Harald Aspen Boeken

Amhara Traditions of Knowledge – Spirit Mediums and their Clients is a study of how knowledge is socially organised and used among the Amhara peasants in Yefat (North Shäwa). A major challenge in analysing knowledge and practices related to curing and divination with the help of mystical, spiritual powers, is their complexity and enormous variation. Unlike most studies of Ethiopian spirit possession, the author takes the ambiguities and variation as his start-ing point. The analysis combines a hermeneutical and processual approach and is based on detailed ethnographic data with an in-depth study of one spirit medium (balä weqabi) and the ebbs and flows of the cult that developed around his activity. The variation in spirit beliefs and knowledge systems among the Amhara can be understood in view of the nature of knowledge transmission and management within the spirit cults. Amhara Traditions of Knowl-edge can also be read as a study of the dynamic relationship be-tween great and little traditions; between the long traditions of the Ethiopian church and state on the one hand, and the syncretic creativity of folk religion on the other.

The contributions which are published here have been selected on the basis of a long process involving a large number of people. All the articles included have been read by at least one, and often two, experts in the field, in addition to the editors. Comments from external reviewers and the editors have been communicated to the authors, and revised versions have been re-read by editors and reviewers. The forty six papers in this book: Research in Ethiopian Studies are in the major areas of research interest in Ethiopian studies which include the following: philology, medieval and modern history, art history, anthropology, linguistics, law, international relations and politics, elections and human rights, literature, development studies, gender, urban studies, children and childhood, music and fine arts, religion and beliefs.