From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia

Sommerschuh, Julian

doi:10.1080/00141844.2020.1828971

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This is not only because of conceptual conflicts which cannot be resolved. It is also because solving one conflict often unintentionally creates another (Berlin 1990 [1959]: 15; Sommerschuh 2020: 14). In Dell, for example, Orthodox converts today lament that their withdrawal from traditional clan rituals has come at the expense of kinship unity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Resolution here takes place not through a reorganization of the relations between values, but through a change in the practices through which values are realized: that is, in the modes of value realization (cf. Sommerschuh 2020). By taking up new ways of doing things, converts in Dell have come into the position of being able to co‐realize what previously were mutually exclusive ends.…”

Section: Two Ways Of Solving Value Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

Sommerschuh

2021

Royal Anthropological Inst

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This article explains the recent emergence of Orthodox Christianity in a majoritarian Evangelical Protestant community in southern Ethiopia. Examining conversion motives and forms of religious engagement, I show that Orthodoxy is attractive to erstwhile followers of traditional practice because it affords them the solution to a value conflict. Joining an institutionalized ‘religion’ associated with national elites, converts attain the respectability formerly denied them by Evangelicals. And since Orthodoxy is less puritan than local Evangelicalism, conversion does not come at the expense of conviviality. An ethnographic discussion of this process of value harmonization provides the basis for a conceptual contribution to anthropological value theory, while also offering new insights for the debate about different modalities of Christian change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Two Ways Of Solving Value Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

Sommerschuh

2021

Royal Anthropological Inst

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Becoming Amhara: ethnic identity change as a quest for respect in Aari, Ethiopia

Sommerschuh

2022

Journal of Eastern African Studies

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Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia

Sommerschuh

2021

J. Relig. Afr.

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Research on the economic effects of African Christianity has mainly focused on Pentecostalism. The dominant opinion of this literature is that Pentecostalism stimulates economic activity and supports economic development. This article looks beyond Pentecostalism by discussing the case of an Evangelical church in southern Ethiopia. Covering a period of two decades, I trace a shift in the relation between Evangelicalism and local aspirations for economic development. Initially seen as a means to achieve religious ends, the pursuit of development has recently been problematized as a source of social and spiritual ills. The church now discourages excessive participation in the commercial economy, and dedicated Evangelicals relinquish economic opportunities that they fear could lead them into sin. This shows that while Christianity can stimulate processes of economic development it can also constrain these, motivating people to renounce the quest for wealth in favour of other values.

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From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia

Cited by 3 publications

References 24 publications

Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

Becoming Amhara: ethnic identity change as a quest for respect in Aari, Ethiopia

Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia

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