The Role of Oromoo Nation on Aduwa Victory: A Discourse Analysis of Artist Hachalu Hundessa’s Song

Abstract

Even if Adowa victory was a victory of a Black Africans force over a White Europeans army globally, there are disparate views regarding its interpretation in general and the contribution of Oromoo people in particular. Paradoxically, the roles of Oromoo ethnic group in Adowa victory were not recognized in the past. Due to this, Adowa victory has contradiction meanings as it has different connotation for different peoples. Based on this, this study had two fold objectives. It narrated the role of Oromoo ethnic group in Adowa victory based on artist Hachalu Hundessa’s song. It also examined how Adowa victory is interpreted from Oromoo perspective. The study used mainly secondary data source and purposeful interview based on the principle of saturation to determine sample size. After critically examined how Adowa is interpreted from Oromoo perspective, this study showed that there is a significant changes across time, particularly, between Pre-Hachalu song (pre-2018) and Post Hachalu song on 123rd Adowa victory celebration. The study as well revealed that though the Oromoo nation played central role for the victory to be achieved, there is failure in giving realistic recognition and this leads to echoing uncertain thoughts intentionally for one’s own personal purposes, particularly by ethno-political elites.