Description
In this paper, I describe and analyse the emergence of new geocultural imaginaries (Winter 2022) in government and policy discourse in Ethiopia, since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018. My main focus is how Ethiopia’s relationship to the Red Sea, and to the Middle East, have been redefined over the past six years. Based on a narrative analysis of newspaper archives and interviews conducted in Addis Ababa in 2024, I explore how – in this context – visions of the Ethiopian state and its place in the world are being (re)formulated, negotiated, and contested. I show that geocultural narratives play an important role in this process. However, while some of these narratives serve to imagine Ethiopia as part of larger shared communities and spaces, others are exclusive and have contributed to inter-state tensions, as well as a discursive environment in which the use of military force to ensure Ethiopia’s ‘national security’ is normalised. By exploring what the concept of geocultural narratives lets us see and understand in this specific context, I also hope to contribute to conversations between the fields of critical geopolitics and critical security studies in International Relations.
