How Shared Urban Citizenship Shaped Addis Ababa’s Early Development

Résumé En

This article applies the notion of urban citizenship to historical Addis Ababa to describe the multicultural forces that gave the first impetus to producing the urban space. Menelik’s political project for his new capital was based on a shared urban citizenship with long-lasting effects on the forms of urban belonging. In a rare non-colonial African context, the role of communities of Ethiopians, Western Europeans, Greeks, Armenians, Indians, Yemenis, and their interactions were thus essential in the process of creating Addis Ababa’s urban space. Using a combination of written, original oral, and non-textual material, this paper focuses on the experience of the Indian community. Three essential features of this shared urban citizenship are discussed : the cultural fusion exhibited in the townscape, the negotiation of urban space as a form of competition for the introduction of new commercial institutions, and the spatial differentiation marked by communitybased centralities.