Working in tandem with the discussion from week 5, I will question the symbiotic relationship of the church and the city. Relying upon the artistry and materiality of the vernacular Ethiopian rock church, collisions between the African, Middle-Eastern, and European worlds will emerge and hopeful display the full range of influences upon the physicality of the Axum region. Beyond the spatial implications of the built environment, social interactions between the church and the urban will also prove relevant to the concept of the sacred and the manifestation it maintains in geographic symbolism. I hope to sustain a primary focus on the people of Ethiopia, but would also like to squeeze in an (unfortunately paltry) examination of the differences between the sacral landscape of the North African (i.e. largely defined by its relationship outside of Africa and the concept of a singular place of worship) and those of the South African (i.e. the entire village is the sacred place).
Abridged Bibliography
Prussin, Labelle. An introduction to Indigenous African Architecture, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 33, No 3 October 1974 p182-205
Heldman, Marilyn. Architectural Symbolism, Sacred Geography and the Ethiopian Church, Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 22, August 1992 p222-241
Asrat, Asfawossen. The Rock Hewn Churches of Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: A Geological Perspective, Geoarcheology, An international Journal, Vol. 17, No 7 2002 p649-663
Laburn-Peart, Catherine. Precolonial Towns of Southern Africa, Journal of Planning Education and Research
Sacral Space & Ethiopia.doc
Posted at Dec 13/2007 01:49AM:
Hi Danyelle,
Have you seen these:
Churches in Rock, Early Christian Art in Ethiopia by George Gerster; Richard Hosking
The Zagwe Dynasty, Lalibala Churches, and the Solomonic 'Restoration' in The Ethiopians by Richard Pankhurst
Steven Kaplan, Hagiographies and the History of Medieval Ethiopia History in Africa Vol. 8 (1981), pp. 107-123
Frederick C. Gamst Peasantries and Elites without Urbanism: The Civilization of Ethiopia. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 12, No. 4. (Oct., 1970), pp. 373-392.
Rosita McGrath Lalibala The Geographical Journal Vol. 66, No. 6 (Dec., 1925), pp. 507-518
Hecht, Elisabeth-Dorothea and Kidane, Girma Ethiopia's Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibala. AMBIO - A Journal of the Human Environment; 1983, Vol. 12 Issue 3/4, p210.
Posted at Dec 17/2007 11:56AM:
Omur: Hi Danyelle
I hope the paper is going well. I just wanted to share with you this gorgeous photograph of the worshippers at Bet Giyorgis, Lalibela. It appeared in the most recent issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (Volume 66 No 4 December 2007 p. 442 fig 6). Feel free to use it in your paper. It is Figure 6 in an article by Heinz Ruther and Rahim S. Rajan called "Documenting African sites: the Aluka Project" pp. 437-443.
Best
Omur
