Scientific concepts embedded in Ethiopian proverbs

An individual learns a lot in his lifetime about himself and his environment. Society also does the same. It is this society-level knowledge accumulation that has become the basis for our culture, religion and our collective identity. What identifies an Ethiopian is the beliefs and knowledge Ethiopians accumulated over the past thousands of years. When a new generation comes, it builds on the existing societal knowledge, either by adding completely novel understanding or by updating existing ones based on new information.

Unfortunately, however, in Ethiopia, this chain of knowledge seems to be partly broken due to the wrongly introduced science education that gives little regard to indigenous knowledge. We are practically trying to forget our knowledge system and collective understanding, and start from scratch to build a brand new knowledge system borrowed from the rest of the world.

In this blog article, I try to show how we could use existing indigenous knowledge to propose new theories and understand the existing ones.  Specifically, I attempt to examine the proverbs of Ethiopia and see if we could find understandings that are currently scientifically supported. As we know, oral tradition has been a major source of unraveling the thick layers of history. This is partly due to the incompleteness of written records and their disproportionate focus on religion and kings.

Proverbs unlike chronicles and religious scripts are created and used by ordinary citizens, and could highlight the views and knowledge of the general public. In this blog post, I look into only a few Ethiopian proverbs and attempt to link them to scientifically proven concepts. This attempt of mine is just to show a glimpse of the possibility and doesn’t represent a more formal and deeper study of the topic. I hope this article could indicate the immense potential of local knowledge in generating scientifically supported theories or concepts. Since my area of expertise is in social and economic studies, my primary focus is on proverbs related to economic theories and concepts. However, I also include few non-economic understandings at the end.

Economics

Self-interested utility maximizer

“ ለራስ ሲቆርሱ አያሳንሱ “

“ እኔ ከሞትኩ ሰርዶ አይብቀል አለች አህያ”

The main underlying assumption in economics is that individuals are utility (benefit) maximizers at their core. This assumption drives most of the economic models used right now. The first proverb exactly emphasizes this assumption. It simply states that everyone is self-interested or a utility maximizer. The second one, however, seems to discourage extreme form of self-centered attitude, that is why it associates too much selfishness with a donkey, which is considered unwise as per Ethiopian tradition. This may call for further investigation of how the assumption of a rational individual could be moderated by traditional ethical standards, like the need to care for future generations.

Time value of money & risk aversion

“ ከነገ ዶሮ የዛሬ እንቁላል “

People often value 100 Birr now than 100 Birr after a year. This phenomenon is what is called the time value of money. Even if this fact is quite straightforward the way the above proverb describes the time value of money is quite elegant. We all know that an egg turns into a chicken after some time, about 21 days to be more exact. Yet, people may prefer an egg to a chicken after 21 days, in a way indicating that the egg can actually turn into more than a chicken if it is available now. The proverb may also indicate risk aversion, people may prefer a less risky option of getting an egg now to facing a potential risk of not getting the chicken in the future.

Principal agent problem

“ ከባለቤት የዋለ እንቁላል አይሰበርም”

“ አለባለቤቱ አይነድም እሳቱ”

The principal agent problem (agency theory) is a key concept in political science and economics. It is a problem that arises when there is a lack of congruency in the priorities of a principal (e.g., employer) and his agent (e.g., worker). The agency theory is beautifully described in the above proverbs.

Multiple equilibra

“ ካልደፈረሰ አይጠራም”

There are multiple stable equilibrium possibilities for an economic system, where some are favorable and others are not. For example, poor societies may be trapped in poverty or bad equilibrium, even if there is the potential to shift to a wealthier equilibrium state. Reasons for poverty traps are many including coordination failures, and exogenous factors out of the control of society. Without any force from outside, poverty like any stable equilibrium condition could sustain itself indefinitely. Thus, getting out of poverty entails an intervention from an external force be it government or shock in the environment that disturbs the system forcing it to shift to another better equilibrium, or economically wealthier state. “ካልደፈረሰ አይጠራም” exactly captures this concept. Murky water in a pond could stay under bad equilibrium (ደፍርሶ) till it is shaken up. In this case, the murky water could be in two stable equilibria, either as clear water where the dirt settles at the bottom or as murky water with the dirt perpetually spreading itself throughout the water.

Corruption and investment

“ አህያ የለኝም ከጅብ አልጣለም”

In the economic literature, there is evidence that corruption reduces investment and ultimately economic growth. The preceding proverb supports these scientific findings. The speaker in the proverb prefers not to invest or buy a donkey, which is a productive capital in an agrarian setting, not to risk catching the attention of the hyenas, which may represent powerful bureaucrats. Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam also observed a similar attitude of peasants.

General science

Empirical evidence

“ ማን ይናገር የነበረ ማን ያርዳ የቀበረ”

The way of thinking that lays the foundation of the modern world is using observed (empirical) evidence as the basis for understanding the world, which is called science in short. Some people in Ethiopia seem to consider science as completely foreign. But as the above proverb indicates the idea of empirical evidence is already there in our culture. Why such indigenous thought has not gradually developed into modern science in Ethiopia, however, is an important scientific question. 

Reproducibility in scientific studies

“ አንድ ምስክር አያስደነግጥ አንድ አይን አያስረግጥ”

This proverb takes the preceding one a step further. It suggests that a single person’s observation is not enough to establish an understanding.    Reproducibility is a foundational concept in the scientific method. It refers to a basic requirement in scientific research where a scientific finding should be regenerated by a researcher who uses the same approach used by the original researcher. The proverb stresses that more than one person should tell the same story before something becomes a piece of reliable evidence or in other words, a person’s observation should be reproducible by another person.

I would also encourage the reader to think about the following proverbs in light of scientific theories or share in the comment section proverbs with associated scientific concepts.

“ከገንዘብ ርስት ከከብት አንስት”

“ ሰባት አመት ባይማሩ ሰባ አመት ይደነቁሩ”

“ ሃምሳ ሎሚ ላንድ ሰው ሸክሙ ነው ላምሳ ሰው ጌጡ ነው”

“የበሰበሰ ብርድ አይፈራም” 

“ ሩቅ አገር ለወሬ ይመቻል “

“ነገር ቢበዛ ባህያ አይጫንም”

“ ዕውቀትና ፍጥረት አንድ ቀን ነው”

“ካልታረደ አይታይ ስብሃቱ ካልተናገሩ አይገኝ ብልሃቱ”

“ የነብርን ጅራት አይዙም ከያዙም አይለቁም”

“ ጋን በጠጠር ይደገፋል”