La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā

In the church of Nārgā Śellāsē, built in the years 1738-50, a very unusual sculpture depicts a man smoking. This representation is surprising for we generally think that smoking was highly condemned in the Christian society. It is however what texts from the end of the nineteenth century assert. How...

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Main Author: Claire Bosc-Tiessé
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Institut des Mondes Africains 2010-04-01
Series:Afriques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/414
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author Claire Bosc-Tiessé
author_facet Claire Bosc-Tiessé
author_sort Claire Bosc-Tiessé
collection DOAJ
description In the church of Nārgā Śellāsē, built in the years 1738-50, a very unusual sculpture depicts a man smoking. This representation is surprising for we generally think that smoking was highly condemned in the Christian society. It is however what texts from the end of the nineteenth century assert. However pictures and archaeology give contradictory information on that practice. It leads us to reconsider the history of written sources. From the sixteenth to the twentieth century, smoking was stigmatized as a pagan tradition in order to designate the “alien” and, thus, to assert the domination of the Christian State on the region of the Southern Choa. To come back to the carving of Nārgā, the position of the sculpture inside the church according to the liturgy confirms that the association of this image with the “arrogant king” was used to create a religious representation of evil.
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publisher Institut des Mondes Africains
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spelling doaj-art-952ee57a58ef4b85a4b22bd18b7bee2b2025-01-09T13:03:07ZdeuInstitut des Mondes AfricainsAfriques2108-67962010-04-01110.4000/afriques.414La tête qui fume de l’église de NārgāClaire Bosc-TiesséIn the church of Nārgā Śellāsē, built in the years 1738-50, a very unusual sculpture depicts a man smoking. This representation is surprising for we generally think that smoking was highly condemned in the Christian society. It is however what texts from the end of the nineteenth century assert. However pictures and archaeology give contradictory information on that practice. It leads us to reconsider the history of written sources. From the sixteenth to the twentieth century, smoking was stigmatized as a pagan tradition in order to designate the “alien” and, thus, to assert the domination of the Christian State on the region of the Southern Choa. To come back to the carving of Nārgā, the position of the sculpture inside the church according to the liturgy confirms that the association of this image with the “arrogant king” was used to create a religious representation of evil.https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/414sculpturewriting of historysmokingOromoliturgyGondar
spellingShingle Claire Bosc-Tiessé
La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
Afriques
sculpture
writing of history
smoking
Oromo
liturgy
Gondar
title La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
title_full La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
title_fullStr La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
title_full_unstemmed La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
title_short La tête qui fume de l’église de Nārgā
title_sort la tete qui fume de l eglise de narga
topic sculpture
writing of history
smoking
Oromo
liturgy
Gondar
url https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/414
work_keys_str_mv AT clairebosctiesse latetequifumedeleglisedenarga