Blattengeta Heruy Welde Sellase

"Blattengeta" Heruy Welde Sellase (1878-1938; ብላቴን፡ጌታ፡ኅሩይ፡ወልደ፡ሥላሴ "Blatten-Geta Həruy Wäldä-səllase") was a Foreign Minister of Ethiopia and a writer in Amharic, whose "oeuvre" was described by Edward Ullendorff as "a considerable and distinguished literary output." [Ullendorff, "The Ethiopianss: An Introduction to the Country and People", second edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 156]

Career

Heruy received his education in the traditional manner, at a school taught by an Ethiopian Orthodox priest connected with a local church. Regent Ras Tefari (later Emperor Haile Selassie) appointed Heruy in 1916 to serve as administrator of Addis Ababa. [Harold G. Marcus, "The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913." (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), pp. 28, 100] He was a member of Ethiopia's first delegation to the League of Nations (7 August 1922) and part of the retinue that accompanied the Regent on his tour of Europe in 1924. [Haile Selassie, "My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I", translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff (New York: Frontline Books, 1999), vol. 1 pp. 77, 84.] By the early 1930s, he was promoted to Foreign Minister, and held that office at the beginning of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

A diplomatic mission to Japan in 1930 left him sufficiently impressed to argue for strengthened ties between the two nations. He hoped that by modeling their military training and modernization on Japan they could remain independent. This hoped proved illusory and the pro-Ethiopian aspect of the Japanese military fully accepted alliance with Italy soon after the war with that country began.

Heruy joined his Emperor in exile, although he had been one of three members of the council who had voted against Haile Selassie leaving Ethiopia to address the League of Nations in Geneva. Heruy died at Fairford on 19 September 1938. [Anthony Mockler, "Haile Selassie's War" (New York: Olive Branch, 2003), p. 392]

Intellectual importance

He was also known for writing his "Japanizer" views. The term refers to an Ethiopian school of thought that arose in the early Twentieth Century which compared Ethiopia to Japan, and favored a modernization movement similar to the Meiji Restoration; other intellectuals included Heruy's friend Tekle Wolde Hawariat. [Discused by Bahru Zewde in his "A History of Modern Ethiopia", second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), p. 110.] More than most, Heruy saw similarities between Japan and Ethiopia. These included that both had longstanding imperial lines, both had had "roving capitals", and both had resisted the West. He believed that Ethiopia and Japan needed to be more aware of each other as they both resembled each other in his opinion. That being said he recognized Japan was the more prosperous of the two and had more successfully modernized. His 1932 work "Mahidere Birhan: Hagre Japan" [The Document of Japan] spelled out this philosophy.

Writings

Heruy Welde Sellase published 28 books, which include the following:
*"Yä-həywät tarik (Biographie): bähʷala zämän läminäsu ləǧǧočč mastawäqiya" [History of Life (Biography): A Guide for Future Generations] Addis Abeba: E.C. 1915 (= AD 1922/1923)
*"Wädaǧe ləbbe" [My Friend, my Heart] . Addis Abeba: Imprimerie Éthiopienne E.C. 1915.
*"Goha Ṣäbah". Addis Abeba: Imprimerie du Gouvernement d'Éthiopie E.C. 1919
*"Yä-ləbb assab : yä-bərhan-ənna yä-ṣəyon mogäsa gabəčča" [Thought of the Heart: Majestic Marriage of Light and Zion] . Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1923
*"Addis Aläm" [New World] . Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1924 Eth.
*"Əne-nna wädaǧočče, mälk gəṭəm bä-səmaččäw" [Me and my Friends, Poetry of Appearance through their Names] . Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1927

Notes

Further reading

*Thomas L. Kane. "Ethiopian Literature in Amharic". Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1975. ISBN 3-447-01675-2
*Asfa-Wossen Asserate. "Die Geschichte von Šawā (Äthiopien) 1700–1865 nach dem Tārika Nagaśt des Belāttēn Gētā Heruy Walda Śellāsē". Studien zur Kulturkunde 53. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag 1980. ISBN 3-515-02936-2.

External links

* [http://ethiopundit.blogspot.com/2004/07/ethiopias-japanizers.html Ethiopundit]
* [http://users.ju.edu/jclarke/wizzat.html Jacksonville University article]