Sympathy for the Devil: secrecy, magic and transgression among Ethiopian Orthodox debtera

Malara, D. M. (2022) Sympathy for the Devil: secrecy, magic and transgression among Ethiopian Orthodox debtera. Ethnos, 87(3), pp. 444-462. (doi: 10.1080/00141844.2019.1707255)

Abstract

Debtera are Ethiopian Orthodox ritual specialists known for their advanced religious education, as well as for engaging in illicit magic. This article traces how their secret magical knowledge and practices emerge from the official Orthodox tradition. Yet, while drawing on this tradition, the debtera’s ritual repertoire also transgresses some of its central proscriptions. Transgression, in this context, does not abolish the boundaries it violates, but reinstates their legitimacy. This dynamic prompts debtera to engage in imaginative ethical reassessments of the unstable relationship between illicit knowledge and official tenets. Through their transgressive performances, debtera enable their clients to secretly address and actualise sinful desires that otherwise remain unacknowledged or are suppressed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. By examining this ritual management of covert desires, I conclude that the study of debtera’s secrecy illuminates fundamental complexities and contradictions in Ethiopian Orthodox sociality which operate beneath the surface of public moral discourse.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Malara, Dr Diego Maria
• Authors: Malara, D. M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Ethnos
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0014-1844
• ISSN (Online): 1469-588X
• Published Online: 04 June 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Ethnos 87(3): 444-462
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher