OGINA - A New Oromo Webzine Hits the Internet - Ogina - August 2008

Ogina is a web-based (maga)zine featuring art, literature, interviews, and criticism that relate, directly or indirectly, to the experiences of Oromo in Diaspora.

In the first issue of Ogina, each of the contributions has taken on the task of creating art and conversation that looks both forward and backward. We look backward by drawing on the history we know to be painfully present, and look forward by finding new ways to understand and think about our situation. Through the interview with Joe Riemann of Equal Exchange, Steven Thomas' essay on an Oromo Renaissance, the poetry of Efrata Obsa, Ziyad Kadir, and Hana Tesfaye, we are teaching each other to discuss Oromo-ness in new and challenging ways. The visual art of the Rammy Mohammed and Abdiwak Dawit Yohannes help us to see our situation in a new light. Siraj K. of Norway has helped us to navigate the growing complexity of Oromo identity in an unlikely way - by reprogramming an Iphone in Afan Oromo and by contributing to the nascent Oromo Wikipedia. Read More.