Melkamu Amsalu Workneh

As the Amhara society in Ethiopia is patriarchal in nature, ownership of land and fixed assets have been historically related to men. Worsening the scenario, the current state of land scarcity has put women in a dually disadvantaged position. Two more crucial factors also contribute to the agony of land scarcity for women in the region: Firstly, women lack inheritance and ownership of land, and secondly, we have witnessed a cultural shift where land ownership is preferred over beauty as the main criterion for getting husbands. This study aims to understand the impact of land scarcity and cultural shifts on women’s marriage opportunities, as well as changes in post marital residences in the Amhara region, South Gonder Zone, Fogera Woreda. The study engages systems model and ecosystem model of ecological anthropology to figure out the interaction between human and the environment. It will use qualitative methods—participant observations, semi structured interviews, group discussions and document analysis to understand how resource scarcity could trigger culture/norm change on marriage partner preference and guides post marital residence choice in predominantly agrarian communities via 11 months of ethnographic field work.