Ethiopian Studies Sessions

We have organized three sessions on Ethiopian topics for this year's conference, 9 to 12 May in Kalamazoo, Michigan:

Session 39: Ethiopian Studies I: Magic, Medicine, and Religion*

Sponsors:
Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto
Societas Magica
Organizer/Presider:
Augustine Dickinson, Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto

Securing Blessing (Come What May) versus Providing Protection (by Any Means): The Goal of Invoking God’s Name in Ethiopian Tradition
Fisseha Tadesse Feleke, Univ. of Toronto

Is There an Ethiopian “Magic”?
Gidena Mesfin Kebede, Technische Univ. Berlin

Session 87: Ethiopian Studies II: Saints, Struggles, and Sermons

Sponsors:
Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto
International Medieval Sermon Studies Society
Organizer/Presider:
Felege-Selam Yirga, Ohio State Univ.

Sorcerers, Snakes, and Devils: Non-Christians in the Gadlāt of Ethiopian Evangelizing Saints
Augustine Dickinson, Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto

Deception, Infanticide, and the Making of a Female Saint: A Look at the Gadla Krəstos Śamrā
Meron T. Gebreananye, Durham Univ.

Struggles in the Vita of Ethiopian Saints: The Case of Gadla Sarābāmon
Amsalu Tefera Alemu, Addis Ababa Univ./Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. München

Session 150: Ethiopian Manuscripts and Manuscript Studies in Honor of Getatchew Haile (A Roundtable)

Sponsors:
Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML)
Organizers: Sean M. Winslow, Karl-Franzens-Univ. Graz
Ted Erho, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
Presider:
Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Univ. of Toronto

Recent Textual Discoveries in Medieval Ethiopic Manuscripts
Ted Erho

Forgotten or Feared: The Case of Ethiopian “Magical” Manuscripts
Gidena Mesfin Kebede, Technische Univ. Berlin

Manuscript Use in Ethiopian Church Service
Fisseha Tadesse Feleke, Univ. of Toronto

Looking to the Future: Scribes and Manuscripts in Ethiopia
Sean M. Winslow

Ethiopian Studies in Other Sessions

Session 349: Medieval Architecture

Prestige Architecture in Ethiopia between Byzantium and the Fatimid Caliphate
Mikael Muehlbauer, Columbia Univ.

Session 378: Constructing Sacred Space

Spaces of Wonder and Devotion: The Thirteenth-Century Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia
Talia Lieber, Univ. of California–Los Angeles

Exhibition of Medieval Manuscripts

There will also be one Ethiopian manuscript on display as part of the
Exhibition of Medieval Manuscripts on Loan from Les Enluminures
Weekdays, 9:00 a.m. –5:00 p.m.
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 8, to Monday, May 14
Edwin and Mary Meader Room
3rd Floor, Waldo Library

The full program can be found here.

The Future?

In addition to deciding on themes for the next ICMS (please let us know if you have suggestsions/would like to organize), the organizers of these sessions intend to start a conversation on how to keep Ethiopian Studies represented at the ICMS in the future. Time and place TBD. Please contact one of us to express interest and be kept informed.

Image Credit

Image of teaching from a copy of the ሃይማኖተ፡ አበው፡ (Haymanotä Abaw -- Faith of the Fathers) from ጬላቆት፡ ሥላሴ፡ (Č̣elāqot Səlāsse) Church. Photograph by Sean M. Winslow, with the kind permission of the priests of the church.

* Due to unavoidable circumstances, Fresenbet G.Y Adhanom is unfortunately unable to deliver his paper, titled "Tewanay: The Forgotten Giant of Ethiopian Magic and Mystical Poetry." We had been looking forward to hearing his paper and hope he will be able to present in future congresses. - Augustine Dickinson