Alemayehu Gurmu

Alemayehu Gurmu is a lecturer at Addis Ababa University and currently a PhD Candidate in Peace and Security Studies affiliated to the Institute for Peace and Security Studies of Addis Ababa University.

Gurmu has a BA and an MA in Linguistics, and an MA in Regional & Local Development Studies, all from Addis Ababa University. He is a member of the Academy of Ethiopian Languages & Cultures under Addis Ababa University, where he serves as a researcher on different languages and cultures.

Gurmu's PhD topic is "The Social Stratification of Ethnicity: the Emergence of Local Group Relations & Conflict Mediation in the Gurage Zone, Ethiopia". As the current political structure of the country (Ethiopia) is formed on the basis of ethno-linguistic criteria, the PhD project will focus on the current trends on identity and conflicts in the Zone, which belongs to the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Alemayehu Gurmu will spend three months at the African Studies Centre as a self-financed visiting PhD researcher.