“We Are Their Teachers. You Have No Permission”: Orthodox Christian, Protestant Christian, and Muslim Teachers in Western Ethiopia, 1880-1930 (CURA Colloquium)

Presenter: Ethan Key, PhD Candidate, History, Boston University

In the diverse nation-state of Ethiopia, people continue to deal with the benefits and challenges of interacting cultures, faiths, and languages. This chapter focuses on Bible translation for Protestant Christian – and ʿajamī writing for Muslims – in Oromo polities being incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire as sites where Oromo people adopted universalizing faiths on their own terms. I plan on bringing these literary adaptations into conversation with other forms of conversion, including adoption into a family (guddifacha), adoption into a clan (moggaasaa), and baptism.

Reading the paper in advance is required. Email cura@bu.edu for your copy.

Co-sponsored by the School of Theology.