Subtitle: Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa
Author: John Sorenson
Subject: African Studies
Paper ISBN 0-8135-1973-X
Pages: 185 pp.

"Sorenson takes a unique perspective in looking at Ethiopia in history as well as in contemporary discourse. Will appeal to a general audience interested in Africa, Ethiopia or how the media has covered Africa both in history and in more contemporary times."--Edmond J. Keller, University of California, Los Angeles

"A skillfully executed critical analysis . . . a powerful work of historical significance and of value to students and researchers . . . as well as international aid donors."--Jordan Gebre-Medhin, Northeastern University

"A distinctive discourse on the cultural history of both internal and international elements of uneven development and dominance in the Horn of Africa."--Timothy M. Shaw, Dalhousie University

"Sorenson's fine book enables us to contrast the reality of the triumph of Eritrean nationalism with the bogus construction by European scholars of an Ethiopian empire reaching back. . . some 400 years. This is one of the most important additions to Horn of Africa scholarship in recent years."--Roy Pateman, author of Eritrea: Even the Stones are Burning

In Imagining Ethiopia, Sorenson examines Western mass media images of Ethiopia, placing them in the context of a larger discourse on the Third World. Sorenson shows how our image of Ethiopia has been developed by reporters and photographers who blamed the famine on African backwardness and ignored its historical and political causes, which include a colonial history, militarization, and the circumstances of Africa's integration into the world market.

John Sorenson is a Research Associate at the Centre for Refugee Studies of York University and at the Disaster Research Unit of the University of Manitoba.