Transforming Setso: Impressions of Addis

Here are some images from our trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The trip's mission was to do on-site check of conference venues, hotel accommodation, restaurants (and did we eat and drink coffee!), markets and such like for a pitso we will host come November 2011.

The pitso is an event hosted every two years under the auspices of the project Changing Traditions (http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=25441). Changing Traditions is a granted flagship initiative of PoTT, a programme of the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa. Changing Traditions revolves around two main drivers, namely, a pitso and an e-kgotla. Building transdisciplinary, international African-centred knowledge traditions is an important impetus for Changing Traditions.

The theme for the second pitso, Traditions 2, is Changing Traditions: Everyday Lives of African Men. The intention is to get to Ethiopia and have men and women (yes, men and women) talk about the hellishly interesting, dynamic relationships African men have with tradition, itself understood to be dynamic. The event is meant for scholars, artists, journalists, film-makers, photographers, and whatever label you use for yourself, so long as you have an interest in what African men do, and do well or could do better, to make Africa work.

This year's gathering will be organized around questions pertaining to not only the exceptional but also quotidian experiences of being a man in or from Africa. These images of the city of Addis are a taster then, aren't they. We hope you will tell others about the event (http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=25483). Or why don't you make your way to Ethiopia.