Urban Development and the Making of Frontiers in/from Addis Ababa/Finfinne, Ethiopia

Frontier making in Ethiopia has historical roots from the formation of the modern Ethiopian state in the late-19th century through wars of conquest. The conquest, which was inspired by political and economic motivations of the highland Christian kingdom, used the notion of a “civilizing mission”—civilizing the “backward” and “underdeveloped” people, and “underutilized” spaces—through imposition of an imperial state system and Orthodox Christianity. The foundation and horizontal expansion of Addis Ababa or Finfinne by displacing Indigenous inhabitants was part of the state building project under successive regimes. Over the last century and a half, the city has continued its unchecked expansion in a process involving multilayered actors whose interests overlapped in terms of grabbing the land they considered “underutilized.” More specifically, the last three decades evince commoditization of farmlands, grazing areas, and cultural and sacred spaces through land lease, which eventually dissolve existing customary systems, values, and practices. This paper critically analyzes the dynamics of frontier making in or from Addis Ababa or Finfinne, the political economy behind such unchecked frontier expansion and how it activated the power of resistance in 2014. The paper concludes that frontier making in or from Addis Ababa through dispossession of Oromo farmers has been part of the broader political establishment in Ethiopia and should be viewed within the same lens.

Sites D’eau Sacrés Et Conservation De La Biodiversité : Cas Des Paysages D’eau De La Région De Ziguinchor (Sénégal)

The region of Ziguinchor, located in the south of Senegal, is entirely within Lower Casamance. Populated mainly by Ajamaat, this region is characterized geographically by a predominance of water landscapes that give it the image of an "amphibious" territory. This aquatic environment dominated by the Casamance River from which many bolongs stand out is also made up of mangroves, shallows and multitudes of ponds associated with them. The ajamaat populations thus draw an essential part of their resources from this environment. However, beyond its nourishing aspect, the aquatic environment occupies an important place in the traditional ajamaat beliefs. Considered as sanctuaries for many beings who populate the religious universe ajamaat, the water landscapes of Lower Casamance are sacred spaces whose access is subject to prohibitions. This aspect reflects the contribution of beliefs in the preservation of biodiversity. La région de Ziguinchor, située au sud du Sénégal, est entièrement comprise dans la Basse Casamance. Peuplée essentiellement par des Ajamaat, cette région se caractérise au plan géographique par une prédominance des paysages de l’eau qui lui donnent l’image d’un territoire « amphibie ». Cet environnement aquatique dominé par le fleuve Casamance d’où se détachent de nombreux bolong est aussi constitué de mangroves, de bas-fonds et de multitudes de mares qui leurs sont associées. Les populations ajamaat tirent ainsi une part essentielle de leurs ressources dans ce milieu. Toutefois, au-delà de son aspect nourricier, l’environnement aquatique occupe une place importante dans les croyances traditionnelles ajamaat. Considérés comme sanctuaires de nombreux êtres qui peuplent l’univers religieux ajamaat, les paysages de l’eau de la Basse Casamance sont des espaces sacrés dont l’accès est soumis à des interdits. Cet aspect traduit l’apport des croyances dans la préservation de la biodiversité.

The Vulnerable Therapeutic Water Spaces of Virgen de Caysasay

The Virgen de Caysasay is one of the oldest manifestations of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines. According to popular belief, a fisherman netted her statue in the Pansipit River in 1603. Many miraculous healing events, mostly involving water, have been attributed to her. Despite the devastating effects of the climate crisis, Caysasay water spaces endure as therapeutic, healing, and ritual places. This essay examines the interlocking dynamics and vulnerabilities of bodies of water associated with the Virgen de Caysasay, their contextual sacred spaces where pieties are performed, and their surrounding communities

Iconography and Roman Religion

Roman iconography depicts religious practices, divine figures, mortal worshippers, and beliefs about the gods. Religious imagery reflects the importance of religion in Roman conceptions of the past, the fashioning of self-identity, and discursive practices. Representations of sacred spaces and occasions often emphasize their topographic arrangement within landscapes, giving religious imagery a strong sense of place. Inside sanctuaries, decorative imagery is augmented by iconography that facilitates ritual activity, illustrates cult-specific details, and shapes the experience of visitors. Religious iconography also highlights the contested natures of artifacts as well as the ways images enacted and reacted to social tensions. Although legal experts attempted to categorize the sacrality of images and artifacts, thoughts about an image’s status were mutable and rooted in personal experience and local factors. Many sacred images possessed agentive and talismanic properties, and manifested divine powers and presence.

Beyond the Portal

<p>This research project began by asking the question, ‘How does mixed reality aid the creation of an inexhaustible three-dimensional world that supports the evolution of inhabitable narratives within sacred spaces? Imdat As states, ‘The user in the digital age is not only a spectator but also an active participant of a parallel world.’ Within this environment, ‘we experience and manipulate virtual space (Imdat AS, 2006, p.60)’. As such, this notion of ‘experiencing and manipulating virtual space’ can provide a valuable set of tools to aid the evolution of inhabitable narratives within sacred spaces. To answer this question, the research proposes a proof of concept for a mixed reality multifaith environment. In its current conception, the multifaith space is limited to room scale spaces, treated as purely functional entities to the point where the experience within the space becomes monotonous. Religious architecture, whether it may be a church, mosque or temple, has been successfully translated into the collective memory of larger society, but within multifaith spaces, our focus has been on neutralization and in the process voided the space of any rich phenomenological experience. In order to activate the space, the research aims to digitally overlay ‘cultural information’ on top of a multifaith space in order to alter its use, essentially transforming it to the spiritual needs of the user. Hereby, a Muslim immersive experience was developed by investigating and interpreting both the tangible and intangible rituals of prayer. By incorporating an ‘altered’ immersive experience, the project aids the evolution in design and concept of a multifaith space that moves beyond the notion of an “empty white room (Crompton, 2013, p.487)”. By creating an MR environment for users of the Muslim faith the project contributes design concepts and methods for others, furthering research in this field.</p>

Beyond the Portal

<p>This research project began by asking the question, ‘How does mixed reality aid the creation of an inexhaustible three-dimensional world that supports the evolution of inhabitable narratives within sacred spaces? Imdat As states, ‘The user in the digital age is not only a spectator but also an active participant of a parallel world.’ Within this environment, ‘we experience and manipulate virtual space (Imdat AS, 2006, p.60)’. As such, this notion of ‘experiencing and manipulating virtual space’ can provide a valuable set of tools to aid the evolution of inhabitable narratives within sacred spaces. To answer this question, the research proposes a proof of concept for a mixed reality multifaith environment. In its current conception, the multifaith space is limited to room scale spaces, treated as purely functional entities to the point where the experience within the space becomes monotonous. Religious architecture, whether it may be a church, mosque or temple, has been successfully translated into the collective memory of larger society, but within multifaith spaces, our focus has been on neutralization and in the process voided the space of any rich phenomenological experience. In order to activate the space, the research aims to digitally overlay ‘cultural information’ on top of a multifaith space in order to alter its use, essentially transforming it to the spiritual needs of the user. Hereby, a Muslim immersive experience was developed by investigating and interpreting both the tangible and intangible rituals of prayer. By incorporating an ‘altered’ immersive experience, the project aids the evolution in design and concept of a multifaith space that moves beyond the notion of an “empty white room (Crompton, 2013, p.487)”. By creating an MR environment for users of the Muslim faith the project contributes design concepts and methods for others, furthering research in this field.</p>

Bleeding Women in Sacred Spaces: Negotiating Theological Belonging in the ‘Pathway’ to Priesthood

This article focuses on the theological journeying of women ordinands in the Church of England, who have had to negotiate their belonging in the ‘pathway’ to Priesthood in ordination training. Attention is given to the extent to which the personhood of women is enabled to truly flourish in a theological education system that is dominated by men and predominantly patriarchal and Western theologising. It suggests that a gendered politics of belonging has been used and maintained through the socio-religious construct of ‘shame’ in order to maintain the boundaries of belonging within the formation process, and therefore calls for an en-gendered ‘pathway to the priesthood’. This is exemplified in a re-reading of the bleeding woman who dares to challenge the hegemonies of patriarchy and purity by touching the cloak of Christ in Luke 8:40-48. This research is part of an ongoing project with Common Awards at Durham University that explores barriers to belonging in theological education for those in training for ordination. It has therefore received ethical approval for interviews and participant observations.

RESPONDING TO VIOLENCE: LITURGY, AUTHORITY AND SACRED PLACES, c. 900–c. 1150

ABSTRACTThe principle that church buildings constitute sacred spaces, set apart from the secular world and its laws, is one of the most enduring legacies of medieval Christianity in the present day. When and how church buildings came to be defined as sacred has consequently received a good deal of attention from modern scholars. What happened when that status was compromised, and ecclesiastical spaces were polluted by acts of violence, like the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral? This paper investigates the history of rites for the reconciliation of holy places violated by the shedding of blood, homicide or other public acts of ‘filthiness’ which followed instances such as Becket's murder. I first identify the late tenth and early eleventh centuries in England as crucial to the development of this rite, before asking why English bishops began to pay attention to rites of reconciliation in the years around 1000 ce. This paper thus offers a fresh perspective on current understandings of ecclesiastical responses to violence in these years, the history of which has long been dominated by monastic evidence from west Frankia and Flanders. At the same time, it reveals the potential of liturgical rites to offer new insights into medieval society.