Ethiopia - A Lifetime of Dramatic Change Lecture

Ethiopia - A Lifetime of Dramatic Change

Christopher Clapham

Christopher Clapham first visited Ethiopia as a student in 1962, and returned to work for a PhD on Ethiopian government under Emperor Haile Sellassie, based at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in what was then Haile Sellassie I University, between 1963 and 1966.

He then stayed on to teach in the newly established Law School. Travel to Ethiopia for Western academics was effectively barred after the 1974 revolution, but he was able to get back for the tenth anniversary of the revolution in 1984, after which he taught in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Addis Ababa University. Since then, he has been able to visit Ethiopia on a fairly regular basis.

In this talk, he will share some reminiscences of life in Ethiopia under the Emperor and the Derg, through to the arrival of the EPRDF government in 1991.

The Anglo-Ethiopian Society is affiliated to the University of London’s Centre of African Studies (CAS) and all of our events at SOAS are co-hosted with CAS.