Paper short abstract:

Following Lowenthal (1985) in his assumption that the past is a foreign country, this paper would like to show by interpreting women’s narratives that time is of equal importance to place in the identification of people.

Paper long abstract:

It seems to be a universal that the past is idealized while the present - and especially young generations of people - are criticized. While conducting field research among the Maale people of southern Ethiopia on the life cycle and life histories of women, the idealization of the past and especially of the behavior of past people was an ever mentioned issue. Listening to women's narratives about the past, one might not only feel taken to another time, but the past often seems so different that one feels taken to another place. The described past, its people and practices differ so much from the present that one can get the impression that the past is a 'foreign country', another place instead of another time (Lowenthal 1985).

In the following paper I would like to share with the reader three rejoinders of my Maale informants that tell about transformations of different life stages of Maale women. By these three examples I will show that old women (minna lali), who grew up under different circumstances as the women of today (hatsa lali) and followed customs that have disappeared or changed today, distance themselves from the women of today and their changing way of life. Instead they identify with the past and lost customs and criticize transformations. The paper concludes that time is as important as place for the identification of an individual.