Sinful, Sexual and Sometimes Smelly: Representations of Ethiopians, Women, and Ethiopian Women in Early Acetic Christian Literature

<p>Drawing particularly upon scholarship conducted by Gay L. Byron and David Brakke, this thesis examines English translations of early ascetic Christian literature and supplemental secondary sources in order to support four assertions. First, early ascetic Christians defined themselves by renunciation of sin in general and by celibacy in particular. Second, in literature by and about the early ascetic Christians, Ethiopians, women, and Ethiopian women are represented as particularly sinful and sexual. Third, these stereotypical representations of Ethiopians, women, and Ethiopian women as sinful and sexual served to define the ascetic Christians as virtuous and celibate. Fourth, when the stereotypes related to Ethiopians and women are present in one type of character - an Ethiopian woman - they are particularly potent, and depictions of Ethiopian women are consequently often especially vituperative. This thesis concludes by urging the academic community to investigate ascetic characterizations of Ethiopian women and to pay particular attention to the voices of contemporary Ethiopian women speaking on the topic.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Humanities

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Johnson, Cheramie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Henry Shreibman, PhD
• Jennifer Lucko, PhD

• Humanities
• Arts and Humanities

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/284

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:humanities-print-theses-1283