HLCEES at 22ICES in Hawasa, Ethiopia

29 September 2025

The 22nd International Conference of Ethiopian Studies takes place in Hawasa, Ethiopia, from 29 September to 3 October 2025, with active participation from the members of the HLCEES.

Dr Solomon Gebreyes and Dr Hewan Semon convene the panel on "Ethiopian Historiography: Evolution, Diversity, and Transformation". Among the panel papers are Dr Denis Nosnitsin on "Documentary evidence from ecclesiastic collections: to which extent reliable?" (29 September), Giulia Casella on "Tracing a Portrait: Kāleb in the Ethiopic Literary Tradition", Hewan Semon on "The Non-Academic Ethiopian Historian", Addisie Yalew on "Historical Colophon Writing Practice in Twenty-First Century Ethiopia" (30 September), Solomon Gebreyes on "King Śarḍa Dǝngǝl’s Chronicle (1563–1597): Examining Its Sources, Composition, and Authorship" (1 October).

Guesh Solomon with Jutta Sperling host the panel on "Studies of Religion". The papers include Guesh Solomon on "Miracle of St Mary on the Martyr Giyorgis Ḥaddis: Textual and Artistic Developments in Selected Gadla Samāʿǝtāt and Taʾāmmǝra Maryām Manuscripts" (30 September), Sophia Dege-Müller on "Memories of the Wars between the Christian Solomonic Rulers and the Beta ʾƎsrāʾel (14th-15th centuries)" (1 October).

Michael Hensley and Dirbwork Bitsu chair the panel on "New Approaches to the Ethiopian Archival Tradition". The papers include Michael Hensley on "From Print to Pixel: The History and Future of Editing and Displaying Ethiopic Booklists", Dirbwork Bitsu on "Beyond Its Structural Significance, Involving Parties and Their Roles in Archival Documents of ʿUrā Kidāna Məḥrat Monastery at Zage Peninsula (19th –20th century)" (1 October).

The panel on Ethiopian Manuscript Studies includes the talk by Jonas Karlsson on "St George of Lydda in the Corpus of Dǝggʷā-type Antiphons" and Dorothea Reule on "The Manuscripts of the Early Ethiopic Synaxarion: An Update" (2 October).

Dr Mersha Alehegne Mengistie hosts the panel on "Ethiopian Gǝʿǝz Literary Heritage: Contemporary Pathways from Manuscript to Print" where he talks on "Agents of Sacred Texts: The Role of the Baftunəyos Hagiography Publishing Association in Contemporary Gəʿəz Textual Culture".