Aari people

Aari or Ari are a tribal Omotic people indigenous to Omo Valley of Ethiopia.

The revolution brought down the feudal system under which the Aari had been forced to live, which allowed farming communities to keep their harvests and livestock and resulted in improved prosperity.

After the Derg was overthrown in 1991, Ethiopia adopted a federalist system that granted self-determination to the country's ethnic groups, allowing the Aari to reclaim a degree of sovereignty over their lands.

The lower castes of the society is composed of potters, tanners and blacksmiths and collectively named as mana in the Aari language.

The occupational segregation and caste-based endogamy practiced among the Ari have been revealed by advances in archaeogenetics to be one the oldest continuous caste systems in existence.

Aari children in Ethiopia
The Aari, like many other Omotic speakers of Ethiopia, have largely preserved their traditional lifestyles, particularly due to their isolation from outside groups.