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Recordmaking, Recordkeeping and Landholding – Chanceries and Archives in Ethiopia (1700–1974)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2015

Habtamu Mengistie Tegegne
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Abstract

This essay addresses the origins and functions of Ethiopian church archives. It investigates the processes used in making documents and the procedures implemented to ensure their preservation and access. While recognizing their commemorative and symbolic functions, this essay emphasizes that written records were created in the first instance for practical purposes. It argues that the change in recordmaking and recordkeeping activities that is discernible in the eighteenth century was inspired by a corresponding change in the patterns of landholding in Ethiopia.

Résumé

Cet article interroge les origines et fonctions des archives ecclésiastiques en Éthiopie en analysant les processus menant à la fabrication de documents et les procédures implémentées pour en assurer leur préservation et accès. Outre leur fonction commémorative et symbolique, ces documents écrits ont d'abord été créés pour des raisons pratiques. Cet article postule que les changements survenus au dix-huitième siècle en matière de création et de tenue régulière de registres correspondent aux modifications de la propriété foncière en Éthiopie.

Type
Archival Reports
Information
History in Africa , Volume 42 , June 2015 , pp. 433 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2014 

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