The question of identity has been central to Yves-Marie Stranger since his childhood spent as as English boy growing-up in France.  In the south of France while “many people called me English, conversely, on vacations to Great Britain, I was queried for my French accent.” This experience  later propelled him to come to Ethiopia and live in the country for fifteen years. Yves-Marie has edited an acclaimed book (Ethiopia through writers’ eyes), and authored a travel account in French (Ces pas qui trop vite s’effacent). He also contributed to African train, the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway. He is in the process of finalizing a documentary with Dicken Marshall, that explores the little known story of  the Ethiopians of Portuguese heritage, the Birtukan. In an interview with the Ethiopia Observer’s Arefaynie Fantahun, Yves-Marie Stranger tells us more about his life in Ethiopia and the Oranges of Prester John..

First, please tell me a bit about your background and your connection to Ethiopia? When did you go there for the first time?

I was born in Great Britain, in Devon, but moved to the south of France, to a farm in the foothills of the Pyrenees, at the age of six. So – after spending my first few years speaking English and living in what was still then a small market town in Essex, Colchester, in an urban setting, I found myself in a mountainous area, living in an isolated farmhouse and getting to grips with the French language. This means that like so many others today, I grew up with two identities and two languages – both English and the French language our mother tongues to me. This was at first a difficult proposition to navigate – most children are at their most content when they have an undivided sense of belonging – one identity, one languagend – one country. It is only as adults that we romanticise these divisions. Later on, when I grew up myself, there did come the time when I learnt to use these two selves, these two idioms. In my professional career as a writer and translator but also to understand the world in its complexity.

Which brings us to Ethiopia:  I think that it was largely that upbringing in the south of France, in which many people called me English (and conversely, on vacations to Great Britain I was queried, for my French accent), that sent me to Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, there was my status as an outsider which, from the very start, intrigued and fascinated me. Ethiopians have a complex attitude to identity (their own, as well as that of foreigners). The Farenj, or Frank, moniker that Ethiopians use for Western visitors, brings us back to that time when the first Portuguese travellers reached the country, in the 15th century.

And I think that in many ways, this story of the Oranges of Prester John, these Ethio-Portuguese, or Birtukan, encapsulates all of the complexities of Ethiopians’ relationship with outsiders, a relationship which is made up of two equal antagonistic halves: attraction and repulaion.

I first arrived in Ethiopia in the year 2000, having answered an Internet add, to research and write “about places of tourist interest.” Addis Ababa was at that time very small, very unremarkable, with a shabby charm. Except for the innumerable coffee shops and half a dozen locals of interest, there was simply nothing to write about, to fill a whole city tourist guide. And it was raining, it was raining a lot… something I had not expected. I should probably have done some preparation, but had answered the add on a whim, and only had one week to buy a ticket. So I had a rough time, trudging through the mud of Addis Ababa one rainy season long… Which does not explain, why, after this induction to the country that lasted three soggy months, I decided to return at the beginning of 2001, and went on to live in the country… for the next 15 years.

What propel to do this documentary? What’s your goal in doing this film?

I first stumbled upon one of these “lost” castles of the central highlands of Ethiopian, in Gojjam, near Sekela, not far from the springs of the Blue Nile, when I first returned Ethiopian in 2001. I had been travelling around northern Ethiopia, and after arriving in Sekela I was told by a local youth that, “up in the mountains, there was a castle.”

I did not really believe a word of it, but thought it would be a good way to see the local hills. Much to my surprise, there was a castle up the mountain (not a couple of hours away, as I had been told, and I ended up sleeping in one of the local teachers’ houses for the night, wrapped up in a gabbi – today, I am told, the castle ruins can be reached by a new dirt road). The sight of this ruin, that is known as Fasil Gimb locally, kindled a 15 year fascination.

“Lost” castles, Portuguese ambassadors sent halfway round the world in the 16^th century, tales of treachery and exile… It was simply an amazing story, and a story which, incredibly, except for some a few books by Ethiopianists, was completely unknown to the larger world. Even in Ethiopia itself, ruins such as this Fassil Gimb, were unknown nationally, and shrouded in mystery for the very villagers living around them. Of course, the castles in Gondar (Ethiopia’s Camelot!), are well-known, to all Ethiopians. But the story behind them is reduced to one or two facts: a just war to save the imperilled Abyssinians kingdom, a thwarted attempt to erase the indigenous church.

So what we wanted to do with Oranges of Prester John was flesh out the long and complex relationship between the Ethiopians and the Portuguese, and show that, far from being a tale of a king or two, a few bloody battles and imperious missionaries, it was also the lives, over  nearly a century and a half, of a people, the Birtukan, who were Ethiopians. Of course, what you also see here, is that my fascination with cultures and people of dual identity also played out.

https://vimeo.com/282048429

You were into travel writing. How did you get drawn into documentary film making?

I made a first documentary a long time ago, for BBC2, a film called Missing, about two boys who had gone missing in Birmingham, in the UK. After that, I turned to writing and journalism, guide writing, book writing and translation. This return to film was initiated by an interview I gave to Jean-Marc Boutonnet, the owner of the Louvre hotel in Addis Ababa, for his film on Rimbaud. The cameramen, Dicken Marshall, asked me if I would like to make a film about Ethiopia. I immediately suggested that the story of the Portuguese in Ethiopia, was a swashbuckling tale that spoke to the present – to those questions of identity and migration that are roiling the world today, and to the question of what makes an Ethiopian and Ethiopian?

Was ብርቱካን or orange introduced to the country then?

Yes, there were already oranges in Ethiopia – only they were bitter oranges. It is the sweet orange that was introduced by the Portuguese, as they carried it from India back to the Mediterranean. This is why the word Portugal gave the word Birtukan in Amharic, but also in  Persian پرتقال (porteghal),  the Bulgarian портокал  (portokal),  the Albanian portokall, and  the Greek πορτοκάλι (portokali).   As it is in the Turkish portakal and the  Romanian portocală. The Georgian ფორთოხალი (pʰortʰoxali) and the Arabic البرتقال (bourtouqal)….  Later on, this term Portugal or Birtukan was then given as well to the descendants of the Portuguese soldiers and their Ethiopian wives, no doubt also for the colour of their red skin.

We Ethiopians often dwell on the Jews, Sabean and in some parts Turkish heritages. The Portuguese heritage, as far as I am concerned, doesn’t often come up in daily conversation. Are there strong historical records to show otherwise?

As Edward Gibbon put it in Decline and fall of the Roman Empire: “450 Portuguese musqueteers saved Ethiopia.” It is always difficult – or too easy – to talk of what would have been if… What if Menelik had not stopped the Italians at Adwa? What if… Lij Iyasu had not been overthrown by his cousin?

While these questions are fascinating, and offer rich trains of thought (and provide great alternative history novels) they were, by definition, the history that did not happen. It remains that the Portuguese had a tremendous impact on Ethiopian history – and this is of course without considering the influence they and the artisans they brought to the country had, on architecture, warfare. Besides this, as our film shows, there was also a strong community of these Birtukan descendants who spoke Portuguese, practised Catholicism, became a Praetorian guard to emperors. They also passed down their genes – I think it is safe to say, that all Ethiopians living today have a bit of Portuguese in them.

The Portuguese helped the Ethiopian orthodox followers to save Christianity. They also tried to impose Roman Catholic, Latinise Ethiopian church.  Is there really a reason to celebrate such heritage?

Let me tell you a story, Arefaynie. Let’s say it’s a story that I heard in Feras Bet, Gojjam…: “A farmer’s son goes out to play gugs. He has a great day in the field, but, as the day lingers on, the boy tires, slips from his horse and breaks his leg. His friends carry him back to his father’s house over the mountain, and there is much lamenting. For it is the beginning of the ploughing season: who will crack the whip over the oxen now? The boy’s father himself, simply says ‘no matter, we shall see…’ The very next day, Emperor Fassil’s army sweeps through the area, press ganging all the able-bodied young men to serve on the war front. There is much lamenting once more. Only the broken-legged youth remains… The farmer again says ‘no matter, we shall see…’ The kingdom that Fassil wages war on submits without a fight, and in short order all the young men return, feted as heroes and loaded with booty. There is now much rejoicing. But the farmer says… “

But you get the picture. Events follow their course, then precipitate other events, which in turn unfold themselves… Success breeds defeat, and happiness can only be followed by sorrow – a king dies–long live the King! For orthodoxy to prevail, you need at least a few heretics… All we can do from our vantage point, is look back at the past, with at least an attempt at impartiality. It is not so much that we celebrate, but record what happened. History is both a very complex beast, as it is constantly reworked reworded and reused for current needs, and something as simple as a timeline.

The Jesuits’ effort to impose Roman Catholic caused civil war and division. Probably also made Orthodox Christians be suspicious of foreigners. Do you agree with that assessment?

War and unrest was rife in Abyssinia long before the Portuguese reached the country, and after their departure as well. When it comes to religious discord, you only have to remember the Ewostatians (prior to the 1450 Council of Debre Mitmaq), and the arguments that raged throughout the land, pitting monasteries against one another, to see that the Ethiopians did not need the helping hand of foreigners to whip up a controversy.

It is certainly true that the experience with the Portuguese left the Ethiopians suspicious of any involvement on the part of Catholic powers. But this had more to do with the fact that they understood the technological superiority of the West. They had to keep them at bay at all costs, in order to safeguard their power. The postcard vision of Abyssinia as a haven, a just kingdom, upset by events precipitated by foreigners bears no more resemblance to reality than King Arthur’s round table legend is an accurate description of English history.

Where does the funding for your films primarily come from?

The European delegation in Ethiopia was instrumental in providing the funding to start the the film. Ethiopian Airlines provided strong logistical support and Awash Wines, the Ethiopian Tourism Organisation,  the Portuguese Embassy in Ethiopia and the Camoes Institute, were all early sponsors of Oranges of Prester John.

When are you hoping the film to be ready? Will it reach wide audience?

The film will be broadcast end of 2018, beginning of 2019. We want the film to reach the widest audience possible – both in Ethiopia and worldwide. Besides showing on international television, Oranges of Prester John will be broadcast in Ethiopia, and will also be shown on Ethiopian Airlines, on their in-flight entertainment.

Many thanks again.

Thank you Arefaynie

Main Image: Yves-Marie Stranger on the Kottu Horse Market near Addis Ababa (courtesy of YMS.)

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Please cite Ethiopia Observer prominently and link clearly to the original article if you republish. If you have any queries, please contact us at ethiopiaobserver@protonmail.com. Check individual images for licensing details.