Ethiopian Studies and Digital Humanities: tools and projectsBeta maṣāḥəft, Ethiopian Manuscript Archives, EthioMap

21 January 2019

Workshop “Ethiopian Studies and Digital Humanities: tools and projects
(Beta maṣāḥəft, Ethiopian Manuscript Archives, EthioMap)”
21-24 January 2019
Venue : CNRS – 27 rue Paul Bert – 94 200 Ivry-sur-Seine – France
Contact : Anaïs Wion, (IMAF, CNRS), anais.wion"AT"univ-paris1.fr

The objective of this workshop is to create the conditions for the emergence of a scientific community using digital collaborative tools within Ethiopian studies. There is no need to recall the scientific and technological context in which we live to understand the importance and challenges of this methodological revolution. Many initiatives have emerged over the past two decades, both in terms of the availability of digitized documentation and the tools to use it (This includes, of course, the many collections of digitised manuscripts, maps (see in particular those of E.W. Schimper), the Menestrel resource directory, the online publication of biblical texts, ancient works and online journals).

After the first experiments, interoperability and sharing have become the key words, and Ethiopian studies must respond to these good practices.

Three projects developed in France and Germany will thus have the opportunity to dialogue and harmonize their practices.

The Ethiopian Manuscript Archives project, initially developed in 2010 and now part of the EthioChrisProcess project (ANR, 2018-2022), aims to edit and equip the corpus of administrative acts of the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, for medieval and modern periods.

The EthioMap project offers an online consultation of a selection of maps that illustrate either scientific advances or significant political developments in understanding Ethiopian territorial dynamics. Each map is indexed, listing all topographic information, comparing their occurrences and transcriptions from one map to another.

The Beta maṣāḥəft project aims to bring together all the Ethiopian manuscript catalogues, eventually integrating the texts themselves. Various tools equip this corpus: lexicon ge'ez, based on Dillmann's book; cartography: biographical sheets.
Researchers using this manuscript documentation will now make privileged use of this increased access to sources. It is desirable that users are also actors in this digital scientific environment, which is why this workshop is an invitation to take advantage of the tools currently in place and to participate in the supply of data.

Download the programme in PDF