Legacies of Ethiopian Women: Revealing Heritage through an indigenous animistic ontology

Summary

This paper will focus on the importance of including women’s legacies and narratives in the heritage of southern Ethiopia. In particular, women’s memories reveal the significance of life rituals associated with birth, marriage, and leadership, which served as reminders for illuminating their indigenous ontology Detsa concerning animism, fertility, and prestige. Traces of their life experiences and thoughts are tangible as visible markers on the landscape at Biare Dere, first settlements. Although these spaces and objects embody their engagement between the physical and spiritual worlds, their community action fields and boundaries are pliable, reconfiguring their traces in spatial and material realms.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Engendered Archaeologies: Intersubjectivity in Archaeological Heritage Practice and Interpretation

Keywords

Spatial Coverage