Tuesday, January 12, 2021 Accidental American: From Proud Ethiopian to "Naturalized US-ian
The Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Divsion hosted a book talk, "Accidental American: From Proud Ethiopian to 'Naturalized US-ian'" by author Yonnas Kefle. Kefle wrote his autobiography as part of the huge Ethiopian history hitherto unknown and aspired to present it to the world. The outcome is a 630-page compendium beginning with his personal ethnological link with royalty, of his ethnic lineages, the beginning of the unity of Ethiopia continuing to the period of student rebellion in which he himself participated, and finally to the 1974 revolution that became an immediate reason for his migration to the United States. This huge work consists of important assessments of the monarchical period of Ethiopian history, the Ethiopian Students Movement and of the 1974 revolution. He also has important reflections on pertinent historical events while in the U.S.