Folk Knowledge in Maintaining Group Integration and Socio-economic Intimacy among the Arsi-Robe Peasants

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the folk knowledge in maintaining folk group integration and socio-economic intimacy among the Arsi-Robe peasants. The significance of folk knowledge in folklore of the society in connection with group integration and socio-economic welfare is the case in point. This study employed a field survey research and data gathering method through the participant observation as well as direct interview. In order to obtain the substantial folkloristic data from local sources (people, occasions, or other settings), the researchers had familiarized with the social behavior and local environment of each locality. As far as the findings of this study are concerned, two points may be underscored here. People are customarily designated to take part in group-driven occupational habits like däbo and wänfä. Amongst the Arsi-Robe traditional society, if people isolate themselves from communal works, they are criticized, if not ostracized and excluded from the mainstream social and cultural roles. They also play their potential roles in kinship and kinship-like social relations. Put another way, they make interventions between their own world and a social unit in their vicinities according the collective paradigm set customarily.