The Logic of a Generation-Set System and Age-Set System: Reconsidering the Structural Problem of the Gadaa System of the Borana-Oromo

Abstract

This article reconsiders the “structural problem” or “demographic contradiction” of the gadaa system of the Borana based on prior research. The Borana are Oromo-speaking pastoralists in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. They have two age systems: one is a generation-set system with grades called gadaa, and the other an age-set system called hariya. The gadaa is well known as one of the most complicated age systems in Ethiopian studies and social anthropology. The generation-set continues to recruit members after initiation so that the age gap between members expands over time. Previous studies claim that the age gap makes the age system malfunction, because of the inefficiency to mobilize members. Therefore, previous studies regard the age gap as a structural problem of the gadaa system. In this article, I focus on narratives of the age gap that the Borana express, which prior research has ignored. I conclude that the age gap is indispensable for the gadaa system and is not a structural problem.