Izabela Orlowska | Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (original) (raw)
papers by Izabela Orlowska
In this paper I investigate how the historical memory the Ethiopian Empire was used to further th... more In this paper I investigate how the historical memory the Ethiopian Empire was used to further the task of imperial reconstruction and form an ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yohannis IV. I utilize hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicles that provide new insights into the dynamics of late nineteenth-century Ethiopian kingship. I pay particular attention to Yohannis’s coronation ceremony in 1872 as an example of the mobilization of imperial ideology. Attention is drawn to the fact that Yohannis mobilized a range of historic symbols derived from the glorious past of the Ethiopian monarchy and the church. His policy was a response to a need for new ideology adapted to the chal- lenges of the late 19th century. It was re-imagined from the memory of what was believed to be ancient customs. The pageantry of the Axumite ritual displayed symbols, slogans and ideas of the past that Yohannis mobilized to legitimize his imperial project.
Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2018
ABSTRACT For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communiti... more ABSTRACT For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have ensured the protection of church forests. Despite this strong and longstanding tradition, however, communities are now facing a host of new challenges and opportunities. Our interdisciplinary research highlights ways in which the ecological status of church forests may be threatened due to new practices as well as the changing economic status of church forest communities. We find that the adaptability of these communities to changes associated with modernity might, inadvertently, be a key factor in ecological degradation. But their adaptability might also offer a window of opportunity for agents of forest conservation. Based primarily on ethnography, this article presents Ethiopian church forests as dynamic socio-religious spaces, explores the types of changes affecting the communities and their forests, and considers ways in which the church forest conservation model is evolving.
Annales d'Ethiopie, 2013
Fetes et changement politique : l’ascension de Tafari au pouvoir et le geber, debut du ; XXe siec... more Fetes et changement politique : l’ascension de Tafari au pouvoir et le geber, debut du ; XXe siecle. ; Cet article expose comment la ceremonie festive, le geber, refletait le changement politique au debut du XXe siecle en Ethiopie. Je definis d’abord les fonctions politiques du geber et a partir des sources existantes sur les gebers du co-regne de Zawditu et Tafari, je retrace et discute les differentes etapes de la carriere politique de Tafari telles que refletees par ces ceremonies festives.
Conference of Ethiopian Studies Volume
... Terence Ranger and Olufemi Vaughan (eds.), Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Afri... more ... Terence Ranger and Olufemi Vaughan (eds.), Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Africa (London, 1993); see also David Cannadine, Ornamentalism ... 17 For more details of the terms of the agreement see Darkwah, Shewa, p. 78-9, Zewde Gabre-Sellassie, Yohannes IV ...
Nations and Nationalism, 2013
Due to a different calendric system, Ethiopia celebrated the turn of the millennium in September ... more Due to a different calendric system, Ethiopia celebrated the turn of the millennium in September 2007. This paper investigates how Ethiopia's coalition government, associated by many Ethiopians with minority rule, set up and mobilised a year-long millennium project to propose new idioms of nationhood redefining Ethiopia's identity to deal with the challenges of ethnic federalism and to accommodate its multiethnic society. I argue that the millennium celebration sought to find a solution to the divisive effects of the politics of ‘difference’ derived from a policy of ethnic federalism, and to the existing outdated metaphors of nationhood rooted in Semitic culture and Orthodox Christianity. It proposed more suitable idioms of common identity based on the idea of ‘unity in diversity’. This paper contributes to our better understanding of the role of symbolism, commemorative events and appropriation of the ‘sites of memory’ in the complex process of the transition of multiethnic societies into nation states.
Aethiopica
The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers... more The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers a uniquely detailed description of a series of enthronement rites. The article explores and deciphers symbolism displayed in these acts, which was drawn from the past and remodelled to form ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yoḥannǝs IV (1872–89) and to legitimise his imperial project. The article argues that despite the fact that the record of these events is likely to have been ‘adjusted’ by Ethiopian chroniclers, their writings still points to what they thought should happen during a ritual in order for it to be effective. Consequently, the authors of the chronicle revealed to us the role of ritual in the legitimising project of late 19th-century Ethiopia.
Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 2018
In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of t... more In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Though hailed as community-conserved areas by environmentalists, we argue that the conservation of such forest is not intentional, but rather an indirect result of the religious norms, beliefs and practices surrounding the sites. In actuality, the religiosity surrounding church forests maintains the purity of the most holy space in the center of the shrine, the tabot, a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which ensures that the church is a legitimate and effective portal to the divine. An underlying cultural logic of purity and pollution structures the spatial organization of the site outward into a series of concentric circles of diminishing purity and shapes the social order into an elegant hierarchy. This article seeks to understand the norms, beliefs and practices of this sacred geography in its social and religious context, arguing that ignoran...
Nations and Nationalism, 2013
Aethiopica
The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers... more The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers a uniquely detailed description of a series of enthronement rites. The article explores and deciphers symbolism displayed in these acts, which was drawn from the past and remodelled to form ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yoḥannǝs IV (1872–89) and to legitimise his imperial project. The article argues that despite the fact that the record of these events is likely to have been ‘adjusted’ by Ethiopian chroniclers, their writings still points to what they thought should happen during a ritual in order for it to be effective. Consequently, the authors of the chronicle revealed to us the role of ritual in the legitimising project of late 19th-century Ethiopia.
This thesis is concerned with the question of how the Ethiopian monarchy reconstructed and reinve... more This thesis is concerned with the question of how the Ethiopian monarchy reconstructed and reinvented itself after more than a century of decline. It examines the internal dynamics of this process, by utilising primary source materials in indigenous Ethiopian languages. The main sources used are chronicles commemorating the reign of Y ohannis IV, the second of the monarchs who presided over the period widely regarded as marking the beginning of modem Ethiopian history. Chapter 1 outlines the main social and political themes essential for an understanding of Ethiopia in the late-nineteenth century. It deals with the origins of the national ideology, church-state relations, patronclient relations, the economic basis of society and land tenure. I then sketch the historical debate surrounding the period that provides the immediate context for the monarchy of Y ohannis IV. Chapter 2 examines the rise to power of Y ohannis and analyses this process by addressing understandings of authority, leadership and the role of charisma in the Ethiopian context. Chapter 3 examines how Solomonic genealogy and the religious symbols embedded in the glorious past of the monarchy were mobilised by Y ohannis to further his project of imperial reconstruction. Particular attention is paid to his coronation ceremony in 1872, as an example of the mobilization of imperial ideology, here expressed through the pageantry of political ritual. Chapters 4 and 5 look at the functioning of the Ethiopian political scene. Here oral sources supplement documentary material in order to identify new mechanisms and institutions that characterised the political culture of late nineteenth-century Ethiopia. Using historical narrative, reconstructed by tracing the lives and careers of prominent individuals on the political scene, I explain the dynamics of the centrifugal and centripetal forces that characterised centre-periphery relations. Chapter 6 examines the revived structure of the empire based on the concept of the king of kings and his relationship with his subordinate regional ruler.
Land-use change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. These changes have impac... more Land-use change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. These changes have impacts on weather patterns, carbon storage, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services from regional to local scales. Only 8 percent of tropical forests are formally recognized as conservation areas, however globally, there is a network of sites that are protected because they are sacred and as a result act as 'shadow' conservation for biodiversity. Unlike other types of protected sites (e.g., national parks), these sites are seats of religious ritual that anchor a community's cultural identity, while also conserving biological diversity and other ecosystem services. We studied the extent and status of sacred forests in northern Ethiopia, which are threatened because of their small size (~5 ha) and isolation, increasing their exposure to edge effects and human pressures. Using historical and modern imagery, we found that over the last 50 yr, sacred forests have increased in area, but decreased in crown closure. We also found that forest ecological status, via ground-level investigation, had high mean human disturbance (e.g., trails, plantations, exotic planting; 37%); and that forests close to markets (e.g., cities) increased in area due to planting of Eucalyptus (exotic), indicating a potential threat to their persistence and value as shelters of the church.
For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have e... more For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have ensured the protection of church forests. Despite this strong and longstanding tradition, however, communities are now facing a host of new challenges and opportunities. Our interdisciplinary research highlights ways in which the ecological status of church forests may be threatened due to new practices as well as the changing economic status of church forest communities. We find that the adaptability of these communities to changes associated with modernity might, inadvertently, be a key factor in ecological degradation. But their adaptability might also offer a window of opportunity for agents of forest conservation. Based primarily on ethnography, this article presents Ethiopian church forests as dynamic socio-religious spaces, explores the types of changes affecting the communities and their forests, and considers ways in which the church forest conservation model is evolving.
In this paper I investigate how the historical memory the Ethiopian Empire was used to further th... more In this paper I investigate how the historical memory the Ethiopian Empire was used to further the task of imperial reconstruction and form an ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yohannis IV. I utilize hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicles that provide new insights into the dynamics of late nineteenth-century Ethiopian kingship. I pay particular attention to Yohannis’s coronation ceremony in 1872 as an example of the mobilization of imperial ideology. Attention is drawn to the fact that Yohannis mobilized a range of historic symbols derived from the glorious past of the Ethiopian monarchy and the church. His policy was a response to a need for new ideology adapted to the chal- lenges of the late 19th century. It was re-imagined from the memory of what was believed to be ancient customs. The pageantry of the Axumite ritual displayed symbols, slogans and ideas of the past that Yohannis mobilized to legitimize his imperial project.
Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2018
ABSTRACT For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communiti... more ABSTRACT For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have ensured the protection of church forests. Despite this strong and longstanding tradition, however, communities are now facing a host of new challenges and opportunities. Our interdisciplinary research highlights ways in which the ecological status of church forests may be threatened due to new practices as well as the changing economic status of church forest communities. We find that the adaptability of these communities to changes associated with modernity might, inadvertently, be a key factor in ecological degradation. But their adaptability might also offer a window of opportunity for agents of forest conservation. Based primarily on ethnography, this article presents Ethiopian church forests as dynamic socio-religious spaces, explores the types of changes affecting the communities and their forests, and considers ways in which the church forest conservation model is evolving.
Annales d'Ethiopie, 2013
Fetes et changement politique : l’ascension de Tafari au pouvoir et le geber, debut du ; XXe siec... more Fetes et changement politique : l’ascension de Tafari au pouvoir et le geber, debut du ; XXe siecle. ; Cet article expose comment la ceremonie festive, le geber, refletait le changement politique au debut du XXe siecle en Ethiopie. Je definis d’abord les fonctions politiques du geber et a partir des sources existantes sur les gebers du co-regne de Zawditu et Tafari, je retrace et discute les differentes etapes de la carriere politique de Tafari telles que refletees par ces ceremonies festives.
Conference of Ethiopian Studies Volume
... Terence Ranger and Olufemi Vaughan (eds.), Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Afri... more ... Terence Ranger and Olufemi Vaughan (eds.), Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Africa (London, 1993); see also David Cannadine, Ornamentalism ... 17 For more details of the terms of the agreement see Darkwah, Shewa, p. 78-9, Zewde Gabre-Sellassie, Yohannes IV ...
Nations and Nationalism, 2013
Due to a different calendric system, Ethiopia celebrated the turn of the millennium in September ... more Due to a different calendric system, Ethiopia celebrated the turn of the millennium in September 2007. This paper investigates how Ethiopia's coalition government, associated by many Ethiopians with minority rule, set up and mobilised a year-long millennium project to propose new idioms of nationhood redefining Ethiopia's identity to deal with the challenges of ethnic federalism and to accommodate its multiethnic society. I argue that the millennium celebration sought to find a solution to the divisive effects of the politics of ‘difference’ derived from a policy of ethnic federalism, and to the existing outdated metaphors of nationhood rooted in Semitic culture and Orthodox Christianity. It proposed more suitable idioms of common identity based on the idea of ‘unity in diversity’. This paper contributes to our better understanding of the role of symbolism, commemorative events and appropriation of the ‘sites of memory’ in the complex process of the transition of multiethnic societies into nation states.
Aethiopica
The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers... more The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers a uniquely detailed description of a series of enthronement rites. The article explores and deciphers symbolism displayed in these acts, which was drawn from the past and remodelled to form ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yoḥannǝs IV (1872–89) and to legitimise his imperial project. The article argues that despite the fact that the record of these events is likely to have been ‘adjusted’ by Ethiopian chroniclers, their writings still points to what they thought should happen during a ritual in order for it to be effective. Consequently, the authors of the chronicle revealed to us the role of ritual in the legitimising project of late 19th-century Ethiopia.
Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 2018
In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of t... more In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Though hailed as community-conserved areas by environmentalists, we argue that the conservation of such forest is not intentional, but rather an indirect result of the religious norms, beliefs and practices surrounding the sites. In actuality, the religiosity surrounding church forests maintains the purity of the most holy space in the center of the shrine, the tabot, a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which ensures that the church is a legitimate and effective portal to the divine. An underlying cultural logic of purity and pollution structures the spatial organization of the site outward into a series of concentric circles of diminishing purity and shapes the social order into an elegant hierarchy. This article seeks to understand the norms, beliefs and practices of this sacred geography in its social and religious context, arguing that ignoran...
Nations and Nationalism, 2013
Aethiopica
The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers... more The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers a uniquely detailed description of a series of enthronement rites. The article explores and deciphers symbolism displayed in these acts, which was drawn from the past and remodelled to form ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yoḥannǝs IV (1872–89) and to legitimise his imperial project. The article argues that despite the fact that the record of these events is likely to have been ‘adjusted’ by Ethiopian chroniclers, their writings still points to what they thought should happen during a ritual in order for it to be effective. Consequently, the authors of the chronicle revealed to us the role of ritual in the legitimising project of late 19th-century Ethiopia.
This thesis is concerned with the question of how the Ethiopian monarchy reconstructed and reinve... more This thesis is concerned with the question of how the Ethiopian monarchy reconstructed and reinvented itself after more than a century of decline. It examines the internal dynamics of this process, by utilising primary source materials in indigenous Ethiopian languages. The main sources used are chronicles commemorating the reign of Y ohannis IV, the second of the monarchs who presided over the period widely regarded as marking the beginning of modem Ethiopian history. Chapter 1 outlines the main social and political themes essential for an understanding of Ethiopia in the late-nineteenth century. It deals with the origins of the national ideology, church-state relations, patronclient relations, the economic basis of society and land tenure. I then sketch the historical debate surrounding the period that provides the immediate context for the monarchy of Y ohannis IV. Chapter 2 examines the rise to power of Y ohannis and analyses this process by addressing understandings of authority, leadership and the role of charisma in the Ethiopian context. Chapter 3 examines how Solomonic genealogy and the religious symbols embedded in the glorious past of the monarchy were mobilised by Y ohannis to further his project of imperial reconstruction. Particular attention is paid to his coronation ceremony in 1872, as an example of the mobilization of imperial ideology, here expressed through the pageantry of political ritual. Chapters 4 and 5 look at the functioning of the Ethiopian political scene. Here oral sources supplement documentary material in order to identify new mechanisms and institutions that characterised the political culture of late nineteenth-century Ethiopia. Using historical narrative, reconstructed by tracing the lives and careers of prominent individuals on the political scene, I explain the dynamics of the centrifugal and centripetal forces that characterised centre-periphery relations. Chapter 6 examines the revived structure of the empire based on the concept of the king of kings and his relationship with his subordinate regional ruler.
Land-use change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. These changes have impac... more Land-use change threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. These changes have impacts on weather patterns, carbon storage, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services from regional to local scales. Only 8 percent of tropical forests are formally recognized as conservation areas, however globally, there is a network of sites that are protected because they are sacred and as a result act as 'shadow' conservation for biodiversity. Unlike other types of protected sites (e.g., national parks), these sites are seats of religious ritual that anchor a community's cultural identity, while also conserving biological diversity and other ecosystem services. We studied the extent and status of sacred forests in northern Ethiopia, which are threatened because of their small size (~5 ha) and isolation, increasing their exposure to edge effects and human pressures. Using historical and modern imagery, we found that over the last 50 yr, sacred forests have increased in area, but decreased in crown closure. We also found that forest ecological status, via ground-level investigation, had high mean human disturbance (e.g., trails, plantations, exotic planting; 37%); and that forests close to markets (e.g., cities) increased in area due to planting of Eucalyptus (exotic), indicating a potential threat to their persistence and value as shelters of the church.
For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have e... more For centuries, the core religious values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church communities have ensured the protection of church forests. Despite this strong and longstanding tradition, however, communities are now facing a host of new challenges and opportunities. Our interdisciplinary research highlights ways in which the ecological status of church forests may be threatened due to new practices as well as the changing economic status of church forest communities. We find that the adaptability of these communities to changes associated with modernity might, inadvertently, be a key factor in ecological degradation. But their adaptability might also offer a window of opportunity for agents of forest conservation. Based primarily on ethnography, this article presents Ethiopian church forests as dynamic socio-religious spaces, explores the types of changes affecting the communities and their forests, and considers ways in which the church forest conservation model is evolving.