Social and political contexts of religious conversion in Sidaama, Ethiopia, 1891-1974

Abstract

This article discusses religious conversion in Sidaama, Ethiopia, 1891-1974. The Sidaama area is in Southern Ethiopia, southeast of Lake Hawassa and northeast of Lake Abaya in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Most of the population belongs to the ethnic group Sidaama, speakers of the Cushitic language Sidaamu Afoo. The region became incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire during the twentieth century. The article will first provide a historical overview of religious change in the area. Next, the paper will present theoretical approaches to religious conversion. The article's main content focuses on the interreligious encounter between the indigenous Sidaama religion and varieties of Christianity. The paper will discuss how the interreligious encounter initiated a process of conversion to Christianity. The conversion process occurred at the intersection between indigenous Sidaama converts and various forms of Christianity and was influenced by internal social tensions and inequalities in Sidaama.