Institute of Ethiopian Studies

The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) was officially established in 1963 to collect information on Ethiopian civilization, its history, cultures, and languages.[1] The Institute includes a research and publication unit, a library, and a museum. It is located at Addis Ababa University, Sidist (6) Kilo campus, which was at the time of the IES's opening, named Haile Selassie I University after the last emperor of Abyssinia.

The current director of the Institute is Dr. Ahmed Hassen, an associate professor at the university.[2]

History of the IES

The first director of the Institute was Richard Pankhurst (son of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst), and the first librarian was Stanislaw Chojnacki. Other directors were Fäqadu Gadamu, Taddesse Tamrat, Tadesse Bayana, Bahru Zewde, Abdussamad Ahmad, Baye Yemam, and Elizabet Walde Giyorgis.[1]

History of the building

The Institute is housed in what was formerly the Gännäta Le’ul or Princely Paradise Palace, which was constructed in 1934 as the principle palace building for Emperor Haile Selassie and his family.[3] In 1936 when Italian forces occupied the city of Addis Ababa, the Fascist Viceroy, Rodolfo Graziani, made it his home and administrative center.[4] The palace became the center of international attention when two Eritrean nationalists attempted to assassinate the viceroy, and Graziani responded by massacring the population of Addis Ababa (remembered as Yekatit 12).[5]

Behind the flag is the spiral staircase was built during the Italian occupation. Each step marked a year of Mussolini's rule. It was meant to symbolize Fascist domination. Upon restoration of Haile Selassie to the throne, the Lion of Judah statue was placed atop the staircase.

Upon Italian liberation, Selassie was restored to the throne, and in 1950, the palace became the (unofficial) headquarters of the Empire.[6]

The palace was also the site of the abortive coup d'etat of 1960, and though it failed, it marked the beginning of the Ethiopian student movement, which would publicly demonstrate against the government for political, economic, and social change.

The ground floor of the palace was originally a banquet hall, which is now the site of the library. The second floor held the Emperor's bedrooms and study, which is now a part of the Ethnological Museum.[7]

Research and publication unit

This IES unit conducts and publishes research.[8] It publishes conference proceedings, museum catalogues, reference works,[9] and the Journal of Ethiopian Studies (JES),[7] which was founded in 1963.[10] The journal publishes articles in English and Amharic, with editorial support from the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies at Hamburg University.[11] It published the national bibliography of materials published in and about Ethiopia until 1975, when the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia took over this responsibility.[12]

This unit puts on the international Ethiopian Studies conference once every nine years.[13] There is also a monthly seminar held locally at the IES, for researchers to present their findings to each other and university staff and students.[13]

Ethnological museum

This IES unit is the first university museum in Ethiopia. The museum has a permanent collection in five fields of study: anthropology, art, ethnomusicology, numismatics (the study of coinage), and philately (the study of postage stamps).[14] Its hosts temporary exhibitions.[15] It has objects dating back to the early Aksumite period.[16][17] When the museum opened, it included a zoology species collection, but that is now housed at the Natural History Museum of Ethiopia at Arat (4) Kilo campus.[18] Being the former site of the palace, the museum displays the Emperor Haile Selassie's chambers and his embroidered robes and military uniform.[14] The Society of Friends of the IES was established in 1968 to raise financial support for the museum.[19]

Library

The IES Library collects in the field of Ethiopian Studies (in the humanities and social sciences)[1] and also preserves Ethiopian manuscripts. Its Woldämäskäl Memorial Research Center holds most of the Institute's rare publications and manuscripts in Ge’ez, Amharic, Oromiffa, Tigrinya, and other Ethiopian languages.[20][21] The library has a manuscript restoration laboratory which works on conserving texts that date back to the fifteenth century. It is a non-lending library.[22] It holds all university students’ theses and dissertations related to Ethiopian Studies.[23][24] It contains six departments: the Foreign Languages Department, Ethiopian Languages and Periodicals, Manuscripts and Archives, the Woldämäskäl Memorial Research Center, Audiovisual Materials, and Automation and Digitization.[25]

gollark: Can someone link me the TTA? Cloud is citing it to back up some stuff.
gollark: ... Why?
gollark: Obviously. It's clearly a joke.
gollark: But what do you power *that* from?
gollark: Ah, yes, of course.

References
  1. Pankhurst, Richard. "Institute of Ethiopian Studies." In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N: Vol. 3, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, 168-69. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007.
  2. "Contacts for the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University".
  3. Wall text from 'Coronations and Palace-building,' From Palace to University: A Historical Perspective, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  4. Wall text from "The Italian Occupation, 1936-1941," From Palace to University: A Historical Perspective, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  5. Wall text from "Attempt on Graziani's Life, 1937," From Palace to University: A Historical Perspective, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  6. Wall text from "The Palace in the 1950s," From Palace to University: A Historical Perspective, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  7. "Background | Institute of Ethiopian Studies". www.aau.edu.et. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  8. "Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University". Addis Ababa University.
  9. Beyene, Taddese; Pankhurst, Richard (1988). Silver jubilee anniversary of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies: proceedings of the symposium, Addis Ababa, November 24-26, 1988. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University.
  10. Haile Sellassie I University; Institute of Ethiopian Studies; Addis Ababa University; YaʼItyop̣yā ṭenātenā meremer taqwām (1963). "Journal of Ethiopian studies". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. ISSN 0304-2243. OCLC 1779437.
  11. "Journal of Ethiopian Studies on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  12. Gupta, Sushma (December 1995). "Development of libraries, documentation and information centres in ethiopia in the twentieth century". The International Information and Library Review. 27 (4): 317–331. doi:10.1080/10572317.1995.10762378.
  13. Zekaria, Ahmed (June 25, 2018). "Ethiopian Studies in the Eyes of Chief Curator". The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa).
  14. "Background of The Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies". Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.
  15. "Background | Institute of Ethiopian Studies". www.aau.edu.et. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  16. "Ethiopian Museums Support Association". ethiomuseums.org. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  17. "Ethnological Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian studies, AAU". Ethiopian Museums Support Association.
  18. "The Zoological Natural History Museum". Ethiopian Museums Support Association.
  19. Chojnacki, Stanislaw (2007). "Foundation of the Society of Friends of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and its Evolution between 1965 and 1975". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 40: 359–360 – via https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40093410.
  20. Ato Demeke Berhane, "Demeke Explains the Ethiopian Manuscripts of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies." Video. Filmed February 11, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mKCeY6mZo
  21. "Digitising and conserving Ethiopian manuscripts at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies". Endangered Archives Programme. 2009.
  22. "Library Background, Institute of Ethiopian Studies". Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.
  23. "IES Library". Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.
  24. Pankhurst, Richard (1991). "The Institute of Ethiopian Studies". Africa: Rivista Trimestrale di Studi e Documentazione dell'Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. 46: 612–613.
  25. Gupta, Sushma (1991). "The institute of Ethiopian studies library and its documentation services". International Library Review. 23 (4): 381–389. doi:10.1016/0020-7837(91)90008-N.

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