125 years of Amharic and Ethiopian studies at Inalco

International symposium
Manuels d'amharique anciens
125 ans d'amharique et d'études éthiopiennes à l'Inalco © Serge Dewel‎

The aim of this symposium is to determine the state of the art of teaching and research in the world around the Amharic language, Ethiopian history and cultures. It will also highlight the international importance of Inalco for teaching and research on Ethiopian history and the Amharic language. On this occasion, new national and international cooperation projects and new priorities in teaching and research on Ethiopia will be set.

This meeting thus brings together specialists from several fields at different stages of their careers, young scientists at the start of their careers and established scientists: teacher-researchers of Amharic, linguists and literature researchers specializing in Ethiopian languages, ethnologists, historians and geographers.

Organized by:
Delombera Negga, Margaux Herman, Ronny Meyer, Serge Dewel

Exhibitions

Echoing the international colloquium "125 Years of Amharic and Ethiopian Studies at INALCO", BULAC is organizing the exhibition "De l'Abyssinie aux langues d'Éthiopie" which, through a selection of Ethiopian documents and books, offers a glimpse of the richness of its collections.
BULAC, rez-de-jardin, until March 30, 2024

In addition, Inalco and BULAC are presenting an exhibition of portraits of Ethiopian women, "Women of Sänbäté" taken in the 1980s. Witnesses to a near, but already evanescent past, these photographs also illustrate the social complexity as it appears in the Sänbäté market space.
Inalco, PLC, Gallery, March 11-21, 2024

Program

Day 1: Thursday, March 14, 2024

Amharic: language and literature

Session 1
Moderator: Delombera Negga

9:00-9:30 Welcome to participants

9:30-9:45 Introduction to the day
Delombera Negga, Senior Lecturer, Head of the Ethiopian Studies Section, Inalco

9:45-10:00 Opening remarks
Delphine Allès, Professor, Vice-President of Inalco

10:00-10:20
Emmanuel Lozerand, Professor, Inalco ; chargé de mission Histoire des Langues O'
École des langues orientales en 1898: l'ouverture sur les langues africaines

10:20-10:40
Marine Defosse, chargé de collections pour le domaine Afrique, BULAC
Les fonds éthiopiens dans les collections de la Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC): histoire et particularités

10:40-11:00 Questions
11:00-11:30 Coffee break

11:30-11:50
Alain Rouaud, honorary research director, CNRS ; former lecturer at Inalco
Quesques questions sur un dictionnaire amharique-français d'Antoine d'Abbadie localisé au Japon

11:50-12:10
Anaïs Wion, research fellow, IMAF
Les outils numériques dans le projet de transcription collaborative et d'édition électronique des carnets d'Antoine d'Abbadie

12:10-12:30
Éloi Ficquet, maître de conférences, EHESS
Questions de linguistique historique de l'amharique à la lecture des notes d'enquête d'Antoine et Arnauld d'Abbadie

12:30-12:50 Questions
13:00-14:30 Buffet

Session 2
Moderator: Ronny Meyer

14:30-14:50
Ewa Wołk-Sore, Department of African Languages and Cultures, Oriental Faculty of the University of Warsaw
From Inalco in Paris to the Institute of Oriental Studies in Warsaw - roots of the Department of African Languages and Cultures at the University of Warsaw

14:50-15:10
Anbessa Teferra, Department of Hebrew Language and Semitic Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
Amharic Instruction in the Educational System of Israel

15h10-15h30
Magdalena Krzyżanowska, Universität Hamburg
A communicative approach to teaching the Ethiopic script

15:30-15:50 Questions
15:50-16:20 Coffee break

16:20-16:40
Yohannes Beyene, Lecturer, Head of French Unit, Addis Ababa University
The French language in Ethiopia: Historical and educational issues

16:40-17:00
Constantin Kaïteris, Amharic graduate (Inalco), writer and translator
L'Amour jusqu'au tombeau d'Haddis Alemayehou, roman d'amour ou roman social

<17:00-17:20
Hirut Kebede, independent researcher
Funeral poetry in Ethiopia

17:20-18:00 Questions, discussions
Conclusion of the day

Day 2: Friday, March 15, 2024

Ethiopian studies

Session 3
Moderator: Margaux Herman

8:30-9:00 Welcome to participants

9:00-9:20
Alain Gascon, honorary professor, IFG Université Paris 8; former lecturer at Inalco
Ethiopia, territorial recompositions: isoglosses, sprawl, colinguism (1942-2023)

<9h20-09h40
Bezunesh Tamru, professor, Université Paris 8, LADYSS
Addis-Abeba: a thwarted agglomeration?

9:40-10:00 Questions

10:00-10:20
Deresse Ayenachew, Visiting Scholar, Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence
The feathers of Mondon-Vidailhet for Ethiopian independence and progress (1891-1910)

10:20-10:40
Getie Gelaye, Universität Hamburg
አለቃ ታየ ገብረ ማርያም Aläqa Tayyä Gäbrä Maryam, The First Lektor for Amharic and Ge'ez at the University of Berlin, 1905-1907

10:40-11:00 Questions
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-11:50
Jean-Noël Grandhomme, Professor, Université de Lorraine à Nancy, CRULH
Léon Chefneux (1853-1927), self-interested businessman or Menelik's "general steward" and modernizer of Ethiopia?

11:50-12:10
Benjamin Volff, PhD in History (Inalco), University of Strasbourg, LinCS-UMR 7069
1954: Haylä-Sǝllase I's visit to the industrialist Krupp

12:10-12:30
Catherine von Raesfeldt, Doctor of History (Inalco)
Täklä-Hawaryat, a personality too neglected by French and other Ethiopian studies

12:30-13:00 Questions
13:00-14:30 Buffet

Session 4
Moderator: Serge Dewel

14:30-14:50
Jean-Nicolas Bach, Director of CFEE, Addis Ababa
Presentation of CFEE (Addis Abäba)

14:50-15:10
Bertrand Hirsch, Professor, Université Paris 1, IMAF
Jalons pour une histoire des études sur l'Éthiopie médiévale en France (XXe-XXIe siècle)

15:10-15:30
Pierre Guidi, research fellow at Ceped (Université Paris Cité, IRD)
Penser l'émancipation des femmes pour entrer dans la révolution: the knowledge produced by activists in the Ethiopian student movement (1972-1976)

15:30-15:50 Questions
15:50-16:20 Coffee break

16:20-16:40
Hugues Fontaine, independent researcher
Photographs of Ethiopia under the reign of Menelik II

16:40-17:00
Méliné Miguirditchian, painting restorer, PhD student in art history (Inalco)
The study of images from Ethiopian scrolls

17:00-17:20
Lola Mirti, PhD student, EHESS, INHA, IMAF
From Mahdära Maryam to Addis Abäba, via Paris: life and work of the painter Agäññähu Ǝngǝda (1904-1947)

17h20-17h40
Emmie Le Galès, doctoral student, EHESS, IMAF
Le mästawäsha: une histoire de la note en Éthiopie

17h40-18h00 Questions
Closure of the symposium