Les Ethiopiens, and: Les Falashas (review)

Book Reviews 201 tion of field data, however rich and exciting, is not enough by itself. As usable history, Identities on the Move would have benefited from firmer editing and more reflection. Richard WaUer Bucknell University Les Ethiopiens K. Stoffregen-Pedersen Turnhout, Belgium: Éditions Brepols, 1990. and Les Falashas S. Kaplan Turnhout, Belgium: Éditions Brepols, 1990. These two books are part of a series called "FiIs d'Abraham," and apparently concerned with monotheistic or Biblical religions and religiocultural groups. (Other volumes published or in preparation at the time of writing are, e.g., on the Sikhs, Armenians, Catholics, Baha'is, Druzes, several Jewish communities, Copts, Syrian Christians and several other Eastern Orthodox groups.) The books seem to be intended as easily readable compendia with basic information on these various communities. They are set up according to a fixed formula, with chapters on history and doctrine, followed by a substantial anthology, chapters on art, spiritual life, and a sociological profile, a chapter on "organization," and finaUy an extensive bibliography and a section of good-quality photographs. The text is also supported by recent statistics on the groups discussed. These monographs are produced in the way that a good book should be produced—an attractive hardcover complete with bookmarker, a clearly organized and accessibly written text (with painstaking Ethiopie spelling and few typing or printing errors), and well illustrated. In the nature of the series, these publications are not major new studies on the subject matter, but present a summing-up of the information on the various groups, in a more or less encyclopedic manner. They 202 Book Reviews do not advance new theories or present insights that really challenge our understanding. This is not a criticism but an observation, and one can easily see the function that these handbooks will fulfill for a wide audience outside scholarly circles. That the complexity of certain subjects and various controversies had to be glossed over in such a text is perhaps understandable. Indeed, one almost searches in vain (though less so in Kaplan's book, perhaps because of the subject itself) for ideas or theories on which some fundamental critical comments or alternative views can be given. Sister Kirsten Pedersen's book (she now adds her mother's family name, Stoffregen, to her name) about the "Ethiopians," i.e., the Christian Highlanders (Amhara and Tigray, or "Abyssinians," not the other peoples living within the state's boundaries), is a fairly conventional but crystal-clear survey of the general history and doctrines of these Ethiopian, predominantly Christian, peoples. The detailed and carefully written part on doctrine closely follows the religious works produced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, on which the author is one of the outstanding non-Ethiopian experts. The chapter on spiritual life provides a detailed treatment of the liturgical office, calendar, and holy days of the Ethiopian Church. The brief discussion of the life-cycle rituals (birth, baptism, marriage, funeral) are perhaps stamped with the religious point of view too much, and fails to say anything about how the average Ethiopian deals with this. Similarly, it omits any mention of the very real beliefs in spirits, zars, evil eye, magic, etc., which constitute the "folk" aspects of the religion. This religious imprimatur is also evident in the "Sociological Profile," which is mainly a survey of the linguistic, ethnic, and territorial distribution of Ethiopian Christians, and less about their actual social institutions, daily culture, and way of life. Compared to Pedersen's work, Kaplan's book is more broadly focused on the Fälasha or Beta Esra'el community in all its aspects, from traditional religious life and doctrine to current social and political changes and problems (cf. the 30-page sociological profile). His work is an adequate and reliable synthesis of the current state of knowledge on this much-discussed Ethiopian Jewish group, emphasizing its Ethiopian historico-cultural context. Very valuable is the Anthology part, where some newly edited religious text fragments are presented, among them the Sänbäte Sänbät. Book Reviews 203 In reading this text, however, it should be noted that the Ethiopian Jewish community is no more. Virtually all Fälasha/Betä Esra'el have emigrated from...