The Shade of the Divine Approaching the Sacred in an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Community
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London School of Economics and Political Science The Shade of the Divine Approaching the Sacred in an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Community Tom Boylston A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, March 2012 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 85956 words. 2 Abstract The dissertation is a study of the religious lives of Orthodox Christians in a semi‐ rural, coffee‐producing community on the shores of Lake Tana in northwest Ethiopia. Its thesis is that mediation in Ethiopian Orthodoxy – how things, substances, and people act as go‐betweens and enable connections between people and other people, the lived environment, saints, angels, and God – is characterised by an animating tension between commensality or shared substance, on the one hand, and hierarchical principles on the other. This tension pertains to long‐standing debates in the study of Christianity about the divide between the created world and the Kingdom of Heaven. Its archetype is the Eucharist, which entails full transubstantiation but is circumscribed by a series of purity regulations so rigorous as to make the Communion inaccessible to most people for most of their lives. These purity regulations, I argue, speak to an incommensurability between relations of human substance‐sharing, especially commensality and sexuality, and hierarchical relations between humans and divinity. I situate the thesis in debates in the anthropology of religion about ritual and rationality, and the relationship between ideas and the world. The anthropology of Christianity to date has largely focused on changes in attitudes towards ritualism, text, ideas, and matter, wrought by the European Reformation and then disseminated and re‐imagined in the colonial era. This dissertation stands as a counterpart to and a reflection on that work, asking what developments and new directions might be suggested by the in‐depth study of a Christianity that still affirms the efficacy of ritual and the necessity of hierarchy. Accordingly, I set out to trace the articulations between ritual, hierarchical authority, and matter, through which Ethiopian Christians constitute and embody their relationships with each other, with the environment, and with the divine. 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 MAPS 8 TERMINOLOGY AND PRONUNCIATION 9 INTRODUCTION: BODIES, BOUNDARIES, MATTER, AND SACRED HIERARCHY PROLOGUE: THE SACRED IN THE WORLD 10 MEDIATION BETWEEN HUMANS AND GOD: TANGIBLE INTANGIBLES 16 THE ‘ETHIOPIAN’ IN ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY 21 THE FIELDWORK 27 INTRODUCTION, CONTINUED: MATERIALITY, CHURCH AND THE BODY 31 MATTER AND ORTHODOX SEMIOTICS 38 THE CHAPTERS 46 CHAPTER 1 51 THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CALENDAR: THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION OF THE SACRED IN THE WORLD THE CALENDAR 53 PRODUCTION, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THE CALENDAR 61 SACRED LEAKAGE: SAINTS’ DAYS AND ANTISTRUCTURE 67 CHAPTER 2 80 FASTING AND CONSUMPTION: COMMENSALITY, HIERARCHY, AND THE STUFF OF RELATIONSHIPS FASTING AS RITUAL PRACTICE 82 FASTING AND TIME 84 FASTING AND FEASTING; HIERARCHY AND COMMENSALITY; EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE 89 FASTING, DEFERENCE, BONDS AND BOUNDARIES 91 DEFERENCE AS FREEDOM: FASTING AND RELIGIOUS SELF‐FORMATION 94 FURTHER NOTES ON WOMEN’S RELIGIOUS SELF‐FORMATION 97 THE MEANING OF FASTING 100 HOLY WATER AND FAITH 103 CONCLUSION 106 CHAPTER 3 107 KNOWLEDGE, MEDIATION, AND THE RELIGIOUS DIVISION OF LABOUR: THE WORK OF THE CLERGY PRIESTLY WORK AS MEDIATION 109 THE ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH 121 PRIESTLY KNOWLEDGE IN PRACTICE – EXEGESIS AND PREACHING 124 RITUAL WORK AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SACRED 127 LIFE‐CYCLE RITUALS: PRIESTS AND THE BOUNDARIES OF LIFE ITSELF 131 THE TOOLS OF THE PRIESTHOOD 134 FROM PRIESTS AND MONKS TO SAINTS AND ANGELS – LIMINALITY, LIVING DEATH, AND MEDIUMSHIP 136 CONCLUSION: MEDIATION AND AGENCY 139 4 CHAPTER 4 141 ORTHODOXY’S EDGES: LIMINAL POWER, SORCERY, AND OTHER TRADITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE DIVERSITY OF KNOWLEDGE 143 TYPES OF EXPERTS, TYPES OF WORK 145 DEBTERA AND THE OTHER SIDE OF CHURCH PRACTICE 147 ZAR SPIRITS AND THE METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF AMBIGUITY 152 KNOWLEDGE AND MEDICINE 157 CONCLUSIONS: THE POWER OF THE MARGINS 160 CHAPTER 5 THE CHRISTIAN LANDSCAPE: DEEP TIME AND THE SHADE OF HISTORY 162 CHURCH REFORM AND NEW ORTHODOXIES 169 SANCTITY AND THE FOREST 171 RITUAL AND MATERIAL CONTINUITY 177 THE MATERIALITY AND SYMBOLIC CONTENT OF CHURCHES 181 TOURISM, HISTORIC DEPTH, ECONOMIC LIFE 186 CONCLUSION 187 CHAPTER 6 THE BUDA CRISIS: SPIRITS, SAINTS, AND THE STUFF OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 190 BUDA AND HUMAN AGENCY 191 BUDA, COMMENSALITY AND HIERARCHY 196 INDIVIDUALISM, COMMENSALITY, KINSHIP 202 ZIKKIR: EXCHANGE WITH THE SAINTS 209 CHAPTER 7 “UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN”: DEATH AND THE SEMIOTICS OF REMEMBRANCE 214 TECHNOLOGIES OF REMEMBRANCE AND GRAVEYARD POLITICS 218 THROWING OUT THE BONES: HUMAN REMAINS AS DUST, AND THE SOUL’S JOURNEY TO HEAVEN 223 SAINTHOOD AND THE THEOLOGY OF REMEMBRANCE 228 PHOTOGRAPHS, MEDIA, AND THE DISTRIBUTED PERSON 235 CONCLUSION 238 CONCLUSION: INDEXICAL RELIGION 240 APPENDICES: FASTS, MONTHS, AND SAINTS’ DAYS 245 GLOSSARY OF AMHARIC TERMS AND PROPER NAMES 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY 250 PHOTOGRAPHS 262 5 Acknowledgements This PhD project was funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Studentship, Award PTA‐031‐2006‐00143. I am grateful for this generous support. I owe debts of gratitude to vast numbers of people whose help and support, friendship and advice, has contributed to the production of this thesis. In Ethiopia, Tomas and Haregwa took me into their home and helped me through the first difficult months of fieldwork. Abebe and Zebirhan assisted tirelessly in my work and provided wit, insight, and good company throughout my eighteen months in the field. Abba S’om, Abba Melake Gennet, Abba Haylemaryam and Abba Agumas responded with patience to my constant questioning and went out of their way to assist in my understanding of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. Any errors that may remain are mine alone. Addisu and Denber were wonderful and caring friends. Respect to DMX, Abbo, and Babuka. My thanks also to Demse, Gebiyew, and Temesgen, and to Yidelu Sibhat, Kake, Kiddist, Tirungo, and Kassaye. Also to Birtukan, Maste, Abebe and Kassahun and everyone at Wendimamachoch. Beza offered wisom and guidance throughout, and Menilek’s family in Ura – Babbi, Masti, Rasta, and everyone. To Ade and Mulet I offer my fond thanks. There are many more who have shown me hospitality and kindness – too many to mention, so I will simply say, to all those in Zege who made me so welcome, I thank you, and I hope this thesis does justice to at least a part of the life you have shown me. Also in Ethiopia, Anna Talman, Kyle Henning, and Saul, Juliet, and Eve Rajak were my lifelines and I will always be grateful for their friendship and company. Stephan Schumacher, Karin van Doorn, Amare, Fikeru, Esmael, Jen, Michelle, and Gerd I was always glad of your company and grateful for your presence. Kristin Smith and Kristin Straw, Caitlin Quade, J‐Po, Rebecca Beauregard, Artem Kopelev, Charlie and Dee Ivy, it was a pleasure spending time with you. Alula Pankhurst offered valuable advice at the start of the project and Makeda Ketcham and Yodit Hermann have been wonderful interlocutors. During writing up, Anita Hannig and Diego Malara have been generous readers of my work and have made great contributions to the final product. Elizabeth Blunt offered wise and intelligent advice and good food. Brook Beyene was a great Amharic teacher. In Addis, Wondimagegn Tilahun and Zenawi, I miss you guys. At the LSE, my supervisors Matthew Engelke and Michael Lambek took me on when my project was hanging in the balance. They have been inspirational throughout and their support and guidance has made all the difference. I am grateful to the department as a whole for making anthropology exciting and for years of great conversation. Deborah James and Fenella Cannell have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their kindness, and I have learned an enormous amount from Maurice Bloch, whose teaching has done so much to help me figure out why we do anthropology, and from Stephan Feuchtwang, whose intellectual generosity is humbling. To Yan and Tom Hinrichsen and Camilla Griffiths my great thanks. 6 The list of friends at LSE who have contributed to the intellectual and personal process of writing a thesis has been enormous. In no particular order, my thanks to Max Bolt, Alanna Cant, Aude Michelet, Gustavo Barbosa, Michael P. “Commandante” Hoffmann, Elizabeth Frantz, Miranda Sheild‐Johansson, Agnes Hann, Denis Regnier, Pete Doetschman, Cesar Estrella, Giulia Liberatore, Sitna Quiroz, Indira Arumugam, Ana Paola Gutierrez‐Garza, George St. Clair, Nicolas Martin, Hakem Rustom, Sarah Grosso, Tom Grisaffi, Andrew Sanchez, Matt Wilde, Daniela Kraemer, Tamara Tatum‐Hale, E.J. Fang, Dave Robinson, Ankur Datta, and to Mette High. To innumerable other friends: Geoffrey Shullenberger, Nick Nelson, and Michael Esveldt for their contributions to the fields of neurosymbology and animality studies; to Steve Lundy for Latinological and swearological consultations and to Rachel Eley for bacon and whiskey; to Amanda Cadogan, Christina Eley, Maggie Grove, and Lukas Champagne for fashion advice and services to personhood, and to Charlotte Whittle for poetic services; to Ben Levine for intertextual guidance.