on some unpublished material regarding eritrean social history: the trevaskis papers in the bodleian...

On Some Unpublished Material Regarding Eritrean Social History: The Trevaskis Papers in theBodleian LibraryAuthor(s): Irma TaddiaSource: Northeast African Studies, New Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1997), pp. 7-18Published by: Michigan State University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41931175 .

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On Some Unpublished Material Regarding Eritrean Social History : The JYevaskis

Papers in the Bodleian Library

Irma Taddia Università degli studi di Bologna

Few documents are as totally unknown to scholars as the Trevaskis papers kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.1 Ignored by historians of modern African history, they provide a useful and, in many respects, unique background for the social history of Eritrea.2 My aim in this note is to present the material systematically and to consider more carefully only those documents which deal with the social history of Eritrea, since I believe that they should be made known to a wider group of scholars.

The Trevaskis papers are the most important of all available documents for an understanding of the agrarian history of the colony. They are central to the study of the land tenure system of the Eritrean highlands throughout the precolonial period as well as to an observation of the changes effected during colonialism. Furthermore, they incorporate a large amount of information on the Eritrean lowlands and their nomadic populations, as well as political material dealing with Eritrean issues from the 1940s to 1950s.

These papers form a private collection in the Bodleian Library; in order to consult and reproduce them, scholars must obtain special per- mission from the Trevaskis family.3 The material is divided into two different boxes: Box 1 concerns six items related mainly to the social history of the colony; Box 2 deals with two items regarding political matters during the period of British Military Administration.4

® Northeast African Studies (ISSN 0740-9133) Vol. 4, No. 2 (New Series) 1997, pp. 7-18

7



8 Irma läddia

Boxes I and 2, 1 944- 1 951: Eritrea

Box 1: 1944 and n.d. Papers by Tťevaskis about Eritrea:

Typescripts and Preparatory Material

Item 1: 1944. The Hamasien: A Social Survey. The typescript is annotated by Trevaskis and the introduction is signed by him and dated 10 August 1944. Pp. 168, with maps, diagrams, photographs.

Item 2: n.d. The Tribes and Peoples of Northern Eritrea: A Survey of the Keren Division Book 1: The Peoples:

Part 1: The Tigre-speaking peoples Part 2 : The Belein-speaking peoples Part 3 : The Tigrinya-speaking peoples.

Book 2: The Administration Five Appendices. Pp.119 and two pages of manuscript notes on Keren town. Statistics.

Item 3: n.d. Eritrean Tribes. Typescript notes. Pp. 16. Statistics and other relevant material including statements concerning the history of tribes, translation from the Arabic, list of Tigre words and

phrases. Manuscript notes. Pp. 31.

Item 4: n.d. Notes of Guidance for the District Officer in Eritrea. Pp. 70. The preface is signed by Kennedy Trevaskis, Major.

Item 5: n.d. The former Italian Colony of Eritrea: Parts land U. Typescript. Pp. 220.

Part I: The Background provided by environment and history. Part H: The inhabitants of Eritrea.

Item 6: n.d. Three photographs, which include Trevaskis and members of his family.

Box 2: Eritrea : Reports , 1948-1951

Item 1: 1948 Four Power Commission of Investigation of the Former Italian Colonies. Vol.1, Report on Eritrea.



'IYevaskis Papers in the Bodleian Library 9

Item 2: 1951. Cyclostyled volume of papers concerning the appointment of the United Nations' Commissioner in Eritrea, following a resolution (December, 1950) of the General Assembly.

Chapter I The Historical Background Chapter n Activities of the Commissioner

Chapter in Developments in Eritrea The pages are numbered 5-176.5

The documentation highlighted here deals with the Eritrean highlands, particularly their social history. This topic has not been fiilly researched in contemporary studies, although relevant material dating back to the colonial period and written by anthropologists and historians working for the colonial government does exist.6 Furthermore, we have to consider the number of unpublished documents kept in Italian Archives which, although useful and informative, have not been proper- ly exploited.7 Most of these sources, however, deal with administrative, legal, and political problems, with the notable exception of the files of the "Istituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare" in Florence which contain valuable material on land tenure issues.8

Eritrea would thus appear to be a poorly researched area, a subject under-investigated until recently in contemporary literature on Ethiopian social and agrarian history. Recent studies on the area main-

ly focus on central and southern Ethiopia, leaving aside the former Italian colony. There are few exceptions to this rule in contemporary social history.9 This is particularly disappointing for research on colonialism and on the changes brought about by colonial domination, given the fact that Eritrea is the only area of Ethiopia to have been colonized for a long period of time. For this reason, Trevaskis's material is particularly valuable; it offers us a dimension of Italian colonialism in its social and economic policy, the importance of which, I feel, should be stressed.

Box 1, Item 1: TheHamasien: A Social Survey, 1944, is the main study we have on the land tenure system conducted during colonialism. The analysis and documentation on this particular area of the highlands, the Hamasien, are striking for the attention paid to social detail, and constitute a source never before used by scholars.10 Completing this material are 53 maps of the region's principal villages, the distribution of land and population, the system of shifting agriculture, and patterns of migration.



10 Irma Thãdia

Part one deals with the Hamasien village, "an understanding of which must be first essential to any proper knowledge of local administra-

tion,"11 and the evolution of land tenure at village level. Chapter 1 highlights the passage from shifting cultivation to permanent agriculture and the long-term historical basis on which Hamasien society rested.12 Chapter 2 introduces the main topic of the whole documentation: the development of the land tenure system inside village society.13

Trevaskis describes the different forms of land tenure of the Hamasien community as expressions of its social evolution. The inalien- able property is called restì and belongs to the extended family or enda; individual property, tselmi, on the contrary, is a tenure in which the extensive restì of the head of the community is divided up among his successors and held by the individual members of the household. Another form was widespread in the highlands at the time of Trevaskis'

survey, the dessà system or collective tenure by the village members, without any reference to ownership. Trevaskis' description is precise: whether the land was held in dessà or restì or tselmi, the village was

managed in the same way and was divided into three separate parts: residential areas, pasture, and arable lands. The Hamasien also developed irregular forms of land tenure, such as worki (purchased lands), church land, and eggi (lands occupied more than forty years) which remained intact in some areas of the highlands. The author's arguments and sur-

veys are supported by diagrams14 illustrating in detail the development of tenure from the individual to communal (from tselmi to dessà). In all the highland areas the evolution from individual property to collective land tenure was quite marked during colonialism and considered by Trevaskis himself as a form of local democracy.

Chapter 3 provides a useful and detailed account of the agricultural calendar of the Hamasien area while chapter 4 is an account of the political organization of the highland village.15 Finally, chapter 5 describes the management and control of residential areas.16

Hamasien Society, part two of this unpublished work, is divided into four chapters dealing with the regions of the Hamasien (Dembezan, Dekki Tescim, Carnescim, and the satellite peoples). All the chapters combine information on the political history with details about the administrative system and social organization. The final pages outline the main economic and social problems created by Italian agricultural



1 Vevaskis Papers in the Bodleian Library 11

policy. During the 1940s the most developed area was the medribahri on the eastern edge, for which Trevaskis provides maps of the population and cultivated areas.17 Another developed region was the plateau, although the main characteristics of the whole period during which Trevaskis conducted his fieldwork was a food deficit caused by low agricultural production, a feature we can extend to the entire region.18

Of the same value are other documents kept in this collection. Box 1, Item 2: The Tribes and Peoples of Northern Eritrea: A Survey of the Keren Division is a typescript of 119 pages with maps and statistical appendices. It is divided into two books, without a date. The introduction covers general information about the "commissariato" of Keren during the Italian period as well as some historical background.19

Part one of Book 1 deals with the Tigre-speaking people.20 Trevaskis takes into account the history of the population (Bet Asghede, Sahel tribes, Mensa, and Maria), the social organization and the economy, as well as the law and customs of the Tigre-speaking peoples. In comparison to the item on Hamasien, this study is more descriptive, providing a useful background for general historical studies. Chapter 3 in part 1 highlights the main differences in political structure and social organization of the Tigre-speaking people. Since these communities were tribal societies, the main distinction among them rested on the degree to which the territorial principle was more important than kinship as the basis of social organization. Only the highlands population had a different structure and a clearly defined territorial setting during the colonial period, the time of Trevaskis's analysis. The Keren division was a halfway point between the plateau and the lowlands.

Following the analysis of the main social organization, we find a description of the aristocratic structure of the Tigre-speaking people and the main division among them into Tigre (or serfs) and Shumagalle ( the ruling class). A table of the main duties of Tigre is provided in the documentation.21

Trevaskis's survey does not offer details of economic structure; this is, in my opinion, the main flaw of the material.22 The economic and social organization of the Tigre-speaking people is not particularly well known, although some works written during colonialism do exist.23 Regarding the law and customs of the people described in this chapter, Trevaskis emphasizes an aspect which is also common to other African



12 Irma Thãdia

Muslim populations: the lack of respect of Islamic law on the part of African people and the persistence of a pre-Muslim order. This process is related to the Mensa as well as Maria peoples, in comparison with other Tigre-speaking people who accepted Islamic law to a larger extent

The analysis of lhe Belein-speaking people is developed in part 2.24 The organization and the structure of the information are the same: following a brief introduction of the history of the population, the Bet Tarke and the Bet Tauque (including genealogical maps), Trevaskis describes the Belein as a kind of kinship society divided into the ruling class and subordinates.25 Although Trevaskis provides an extensive survey rather than a detailed account, he provides important, if limited, information about colonialism for this area. A systematic anthropological survey of all Eritrean populations was never conducted, although useful field studies on certain areas were commissioned by the Italian colonial government. Trevaskis's study is the only available document on social history and anthropology during the British period.

Part 3 of this file deals with the Tigrinya-speaking people,26 who

mostly share the same political and social organization as the people of Hamasien described earlier. This is ,in my opinion, the most interesting material, because the Tigrinya people are certainly the best known by Trevaskis himself, as we have seen in his study on the Hamasien. For the social organization of this area and for its land tenure we can refer to the previous survey of the plateau; this new documentation adds only a few details on the customs and law of the Tigrinya people living in the Keren area.27

Book 2 of the same item concerns administration and colonial law in the Keren district and also provides a brief outline of the precolonial period.28 The Italian government developed a different political organization for the tribes living in this area: at the beginning they accepted the existing residential units, but they later created new social units in response to the persistent demands for autonomy which disturbed the political equilibrium. The split between different tribes, promoted by the colonial administration in order to control the population living inside the Eritrean borders, appears to be the main change in the Keren district during colonialism.

Although interesting, Trevaskis's notes on law and justice are not particularly original, if compared to the documents we can find in



Tïevaskis Papers in the Bodleian Library 13

Italian archives.29 They constitute only a brief survey of the Italian colonial system; the documentation is limited, and the work is certainly not written from first hand experience. The best material we have on this area is that related to "Land administration."30

Unlike the Hamasien district, private land ownership did not exist in the Keren division. Although division into private different plots was uncommon, land tenure evolved over time and many changes affected the area during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when settled

agriculture began to spread. In the Keren division we find different modes of production expressed in different tenures: the first is the pastoral organization, in which tribal communities established occupancy rights over a vague and poorly defined area, establishing firmer collective rights over particular patches of cleared land as cultivation began. Secondly, the semi-pastoral stage, in which a certain part of tribal estates was divided between the various sections of the tribe, and finally the settled agricultural stage in which the estates held collectively were split into individual family holdings. At the same time "the forms of tenure developed from the collective holding by the tribe to collective holding by the section and thence to individual holding of the household."31 We can see that the main development in land tenure in the Keren district was from collective tenure to some form of private ownership.

Another change that affected some areas of the lowlands was the creation of vast state properties ( terre demaniali ) during Italian colonialism which contributed to dissolving tribal land patterns in all areas. Both these changes, the creation of large estates and the division of tribal land, represent the main impact of Italian colonialism.

The British Military Administration did not really change the land tenure system of the former Italian colony. It was obliged to accept the existing situation of land tenure and land administration because of the lack of civil servants and shortage of funds for implementing reforms. Eritrea was conceived by the British as a temporary colony, and few efforts were made to develop the economic and social situation. The main change in the colonial economy was caused by the British policy of "laissez faire" and also by the initiatives of Italian settlers in developing industries and trade.32

The main contribution of the Trevaskis papers to the history of the Italian colony is found in the appendices available in each of the files. In



14 Irma 1 hddia

them we have access to a large apparatus of statistics, diagrams, maps, and photographs which illustrate in detail Eritrean society during British colonialism.33 Trevaskis's documentation stands out as the most valuable for an understanding of the main social changes caused by colonialism.

The last documents concerning this note are to be found in Item three: Eritrean Tribes , containing manuscripts and typescripts (pp. 1-31 and 1-116 respectively), without a date. Many documents on the lowland peoples are connected with Item two. The first part of this material (manuscript pp. 1-31) deals with the Beni Amer tribes on the border of Sudan and Eritrea. The second part (typescript pp. 1-116) is a survey of the Beni Amer leadership and provides some detailed descriptions of their conditions during colonialism. Part of this documentation also concerns the transfer of the Hamasien tribes from the highlands to the lowlands.

If we consider all of Trevaskis's documentation, the description of Beni Amer and other lowland people appears to be quite valuable. It should be pointed out here that there is a lack of documents on the lowland people during colonialism.34 The Italian colonial government priv- ileged the people of the plateau in order to increase the agriculture of the highlands and ignored pastoral society, which was not considered as important in colonial development schemes. Consequently, the Eritrean highlands were studied more carefully by colonial civil servants in comparison to lowland regions. This policy was quite common to other ex- colonial powers in Africa. For this reason, Trevaskis's notes constitute an important background to the leadership in the lowlands and are pre- cious for our knowledge of a changing society.

This note is too brief to reference the treasure trove of detailed information in the Trevaskis papers. They include long lists of names, genealogies, family histories, conflicts, and rivalries among the lowland

population. Perhaps some documents are too detailed and without sig- nificance for historians, and certainly belong more to the histoire événe- mentielle than to social history. Trevaskis's interest in collecting source material led him to register all aspects of daily life, such as words and sentences used by the populations, as well as private and family histories. Nevertheless, I believe that this material can be used as a valid historical source and ought to be fully exploited. Some comments on the leadership of Beni Amer are the most significant documents on the social structure which colonialism was to modify and change radically.



Drevaskis Papers in the Bodleian Library 15

If we consider all three items analyzed here, the Hamasien report is

by far the more important for historians from a methodological point of view. As well as being a valid source of information, the survey included in Item 1 is also a monograph which gives us an interpretation of documents collected in field research. Items 2 and 3 contain valid data for Eritrean history during colonialism, but they do not provide structured source material. In any case, for different reasons, all documents are worthy of consideration by scholars. The quantity of data collected by Trevaskis and more particularly the nature of the material itself, is sur- prising.

Some questions should be raised here: did Trevaskis conduct his field work himself or did he obtain the material directly from informants? It is difficult to answer this question today. The main part of the documentation is a survey conducted in the field during the British occupa- tion and constitute an original achievement because we possess very few documents on the topic of agriculture to which Trevaskis could refer. At this point, it seems irrelevant who conducted this field research, whether Trevaskis or not. These documents are an invaluable source of information on a relatively unknown period in Eritrean history.

The nature of the Trevaskis papers is different from other available material: the documentation and data were collected specifically for the British Administration. Trevaskis's account of Eritrea certainly had a political aim, and it was commissioned by the authorities to enable them to understand and modify existing agricultural policies and the land tenure system. The Hamasien district, with Asmara as the main town, was the most important area of the entire colony and, therefore, the author's interest is concentrated there. Even though this study was done during British colonialism, it is an account of Italian administration and rule. In fact it studies the rural communities, modified by Italian colonialism, at the beginning of a new policy imposed by the British government which was more attracted by the idea of developing an industrial policy in the area.35 Written before these new events, this survey can therefore be considered as a final account on Italian land tenure policy.

It seems that the importance of this material lies in combining a general framework on highland agriculture and social structure with more detailed, structured data of the regional colonial setting. Both kinds of information are valuable for an understanding of Eritrean highlands



16 Irma 1 hddia

society before and during colonialism. Trevaskis's general approach is to make a diachronic survey of village society- from precolonial to colonial times-an approach which is unusual in studies relating to the area. The little material we have related to this topic is mainly concerned with an

anthropological and synchronic view of society.36 This seems to constitute the most interesting aspect of Trevaskis's notes.

The Bodleian papers also deal with political issues - not considered in detail in my note - and contain some relevant documentation which is

interesting because of Trevaskis's crucial role during the 1940s (see Items 4, 5, 6 of Box 1 and Items 1 and 2 of Box 2). This material is relevant for reconstructing Eritrean policy during the fundamental years of British rule and is particularly valuable given the fact that many items in the London Public Record Office are still closed . During the British

period Eritrea underwent fundamental political development for its

future, and political parties developed. We can refer to Trevaskis' material once more as a background for Eritrean politics during the British

Military Administration. Trevaskis himself published part of those

preparatory notes and studies in a monograph on Eritrea,37 but we assume that further material can be found on political matters in this file. All this contributes to providing more detail about the colony whose

history is yet to be fully investigated.

Notes

1. See Papers of Sir Kennedy Trevaskis , Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS Brit. Emp., s 367, Boxes 1 and 2, 1944-1951, Eritrea.

2. A survey of Trevaskis's material was conducted in my paper presented at the VII International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, November 1984. See I. Taddia, The Land Tenure System in the Eritrean Highlands according to European Colonial Sources, in T. Beyene, ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa: Huntingdon, 1988). This presentation deals only with a part of the Trevaskis papers on Eritrea relating to agricultural issues.

3. I would like to express my gratitude to Sir J. K. Trevaskis for giving me per- mission to consult and reproduce his private papers for my research, during the period 1983-1984.

4. See a brief outline of Trevaskis* papers and his life in the documentation quoted above. Trevaskis gained vast experience in colonial administration in Eritrea, Rhodesia and Aden. In addition to the Bodleian material on Eritrea, we can find a series of letters written by Trevaskis to Dr. Rita Hinden during



1 Yevaskis Papers in the Bodleian Library 1 7

the years 1945-1948 about developments in Eritrean politics in Box 180/3 of the Fabian Bureau Collection (Rhodes House Library, MSS Brit. Emp., s 365).

5. The complete collection of the Bodleian Library covers the years 1944-1966 and is kept in six Boxes; only the first two concern Eritrean issues, the rest of the material deals with Aden.

6. Although the list of works is longer, we may cite in this context: C. Conti- Rossini, Principi di diritto consuetudinario dell'Eritrea (Roma 1916); A. Pollera, Il regime della proprietà terriera in Etiopia e nella colonia Eritrea , (Roma 1913); A. Omodeo, V. Peglion, G. Valenti, La colonia Eritrea , (Roma 1913).

7. The main Archives for Italian former colonies are those in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome and the Istituto Agronomico per V Oltremare in Florence.

8. My published research on Eritrea includes a long list of documents kept in this important archive in Florence. See I. Taddia, UEritrea-colonia 1890- 1952: Paesaggi , strutture, uomini del colonialismo (Milano 1986), 386-389, which deals with a bibliography on land tenure and agriculture.

9. Among recent studies on Eritrea dealing with peasant society during colonialism see: T. Negash, Italian Colonialism in Eritrea, 1882-1941: Policies, Praxis and Impact (Uppsala 1987); Yemane Mesghenna, Italian Colonialism: A Case Study of Eritrea, 1869-1934 (Lund 1988); J. Gabre Medhin, Peasants and Nationalism in Eritrea (Trenton 1989).

10. I emphasized this point in my work on Eritrea: UEritrea-colonia 1890-1952, quoted above. Recent literature on Eritrea dealing with agricultural problems, does not cite Trevaskis's papers, surprisingly. See for example all the works cited in note 9 above.

11. See Trevaskis Papers , Box 1, Item 1, quoted above, p. 2. 12. Ibid., 4-10. 13. Ibid., 10-22. 14. Ibid., 16-21. 15. Ibid., 23-46. 16. Ibid., 47-55. 17. Ibid., 167-68. 18. Ibid., 165-66. 19. Ibid., Box 1, Item 2, 1-10. 20. Ibid., 12-36. 21. Ibid., 116. 22. For a brief account on economics see: ibid., 31-32. 23. See F. S. Nadel, Races and Tribes of Eritrea, (Asmara 1944), unpublished

survey kept in London Public Record Office, FO 371/35658 and Idem., Eritrea and her Neighbours, Ibid., FO 371/35658 XC/ A/4882. See also K. G. Roden, Le tribù dei Mensa: Storia, leggi e costumi, 2 vols. (Asmara 1913).

24. Trevaskis papers, Box 1, Item 2, quoted above, 38-64. 25. Ibid., 49-54. 26. Ibid., 65-78. 27. Ibid., 72-78. The bulk of documentation on the Tigrinya people is included

in the documents on Hamasien quoted above.



18 Irma Tàddia

28. Ibid., Box 1, Item 2, 79-92. 29. Particularly in the files kept in the Istituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare ,

Florence and in the Archivio Eritrea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome. For a complete survey of this material concerning land issues and agricultural transformation policies during colonialism see the bibliographic appendix in my work on Eritrea, quoted in note 7.

30. Ibid., 87-92. 31. Ibid., 88. 32. Few studies are available on the British period. The history of Eritrea dur-

ing this crucial time has still to be researched. Most of the material in the Public Record Office in London needs to be consulted but many files had been closed until the middle of this decade. The most useful work on Eritrea during the British Administration is still Trevaskis' book: J. K. Trevaskis, Eritrea: A Colony in Transition, 1941-1952 (Oxford 1960).

33. See Trevaskis Papers, Box 1, Item 2, 93-119. 34. The main literature on the lowland people is provided by British civil ser-

vants; Italians made veiy few studies on lowland Eritrea. See S. F. Nadel, Races and Tribes , quoted above; Idem, "Notes on the Beni Amer Society," Sudan Notes and Records , 26, (1945): 51-94; A. Paul, "Notes on the Beni Amer," Ibid. 31 (1950): 223-45; W. T. Clark," Manners, Customs, and Beliefs of the Northern Beja," ibid., 31 (1938): 1-29; A. Paul, A History of the Beja Tribes (Cambridge 1954).

35. Among the studies on the British period along with Trevaskis book we may quote: M. Perham, The Government of Ethiopia (London 1958); A. Infante, Rassegna tecnica delle industrie eritree (Asmara 1947); Idem, Economia eritrea: Raccolta di relazioni compilate durante il settimo anno di occupazione britannica (Roma 1948).

36. The most interesting survey on highland agriculture during colonialism is: S. F. Nadel, "Land Tenure on the Eritrean Plateau," Africa 16 (1946): 1-22; for a bibliography on agriculture issues see Taddia, L'Eritrea Colonia , quoted above.

37. See Trevaskis, Eritrea: A Colony in Transition , quoted above.



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