News and announcements
PROJECT AND RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
8 October 2024 - Mersha Alehegne talks on The Living Codex: Exploring the Role of Sacred Manuscripts as Characters in Ge'ez Hagiographies at the Workshop Ethiopic Hagiographic Literature, Hamburg, 8-9 October 2024.
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3 July 2024 - Addisie Yalew Mengistu talks at the IMC Leeds on 'An Inquiry into the Chronicle of King Fāsiladas (1632–1667); A Historical and Textual Analysis'
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20-24 November 2023 - Members of the Abennat project co-organize and teach at the Fall School in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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5-15 September 2023 - Members of the Abennat project co-organize and teach at the Seventh Hiob Ludolf Centre Summer School in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies in Hamburg; the Abennat project presentation is also featured in an evening public panel
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1 February 2023 - Addisie Yalew presented her intermediate research results at the Forschungscolloquium of Asien-Africa-Institute, Hamburg University
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29-30 September 2022 - On the occasion of the 21st International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, the project organized a Conference panel: In Search of a Local Cure for Ethiopia’s Education? Let us go for ʾAbǝnnät.
The 21st International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa, 29-30 September 2022) is a major international event in Ethiopian studies. The project panel titled, In Search of a Local Cure for Ethiopia’s Education? Let us go for ʾAbǝnnät was proposed to the organizing committee of the 21st International Conference of Ethiopian Studies which was held on 28.09 – 01.10.22 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The aims of the panel were (a) to execute an in-depth exploration of the indigenous school system and life of the ʾabǝnnät; (b) to figure out the existence of positive assets in the tradition that can be introduced in the arena of the country’s modern education system and policy; (c) to publish the findings of the research in a reputable journal. Due to the intent to get exhaustive information as possible from the scholars on different topics of the school system and life, the language of the panel included Amharic as an option. Accepted to be one of the 34 panels of the conference, our panel took place at the College of Development Studies (CDS 8), Addis Ababa University. Twelve papers were presented, some of them in Amharic (including two papers from the project members, highlighted in bold):
1. Zelealem Meseret, የአብነት ትምህርት ቤቶቹ ደረጃዎች የመማር- ማስተማር ዘዴዎች፣ ስልቶችና ብልኀቶች ቅኝት (A survey of the model schools' levels of teaching methods, strategies and techniques)
2. Abune Petros and Maraw Alemu, የድኅረ ምረቃ ትምህርት በቤተ ልሔም፡- ገላጭ ጥናት (Advanced Education in Beta Lehem: A Descriptive Study)
3. Christine Chaillot, The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church through testimonies left in some writings of the past
4. Minale Demelash, The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Education and Important Practices to the Modern Science and Mathematics Education
5. Habtamu Hayle Mikael, Muluken AndeAlem, የመምህርና ተማሪ የትምህርት መስተጋብር በቤተ ቅኔ (The interaction between teacher and student in the School of Qine)
6. Set’argaw Qina, Yikunno Amlak Mezgebu, የግእዝ ቅኔያት ሐያሲ ስልተ ትምህርት (Geez Qine: a Critical Methodology)
7. Tesdaye Amare, የግስ /መዝገበ ቃላት/ ሥርዓተ አስተምህሮና የቅጸላ ብልኃቶች በቅኔ ት/ቤት (Language, lexical, and grammar skills of students in Qine Bet traditional school)
8. Tsedalu Addisu, የማኅበር ቅኔ ሳምንታዊ ውይይት አተገባበር (Introduction of Weekly Qine Discussion Association)
9. Senkoris Ayalew, እያዝናኑ ማስተማርና የማስታወሻ ብልሃቶች በአብነት ትምህርት ቤት (Entertaining teaching methods and memorization skills in traditional education)
10. Tsehay Ademe, የጊዜና የቦታ አጠቃቀም ስልት በአብነት ትምህርት ቤት (Strategies of use of time and space in traditional education)
11. Yitbarek Demlew, የትብብር ትምህርት ለተሻለ ሀገር ግንባታ (Cooperative education for building a better country)
12. Medhanit Adane, የቡድን ትምህርት በኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ አብነት ትምህርት ቤቶች፡ አስተማሪነቱ ለኢትዮጵያ ዘመናዊ ትምህርት (Group Education in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Traditional Church Schools: The Model for Ethiopian Modern Education)
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8 June 2022 - Addisie Yalew presented her research towards Practices of Manuscript Production with cataloguing of textbooks in Gondar, Ethiopia, with the use of project materials, at the Forschungskolloquium of Asien Afrika Institut
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4 January 2022 - Mersha Alehegne Mengistie gives a public lecture at Gondar University on ʾabǝnnat and our effort to spare the tradition to the University’s community
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15 November 2021 - Interview by Mersha Alehegne Mengistie to the PR office of Addis Ababa University, "The Ethiopian Ancient Education System, ‘Abǝnnät Tǝmhǝrt’, Needs Attention", see http://www.aau.edu.et/blog/the-ethiopian-ancient-education-system-ab%c7%9dnnat-t%c7%9dmh%c7%9drt-needs-attention/.
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8 November 2021 - On the occasion of the Akademientag in Berlin devoted to the theme of ‘Ferne Welten, ganz nah’, both PIs took part in the ‘Podiumsduskussion’ on interaction and cooperation between local partners and projects funded by the Union of the German Academies, on the topic of ‘Vernetzt forschen: Perspektiven internationaler Zusammenarbeit’ (the event was accessible live on streaming and is recorded on youtube).
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TEAM TRAININGS
5 and 6 April 2022, the TEI XML Workshop was offered to project members (https://www.betamasaheft.uni-hamburg.de/news/20220405xml.html)
31 March 2022, training in Transkribus software for transcribing manuscripts was offered (https://www.betamasaheft.uni-hamburg.de/news/20220331trans.html).
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PROJECT START 1 OCTOBER 2021
Finally, after a long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the project was launched on 1 October 2021.
The project team, including, on German side, PI Alessandro Bausi and PhD student Addisie Yalew Mengistu, and on Ethiopian side, PI Mersha Alehegne Mengistie and PhD students Senkoris Ayalew and Tsehay Ademe, shall be carrying out documentation and description of the contents of the traditional education as it has been preserved today according to the Work plan.
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PHD SCHOLARSHIP BEGINNING 1 JULY 2020
A PhD scholarship is now available in the new project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, "Documenting an Ancient Education System in Africa: ʾAbənnät Təmhərt in Ethiopia", beginning 1 July 2020.
Duration
The scholarship shall be initially allocated for 1 year and is extendable for another year provided a positive evaluation of the midterm report.
Funding
The scholarship amounts to the net sum of 1,600 per month.
Research
It is mandatory that the proposed research topic is consistent with the project goals and that the research plan and schedule include manuscripts cataloguing (describing relevant manuscripts collected in the course of the project) among the main tasks.
Requirements
A degree in Ethiopian studies, Semitic studies, African studies, Theology, or other related discipline is a necessary requirement. The knowledge of English and of Gə‘əz is expected. The knowledge of Amharic and other Ethiopian, Eritrean and European languages, as well as experience in manuscript cataloguing and digital humanities are an advantage.
The University aims to increase the number of women in research and teaching and explicitly encourages women to apply. Equally qualified female applicants will receive preference in accordance with the Hamburg act on gender equality. Qualified disabled candidates or applicants with equivalent status receive preference in the application process.
Application deadline
The deadline for submitting applications is 10 February 2020.
Application file
We accept applications in German and English. Please send a single PDF document containing:
- Cover letter
- Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
- Copies of degree certificates
- Letter of motivation (max. 1 page)
- Research topic and outline (max. 2 pages)
- Letter of reference (from your degree supervisor, not older than 6 months)
Please send your application file via E-Mail to: alessandro.bausi"AT"uni-hamburg.de
