This summer, Heritage Watch Association Ethiopia (HW) partnered with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa University) to locate and interview individuals who survived the Yekatit 12 massacre and sought shelter at the American Gebbi (Merkato).
The story of how the American Gebbi in Addis Ababa served as a site of refuge for hundreds of refugees in 1937 is a little-known historical moment and not a focus of scholarly attention. In recent years, there has been a desire to shift beyond the grand narrative of Yekatit 12 and to include the stories of ordinary Ethiopians who experienced it.
The project team has been publicizing a call for individuals to share their testimonies — their own or recollections of their family members or community contacts — that focuses on the role of American Gebbi under the U.S. Ambassador Cornelius Van Engert. The research, led by historians at IES, will facilitate individual or group oral history interviews, following professional ethical standards. The objective is to help preserve the public memory of survivors at the American Gebbi in the Mercato neighborhood and its importance to Addis Ababa heritage.
Community-based research is an emerging research approach in Ethiopian knowledge-making and an exciting one for Heritage Watch Association as it strives to do its work in collecting narratives around Addis Ababa and the making of Addis Ababa. By elevating public memory and individual testimony, through carefully conducted oral history interviews, these forms of heritage will be recorded and available as wisdom and insight for present and future generations. This research strategy has been to focus on a few individuals and organizations that may have relevant information.
If you or someone you know was a witness to this historical event, there are two opportunities to participate: Contact Heritage Watch Association about setting up a time to share your knowledge and arrange an interview. This project is generously supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia.
Heritage Watch Association is a civil society, non-profit and non-political organization. HW acts as a resource center that supports the production of educational tools to advance Ethiopian urban heritage. Their programmatic focus is dedicated to featuring local Addis Ababa history, via projects such as producing virtual tours, and supporting spaces for intergenerational conversations and engagement with heritage through recently launched heritage clubs and toolkit.
Learn more at hwethiopia.org or @heritageET
CONTACT
Bethelehem Gebremedhen, Project Coordinator, bethigebre3@gmail.com, +251(0)912358998
