Language Policy, Politics, and Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia: Looking Beyond Pedagogical and Linguistic Objectives

The chapter through an analysis of policies, federal and regional constitutions, curriculum, and interviews explores the relationship between Ethiopian language policy and ethnolinguistic politics. The language policy has been used to shape ethnic-based federalism. The shared linguistic background was a key criterion for setting regional boundaries and the basis for naming regional states. As a linguistic background was at the center of federalism in making in post-1991 Ethiopia, the political agenda has been the driving force behind the linguistic and pedagogical objectives. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2018, used the language policy and federal structure to forcefully incorporate land resources into its domain, sidelining the consent of local people. Prosperity Party (PP) has adopted the same model and used the language policy to control resources and expand Oromia toward Addis Ababa, severely jeopardizing the rights of other ethnic groups. Overall, the politicalized nature of the language policy and its focus on population size has led to a country that appears to be the country of only Oromo, Amhara, and Tigray, with more than 75 other ethnic groups silenced in the political debates taking place at the regional and national levels. This has created unnecessary competition and undermined cooperation and genuine multiculturalism while reinforcing ethnic divide. Hence, the language policy has been inefficient in any pedagogical and linguistic parameters.