Excerpts:
Addis Standard: What made you select the title for your research?
Muluken Kassahun: The selection started from the framework of the study. There were thematic areas of studies in which the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democratic (CARD) announced for the research fellowship. From the criteria indigenous knowledge and women’s rights issues were among the thematic areas. So my original title was Atette and Sinqee.:The role of Atette and Sinqee for women’s rights. My focus was on the rights of women inside the indigenous Gadaa System. Which was not researched well as the Gadaa system itself. Even in the public most of the time we see Abba Gadaas more, the role of the women and their rights was unknown. In the Gadaa system the age category goes from eight to one hundred twelve and up to eighty for those who were serving. This category is for the men’s from this we have to studied the role of the women. There are some places in which Sinqee system is very actively practiced on women’s right apparently from Gadaa System. So I selected this title to study more. Sinqee is well known in the southern parts of Oromia in Borena, Bale and Arsii whereas Attete was known around Showaa and Western Oromia with a little different concept. Example in Arsii they are working on both spiritual and human rights issues while in the Western, they focus more on spiritual activities. After a while we observed from our investigation in different parts of the country such activities are undergoing with different names. In Wollo Oromo they named it Ruffo Mereba, they practiced it similarly with Sinqee while the name is different, I have to change the name. The other reason is the answer from the respondents. They reply to questions from Gadaa perspective as it was derived from the Gadaa system.