DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Brief History

Sociological training in Ethiopia has undergone metamorphosis before culminating in the establishment of a separate Department of Sociology in October 2008. The teaching of courses in sociology at Addis Ababa University (AAU) is as old as tertiary education in Ethiopia. It dates back to the inception of higher education in the country in the early 1950s, with Sociology being one of the courses offered as part of the general education program of the University College of Addis Ababa (UCAA) in 1951/52. Since the establishment of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology under the Faculty of Arts, sociology and anthropology have become academic twins given for the Faculty of Arts students as joint general and minor courses.

Following the overall restructuring of curricula in the Social and Behavioral Sciences undertaken during the late 1970s, the College of Social Sciences was created comprising nine departments. The old School of Social Work and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology were merged in 1978 to become the Department of Applied Sociology within the newly set up College of Social Sciences. This however was intended to be a transitional arrangement induced by the aftermath events of the 1974 revolution.

Cognizant of the inherent weakness of a curriculum loaded with revolution-leaning courses, the Department of Applied Sociology conducted a revision of its undergraduate curriculum that led to the renaming of the Department as Department of Sociology and Social Administration in 1984. Nearly for 20 years this curriculum was in use until 2003 when it was replaced by the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology offering a broad range of sociological and anthropological courses for students with the aim of developing a sense of understanding of their own as well as other societies and cultures.

For the past many decades the disciplines of sociology and anthropology are expanding, and the recognition of these two interrelated disciplines for socio-economic development is also increasing from time to time. In order to meet the growing demand for the graduates of sociology and anthropology, the need for separate departments in Sociology and Social Anthropology is unquestionable. In response to this, the Department at its meeting held on 26^th of October 2007, established different committees to work on separate curricula for undergraduate sociology and anthropology as well as PhD in Sociology and Anthropology.

New Undergraduate Sociology Curriculum

While the Department was working on a new Sociology undergraduate curriculum during the 2007/08 AY a university-wide effort to revise undergraduate curricula was put into effect beginning the second semester of 2007/08 AY. This was undertaken as part of the nation-wide initiative launched by the Higher Education Strategic Center of the Ministry of Education aimed at harmonizing higher education programs of the various public universities throughout the country. An early July 2008 national curriculum review workshop held at Akaki campus brought together representatives of curriculum review committee members from the different geographic cluster universities to discuss results of need assessment undertaken by Sociology/Anthropology departments. The workshop highlighted some common areas of stakeholder concerns and helped us to refine the draft Sociology curriculum by incorporating important insights resulting from the four three days workshop. Also a May 17, 2008 Social Sciences Day workshop in Sidist Kilo campus on Contemporary Social Sciences focusing on teaching, research and curriculum development deliberated on certain themes (e.g. gender and globalization) that ought to be reflected in the new Sociology undergraduate curriculum.

In September 2008, a national curriculum development workshop that continued from the July 2008 need assessment meeting was carried out in Amist Kilo Technology campus. The workshop aimed to harmonize sociology undergraduate curricula of the different public universities. Three members of the curriculum development committee took part in the workshop and four days of deliberation on each of the sociology curriculum presented by representatives of the different universities resulted in the development of a more or less common curriculum across wide range of courses. This curriculum is an embodiment of the 4 days of intensive negotiation and bargaining among workshop participants to find common grounds for future sociology undergraduate programs in the different universities.

Therefore, a series of curriculum development-focused activities involving a series of committee meetings and workshops and stretching over a year culminated in the development of this curriculum. The curriculum was discussed and commented on more than two occasions by other members of the sociology staff before it was presented to general staff meeting for approval. Presentation of the curriculum to the general staff meeting enabled the Committee to obtain useful ideas for improvement from the social anthropology colleagues as well.

The present undergraduate curriculum is inspired by the desire and commitment of the Faculty to enable sociology to play its rightful role in development processes and enable the discipline to make significant contributions to nation building efforts.