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Conference Announcement Theme: In Search of Zera Yacob Type: International Interdisciplinary Conference Institution: Worcester College, University of Oxford Location: Oxford (United Kingdom) – Online Date: 29.4.–1.5.2022 __________________________________________________ Aim of the Conference In Search of Zera Yacob will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference on two remarkable philosophical texts from early modern Ethiopia, the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat. These texts have fascinated and puzzled alike on account of their philosophical depth, beauty and apparent historical singularity. They have been called the ‘jewel of Ethiopian literature’, and served to demonstrate, in the words of Claude Sumner, that “modern philosophy, in the sense of a personal rationalistic critical investigation, began in Ethiopia with Zera Yacob at the same time as in England and in France”. This conference aims to examine the ideas, language and history of the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob by putting scholars from across the world, and across disciplinary boundaries, into dialogue. It aims to stimulate a productive discussion between scholars from philosophy, history, philology, and Ethiopian studies, and to serve as a prolegomenon to broader philosophical study of the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob. Contributors to the conference will explore the text's philosophical arguments and their significance, the historical context of intellectual exchanges in Ethiopia, issues of translation and the forging of philosophical vocabularies, notions of authorship and authenticity in philosophical writing, the legacy of colonialism for Ethiopian studies, and the methodology of a truly global history of philosophy. One of the guiding threads of the conference is the century-long controversy over the authorship of the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat: do the texts have a genuine 17th century Ethiopian authorship, as asserted in the texts, or was the supposed ‘discoverer’ of the texts, the Capuchin monk Giusto d’Urbino, in fact their secret author? In addition to bringing new research to bear on this debate, we hope that the conference will provide an opportunity to analyse the history and politics of this controversy, from the first scholars who admired and enthusiastically catalogued and edited the texts in the early 20th century, to its rejection by Carlo Conti Rossini, an orientalist, and apologist for the fascist invasion of Ethiopia, and the reassertion of a 17th century authorship by Almeyahu Moges, Amsalu Alkilu and Claude Sumner in the 1970s. We hope also to explore the suggestions of scholars such as Binyam Mekkonen that the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob, ‘authentic’ or not, can obscure other rich philosophical resources to be found elsewhere in Ethiopian literature. The conference will thus also provide an opportunity to interrogate the often fraught and often ideological underpinnings of these arguments, examining the role of colonial knowledge production in shaping the controversy, and the history of Ethiopian studies at large. Addressing this controversy with an eye to its troubled history is important if the Ḥatäta is to receive the attention it deserves. Further study of the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob might have profound implications for the history and historiography of philosophy in Africa and in a global orientation, for understanding processes of philosophical translation and connected intellectual histories, as well as the history of Ge’ez philology and literature. Conference Programme Friday 29th April 2022 15:00-15:30 Introductory remarks Panel 1 The Hatata Zera Yacob: Preliminaries 15:30-16:30 Ralph Lee (School of Oriental and African Studies) ‘Reflections on Translation the Hatata into English’ 16:30-17:30 Peter Adamson (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich/King's College London) ‘The Place of Ethiopian Philosophy in the History of Philosophy’ Saturday 30th April 2022 Panel 2 Contextual possibilities: The Hatata in the 17th century 9:00-10:00 Binyam Mekonnen (Addis Ababa University) ‘Critique and Emancipation in the Religious Sphere: the Däqiqä Ǝsṭifanos as a Foundation of Ethiopian Critical Theory’ 10:00-10:30 Mauricio Lapchik Minski (Ben Gurion University of the Negev) ‘The Mäqśäftä hassätat or Against the Libel of the Ethiopians – A 17th Century Catholic Response [and Request] to the Christological Position of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’ 11:00-12:00 Eyasu Berento (Kotebe University of Education) ‘Zera Yacob and Wolde Hiwot - 17th C Ethiopia Freethinkers: Exceptionality and Situated-ness of the ‘Hatetas’ in the Ethiopian Intellectual Tradition’ 12:00-12:45 Panel discussion (also including day 1 speakers) Panel 3 Legacy and Authenticity: The Hatata in the 20th century 14:00-15:00 Neelam Srivastava (Newcastle University) ‘Italian colonialism and orientalism in Ethiopia’ 15:00-16:00 Anaïs Wion (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) ‘The place of the Hatata in African philosophy since the 1960s’ 16:30-17:30 Fasil Merawi (Addis Ababa University) ‘Examining the Hatetas as a Foundation of Ethiopian Philosophy’ 17:30-18:15 Panel discussion Sunday 1st May 2022 Panel 4 The Hatata and the History of Philosophy 9:00-9:30 Anke Graness (University of Hildesheim) ‘Of forgeries and misinterpretations’ 9:30-10:30 John Marenbon (University of Cambridge) ‘Does it matter who wrote it? Zera Yacob, forgery and pseudonymity in the history of philosophy’ 11:00-12:00 Justin E. H. Smith (University of Paris 7-Denis Diderot) ‘Assessing the Evidence for Zera Yacub's Authenticity from the Point of View of the History of Philosophy’ 12:00-12:45 Panel discussion Panel 5 The Philosophy of the Hatata 14:00-14:45 Henry Straughan (University of Oxford) & Michael O'Connor (University of Oxford) ‘Grace and Reason in the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob’ 14:45-15:45 Teshome Abera (Addis Ababa Science and Technology University) ‘Zara Yacob ሐተታ “Hatata”; Its Historical and Social Reality’ 16:15-16:45 Brooh Asmare (Mekelle University) ‘The Authenticity of the Hatatas from the Perspective of the Cultural History of Ethiopia’ 16:45-17:30 Panel discussion 19:30 Post-Conference Pub at the Victoria, Oxford (Online attendees welcome) Attendance Please note that the Conference is going ahead in hybrid format on 29th April-1st May 2022; registration for in-person attendance is now closed. However, there will be an opportunity for online attendees to meet the speakers at the in-person end-of-conference pub meeting in Oxford on Sunday 1st May, from 19:30 onwards. To register for the Conference (on Zoom), please follow this link: https://forms.gle/wpVciE2JwtrGpp8W6 Conference abstracts can be consulted here: https://zerayacobconference.weebly.com/conference-materials.html Conference organizers Jonathan Egid, Lea Cantor, Justin Holder, and Johann Go Part of Philiminality Oxford https://philiminalityoxford.wordpress.com For all enquiries, please contact: [email protected] Conference website: https://zerayacobconference.weebly.com __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
