SUMMARY
The Tishana–Me’en people number around 50 000 and mainly reside in present-day Meanit woreda in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region’s Bench Maji zone, in south-western Ethiopia. The area inhabited by the group is largely an intermediate highland zone of between 1100 and 1800 meters altitude, but some Tishana–Me’en also reside along the valley of the Shorum River further down. In the higher areas, the group practices shifting cultivation of sorghum and maize, with most of the agricultural work carried out collectively by work-teams made up of relatives and neighbours. The mobility of the group is great, and both fields and homesteads are changed frequently. Apart from agriculture, the Tishana–Me’en also practices hunting and gathering and animal husbandry.
Both the Tishana–Me’en’s economic base and area of residence are relatively new to the group. Until the late 1800s, the Tishana–Me’en were agro-pastoralists and inhabited the low-land area along the Omo River, south of their present location. However, due to ecological problems such as the arrival of rinderpest and the expansion of the tsetse fly, large portions of the population in the area migrated north, inter-mingled with the predominantly agricultural population and subsequently adapted to their new home region’s ecological niche by changing their livelihood. The part of the group that remained on the Omo plains, the so-called Bodi–Me’en, retained their traditional way of life and are still viewed by the Tishana–Me’en as being more “real Me’en”.
Leadership in the group is vested among the elders, especially those from certain old clans. As among many other groups in the region, the traditional religious leaders as well as beliefs of the Tishana–Me’en lost influence during the Derg (the Narxist-Leninist military council that ruled the country between 1974 and 1991) era, with the Addis Ababa regime discouraging and sometimes prohibiting the practices. However, even though the former so-called “komorut” (rain chiefs) no longer has any formal power, they still serve an important role as mediators in e.g. homicide compensation settlements.
The Tishana–Me’en’s relations with neighbouring groups are mixed and have changed over time. In the past the group put up fierce resistance against the northern Addis Ababa regimes and was feared among their neighbours in the region, who viewed them as killers and raiders. They have now lost much of their power. Presently, the Tishana–Me’en’s have a relatively good relationship with their Dizi neighbours to the south, with whom they share certain cultural and socio-economic similarities and tend to inter-marry with. In contrast, they view the pastoralist Suri, to the south-west, as traditional enemies, due largely to the fact that the latter group intermittently carries out raids against them. This is also the case with the related Bodi–Me’en.
The Tishana–Me’en have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
