Telefon: 0049-(0)69-7983342
s.epple[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de
Research
Thematic focus:
gender and age relations; social control and legal institutions; identity; culture contact; adaptation and resistance to cultural change; human rights; legal pluralism; harmful traditional practices; minorities
Regional focus:
Southern Ethiopia, specifically Bashada/Hamar/Banna (South Omo, Southern Ethiopia) and Bayso (Giddicho Island, North Omo)
Research project:
"Negotiating law in the peripheries of southern Ethiopia" (DFG)
Short Biography:
Training
1989 – 1996 MA student at Institute of Ethnology and African Studies, University of Mainz, Germany: Social Anthropology (major), Political Science (minor) and Slavic Studies (minor)
1996 MA in Social Anthropology, MA Thesis: "Life in Gunne: Social Relationships in a Bashada Village"; Adviser: Prof. Ivo Strecker
1997 - 2007 PhD student in Social Anthropology at Institute of Ethnology and African Studies University of Mainz, Germany, Adviser: Prof. Ivo Strecker
2007 PhD in Social Anthropology, Dissertation: "The Bashada of Southern Ethiopia: A Study of Gender, Age and Social Discourse"
Professional Employment:
04/1999 – 03/ 2000 Lecturer at Institute of Ethnology and African Studies, University of Mainz
01/2000 – 12/2000 Research Fellow at SFB 295, Subproject E.2: "Contact Dyads and Cultural Self-Esteem"
03/2001 – 07/2005 Scientific Assistant at Institute of Ethnology and African Studies, and Research Fellow at Subproject C7, SFB 295, University of Mainz,
08/2005 – 12/2006 Research Fellow at Special Research Program (SFB) 295: "Cultural and Linguistic Contacts: Processes of Change in Historical Conflict Areas in Northeast Africa/ Western Asia", Subproject C.7: "Contact and Innovation. An Intercultural Comparison", University of Mainz
08/2007 – 07/2015 Assistant Professor at Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University
08/2012 – today Associate Researcher in DoBes Volkswagenstiftung Project: "The documentation of Haro (Omotic) and Bayso (Cushitic), two Afroasiatic languages of the Abbaya Lake in the Ethiopian Rift Valley"
11/2015 – today Research Fellow in DAAD Project: "Soziale Positionen von marginalisierten Handwerkern und Jägern in Äthiopien im Wandel. Eine Studie historischer und kontemporärer Quellen und Vorbereitung eines Forschungsprojekts"
Awards and Scholarships
07/2007 Erika Sulzmann award for the best Doctoral Thesis 2007 (Department of Ethnology and African Studies Mainz)
02/1998 – 04/1999 DAAD, Research Grant (fieldwork in Ethiopia)
08 – 10/1995 DAAD, payment of travel expenses (fieldwork in Ethiopia)
Publications
Monographs and edited volumes
2014 Creating and Crossing Boundaries in Ethiopia: Dynamics of social categorization and differentiation. Lit: Münster (257 pages).
2010 The Bashada of Southern Ethiopia. A Study of Age, Gender and Social Discourse. Köln: Köppe (291 pages).
Special Issues
2012 (with Sophia Thubauville) (eds.): "Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia: Between appreciation and suppression". Paideuma 58. Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde (Special focus issue). Frankfurt a. M.: Frobenius Institut.
Book Chapters and Articles
2014 "Marrying into am Age-set: The redefinition of social relations and extension of women's social networks in Bashada". In: Sophia Thubauville and Christina Gabbert (eds.): Special Issue Paideuma. Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde: „Gender and identification in Patrilineal Societies: Case studies from southern Ethiopia". Frankfurt a. M.: Frobenius Institut, 171–185.
2014 "Introduction". In: Susanne Epple (ed.): Creating and Crossing Boundaries in Ethiopia: Dynamics of social categorization and differentiation. Münster: Lit, 1-15.
2014 "Female Adolescence, Bridehood and Marriage in South Omo. Local perspectives on female status change in South Omo". In: Susanne Epple (ed.): Creating and Crossing Boundaries in Ethiopia: Dynamics of social categorization and differentiation. Münster: Lit, 91-113.
2014 (with Fabienne Braukmann): "External Designation versus Self-identification: The case of The Bayso and the Haro people on Giddicho Island, Lake Abbaya". In: Susanne Epple (ed.): Creating and Crossing Boundaries in Ethiopia: Dynamics of social categorization and differentiation. Münster: Lit, 233- 253.
2013 "The Art of Playing with Roles in Ethnographic Fieldwork". In: Ivo Strecker and Shauna Latosky (eds.): Writing in the Field, Festschrift for Stephen Tyler's 75th Birthday, 8th May 2007. Vol. I., Münster: Lit, 39-50.
2012 "Harmful practice or ritualized guidance? Reflections on physical punishment as part of socialization among the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 3, Napoli: Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo, 69-102.
2012 (with Sophia Thubauville). "Introduction: Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia: Between appreciation and suppression". Paideuma 58. Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde (Special focus issue). Frankfurt a. M.: Frobenius Institut, 153-166.
2012 "Selective Resilience. Local Responses to externally induced cultural change in Southern Ethiopia". In: Paideuma 58. Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde (Special focus issue). Frankfurt a. M.: Frobenius Institut, 197-212.
2010 Sill-Ama. Kindergeschichten aus Bashada, Addis Ababa: Eigenverlag
2010 "Culture Contact and Identity—The Multiethnic Composition of the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia" In: Christina Gabbert and Sophia Thubauville (eds.): To Live with Others, Köln: Köppe, 47-67.
2009 "Whipping as Guidance and Blessing: Childhood and socialization among the Bashada, Southern Ethiopia" In: Gebre Yntiso: Understanding Children and Childhood in Ethiopia: Children at Risk, Child Protection and Socialization. Addis Ababa: ESSSWA.
2008 "Weiche Füße oder harte Sohlen? Fußbekleidung, Fußschmuck und barfuss laufen in Äthiopien" In: Hartmut Roder: Von kalten Füßen und heißen Sohlen. Mainz: LWL-Museum für Archäologie Westfälisches Landesmuseum Herne, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim, Überseemuseum Bremen.
2006 "Communicating Self-Esteem: Chances and choices in the lives of widows in Bashada, Southern Ethiopia". In: Ivo Strecker & Jean Lydall (eds.): The Perils of Face. Essays on Cultural Contact, Respect and Self-Esteem in Southern Ethiopia. Berlin: Lit, 339-370.
2006 "The Life of Women in a Society with Age Organisation: The Bashada of Southern Ethiopia". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, 20. July-25. July 2003. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 66-74.
2005b "Missionary Work and Cultural Change among the Bashada and Banna of Southern Ethiopia: An emic perspective". In: Verena Böll, S. Kaplan, A. Martinez d'Alos-Moner, E. Sokolinskaia (eds.): Ethiopia and the Missions: Historical and anthropological insights. Münster: Lit, 153-170.
2005a "Cultural Change or Change to a Different Culture? Christian Conversion among the Banna of Southern Ethiopia". (Kultureller Wandel oder Übergang zu einer neuen Kultur?), In: Walter Bisang, Thomas Bierschenk, U. Verhoeven (eds.): Kulturelle und sprachliche Kontakte: Prozesse des Wandels in historischen Spannungsfeldern Nordostafrikas/Westasiens. Akten zum 2. Symposion des SFB 295 Mainz, 15.-17.10.2001. Würzburg: Ergon, 383-406.
2004c (mit Anne Brandstetter, Ivo Strecker and Christian Meyer): "Rhetorical Analysis of Cultural Contact. An Anthropological Perspective". (Zur rhetorischen Analyse von Kulturkontakt. Eine ethnologische Perspektive). In: Walter Bisang, Thomas Bierschenk, Detlev Kreikenbohm, Ursula Verhoeven (eds.): Culture, Language, Contact. Cultural and Linguistic Contacts 1 (Kultur, Sprache, Kontakt. Kulturelle und Sprachliche Kontakte I), 2004. Würzburg: Ergon, 83-120.
2004a with Maldo Lito: "Status, Schmuck und Ritual: Federn im Leben der Bashada Südäthiopiens ". In: Dorothea Deterts et al.: Federn kitzeln die Sinne, Bremen: Überseemuseum.
2003b "The Differentiation of Social Roles in Bashada, South Ethiopia". In: Eva-Maria Bruchhaus (ed.): Hot Spot Horn of Africa—Between Integration and Disintegration. Münster, Hamburg, London: Lit, 76-80.
2003a "Bäsada". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopedia Aethiopica (Vol 1), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 490-492.
Book Reviews
2014 Lebendige Überlieferung: Geschichte und Erinnerung der muslimischen Silt'e Äthiopiens (2011, by Dirk Bustorf) Aethiopica 17
2013 From Process to Procedure: Elders' Mediation and Formality in Central Ethiopia (2011, by Andrea Nicholas). Aethiopica 16, 288-190
Working Papers and Online Publications
1995 Life in Gunne: Social Relationship in a Village in Bashada (MA Thesis) Working Papers of the SORC, Nr. 1, (Online publication at https://ietpd1.sowi.uni-mainz.de/SORC/content/view/58/41).
2004 (with Tina Brüderlin): The Pride and Social Worthiness of Women in South Omo, Working papers of the SORC, Nr 3, (Online publication at https://www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/SORC/content/view/58/41/).
2003 (with Tina Brüderlin): Convergence and Divergence: The Diversity of Material Culture in South Omo, Working Papers of the SORC, Nr. 2, (Online publ. at https://www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/SORC/content/view/58/41/).
