Northeast African Studies

Review of Ethiopian Church Art: Painters, Patrons, Purveyors by Raymond Silverman and Neal Sobania, Los Angeles: Tsehai Publishers, 2022; 332 Pages, 300 color plates, Paperback: $74.95

2023-09-07T06:50:54-04:00

Book review: Capi locali e colonialismo in Eritrea. Biografie di un potere subordinato (1937–1941), by Gianni Dore Rome: Viella, 2021; pp. 394+8 tav., € 36.00

2022-07-28T09:01:21-04:00

Ethnographies of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

2023-06-08T17:06:58-04:00

As this is an introduction I didn't prepare an abstract. If this is strictly needed I can produce one in the next three days or so

Are Salafis and Pentecostals the Same?

2023-02-06T20:17:58-05:00

Many Orthodox Christians and Sufi Muslims in Ethiopia put Salafis and Pentecostals in the same category. Because both denounce the intercessory powers of otherworldly figures, like saints and awaliyya, some claim Salafis are “like Pentes.” Some refer to the similar mediation practices of Sufis and Orthodox Christians to paint Pentecostals/Salafis as other, as foreign. This article explores how these discursive parallels play out in practical interactions in Gondar, Ethiopia, ahistorical center of Ethiopian Orthodoxy with a sizable Muslim minority.. In some ways, Orthodox-Pentecostal relations mirror Sufi-Salafi relations because of similarities in Orthodox and Sufi mediation practices. However, the Sufi–Salafi boundary is relatively porous due to the detachability of Sufi practices of intersession from more encompassing practices like salat and Ramadan. Pentecostal–Orthodox boundaries are more robust in part because the intersession of Saints infuses all levels of Orthodox practice. This boundary becomes particularly sharp in the context of funerals.

Answering the Protestant Challenge

2023-01-14T17:33:07-05:00

What makes Orthodox Christianity attractive to southern Ethiopians? Aari in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region formerly rejected Orthodoxy as the religion of their northern Ethiopian conquerors. Attempts made under the empire to convert Aari remained without lasting success. In recent years, however, Orthodoxy has gained followers among conservative Aari. I explain Orthodoxy’s attractiveness in the light of the rapid post-1991 growth of Protestantism and the corresponding decline of the indigenous Aari religion. Contrary to the derelict institutions of the indigenous religion, the Orthodox Church is felt to have spiritual authority and to afford a viable ritual community. And while conservative Aari reject Protestantism as excessively egalitarian, individualist, and puritan, Orthodoxy resonates with them for placing value on hierarchy, mediation, and feasting. For conservative Aari, Orthodoxy thus offers an answer to the Protestant challenge. Becoming Orthodox allows conservatives to defend and re-articulate moral and spiritual values which have long guided them, while also accessing the prestige of a religion Aari associate with northern elites. This shows that understanding the attractiveness of Orthodoxy in contemporary southern Ethiopia requires appreciating the imperial history of south-north relations and the post-1991 history of religious liberalization.

Orthodoxy in the Context of State Reformation in Ethiopia

2023-02-02T15:27:14-05:00

There was a historical and political intimacy between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) and the Ethiopian state until their relationship was profoundly modified after the 1974 Revolution and the secular rupture connected to that. This was followed by political reforms by successive governments which have had a leveling effect on the religious field. The country’s religious minorities – Muslims and Protestants – have been engaged in recognition politics progressively attaining rights on par with the EOTC. This rebalancing has come at the expense of the EOTC – from decoupling of the Ethiopian nation from Orthodoxy, a continuous decline in the number of members of the church, to a feeling of being persecuted and the siege mentality connected to that. While responding to these external challenges, the EOTC has also experienced internal rifts that pose an existential threat not only to maintain its historically constituted hegemony but also continue to exist as a united Church. This contribution critically appraises the political journey of the EOTC in the longue durée and with a relational lens, i.e., from its trajectory from being at the centre of the Ethiopian state as an established religion, to the various external and internal challenges the Church has faced in the context of the process of state reformation and how it has sought to regain and maintain its hegemony, or at least negotiate its decline through the deployment of various strategies.

Making the Tasteless World Sweet

2023-05-04T03:27:52-04:00

Through an ethnographic approach, this article takes a contemporary look at Orthodox image production and, specifically, at how the terms ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ are employed by Ethiopian image producers. The unrelenting insistence on what makes an image ‘correct’ and ‘traditional’ signals a deeper need for legitimacy. The discourse presented in this article attributes to past tradition a value which is just as much a critique of the present as it is an idealization of the past. The panorama of Ethiopian Orthodox image practices is not only riddled with tensions surrounding titles, hierarchy and purity, but colored by nostalgia, showing growing concern about the decline of Orthodoxy.

Afterword

2023-06-07T05:06:56-04:00

This paper considers some major themes arising from the special issue, with a focus on traditionalism and the search for mythic origins.