a tight-fitted bodice and full skirt called masshini after the sewing machine used in its creation. Its skirt is sewn into permanent pleats that were once created throughthe tight twisting of cloth for the Oromo saddetta. And the traditional facial tattoos dyed into the skin along the bridge of the nose, between the eyebrows and along the cheeks, are being recast by imported pink and red nail polish. Some might argue that the limited means once experienced by rural women in Hararghe have been replaced today by outside innovation, transforming local Oromo, Somali, and Harari dress categories into an emergent modem Ethiopian aesthetic. To some degree, Hararghe women’s zesthetic systems are changing. However, from this discussion, the important role costume has played and continues to playas a visual proprietor of the historical past for the cultures in eastern Ethiopia cannot be underestimated. As thas been demonstrated, dress embodies a rich, social vocabulary that is firmly rooted in tradition, Notes: * Peri M. Klemm, Emory University Works Cited: Abbas Ahmed. 1992. "A Historical Study of the City-State of Harar (1 795-1875)" MA Thesis. Addis ‘Ababa University. Barker, W.C. 1842. "Extract Report on the Probable Geographical Position of Harrar, with Some Information Relative to the Various Tribes in the Vicinity" In: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 12, (238-244). Burton, Richard Francis. 1855, "Narrative of Trip to Harar" In: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 25, (136-150). 1856 [1987]. First Footsteps in East Africa. Vol. Land Il. New York: Dover Publications. Caulk, Richard A. 1971. "The Occupation of Harar: January 1887" In: The Journal of Ethiopian Studies 9, (1-19). 1977., "Harar Town in the Nineteenth Century and its Neighbours in the Nineteenth Century" In: Journal of African History 18:3, (369-386). Gibb, Camilla. 1996, Religion, Politics and Gender in Harar, Ethiopia. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Oxford. Hecht, Elisabeth-Dorothea. 1982. "Harar and Lamu: a Comparison of two East African Muslim Societies". In: Paper presented at the international Symposium on History and Ethnography in Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. Mohammed Hassen, 1973, The Relation between Harar and the Surrounding Oromo Between 1800-1887. B.A. Thesis, Haile Selassie University, 1973. 1980. "Menelik’s Conquest of Harar, 1887, and its Effect on the Political Organization of the Surrounding Oromos Up ta 1900". In: Working Papers on Society and History in Imperial Ethiopia: The Souther Periphery from the 1880's to 1974. ed. by D.L. Donham and Wendy James. Cambridge: African Studies Center (28-246), Moktar, Muhammad, 1876. "Notes sur le Pays de Harrar" In: Bulletin de la Societe Khediviale de Geographie 2, (351-397),the tight twisting of cloth for the Oromo saddetta. And the traditional facial tattoos dyed into the skin along the bridge of the nose, between the eyebrows and along the cheeks, are being recast by imported pink and red nail polish. Some might argue that the limited means once experienced by rural women in Hararghe have been replaced today by outside innovation, transforming local Oromo, Somali, and Harari dress categories into an emergent modem Ethiopian aesthetic. To some degree, Hararghe women’s zesthetic systems are changing. However, from this discussion, the important role costume has played and continues to playas a visual proprietor of the historical past for the cultures in eastern Ethiopia cannot be underestimated. As thas been demonstrated, dress embodies a rich, social vocabulary that is firmly rooted in tradition, Notes: * Peri M. Klemm, Emory University Works Cited: Abbas Ahmed. 1992. "A Historical Study of the City-State of Harar (1 795-1875)" MA Thesis. Addis ‘Ababa University. Barker, W.C. 1842. "Extract Report on the Probable Geographical Position of Harrar, with Some Information Relative to the Various Tribes in the Vicinity" In: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 12, (238-244). Burton, Richard Francis. 1855, "Narrative of Trip to Harar" In: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 25, (136-150). 1856 [1987]. First Footsteps in East Africa. Vol. Land Il. New York: Dover Publications. Caulk, Richard A. 1971. "The Occupation of Harar: January 1887" In: The Journal of Ethiopian Studies 9, (1-19). 1977., "Harar Town in the Nineteenth Century and its Neighbours in the Nineteenth Century" In: Journal of African History 18:3, (369-386). Gibb, Camilla. 1996, Religion, Politics and Gender in Harar, Ethiopia. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Oxford. Hecht, Elisabeth-Dorothea. 1982. "Harar and Lamu: a Comparison of two East African Muslim Societies". In: Paper presented at the international Symposium on History and Ethnography in Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. Mohammed Hassen, 1973, The Relation between Harar and the Surrounding Oromo Between 1800-1887. B.A. Thesis, Haile Selassie University, 1973. 1980. "Menelik’s Conquest of Harar, 1887, and its Effect on the Political Organization of the Surrounding Oromos Up ta 1900". In: Working Papers on Society and History in Imperial Ethiopia: The Souther Periphery from the 1880's to 1974. ed. by D.L. Donham and Wendy James. Cambridge: African Studies Center (28-246), Moktar, Muhammad, 1876. "Notes sur le Pays de Harrar" In: Bulletin de la Societe Khediviale de Geographie 2, (351-397),Figure 1. Figure 1. Somali Woman ( Briechetti-Robecchi 1896: 356 )Figure 2. Figure 2. Drawing of Young Oromo Women Working ( Bricchetti-Robecchi 1896: 221)Figure 3. Oromo Girls ( Paulitschke 1888: tbl. 28 )Figure 4 Figure 4. A Harari Woman (Paulitschke 1888: tbl. 38)