Traditional Hunting Associated Oral Literature and its Environmental Impacts in Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate traditional hunting associated with oral literature and its environmental impacts in four selected districts of southwestern Ethiopia. The study used a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design. For this reason, key informant interviews, FGD, and questionnaire were used to collect the data. Quota, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques were used to select 129 participants to fill up the questionnaire, 24 interviewees, and 23 FGD participants respectively. Data analysis techniques included thematic analysis, content analysis, and simple descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages. The results of the study showed that the social honors given to hunters on the one hand and undermining of the non-hunters on the other were found to be major causes of traditional hunting. The communities have been using various poems to praise hunters but to humiliate the non-hunters that both reinforce the continuity of traditional hunting. This continuity of traditional hunting definitely leads to a decline in the absolute number of wild animals (maybe to the extent of local extinction), migration to neighboring countries, and prey-predator imbalances. Hence, to align this deep-rooted cultural practice with environmental conservation, continuous orientation, and teaching of the local community on the communities‟ long-standing indigenous system of environmental and ecosystem stewardship should be promoted.