Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Perceptions of Consumption: Constituting Potters, Farmers and Blacksmiths in the Culinary Continuum in Eastern Tigray, Northern Highland Ethiopia

  • Original Article
  • Published:
African Archaeological Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Despite the integrated and co-dependent nature of crafting vessels and tools and the production of cuisine, the entangled identities of artisan, farmer and cook are rarely envisioned as part of a ‘culinary continuum’ in which the production of culinary equipment, food and cuisine constitutes different categories of people. Studies of cuisine tend to focus on the role of cuisine in negotiating social status and power in feasting contexts or in constituting normative social identities of gender, personhood and ethnicity. Presented is a study of potters, blacksmiths and farmers in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Similar to marginalized and casted occupational specialists in many societies across Africa, eastern Tigray’s potters and smiths are marginalized, avoided and demeaned in contexts where food, drink or sex is shared. Normative gender identities are constituted in the enculturation of boys as they learn to grow food and in girls as they learn to cook. Men and women perform these gendered tasks in daily life using separate gendered technological practices and spaces. Potters and blacksmiths transgress normative gender expectations by using technological skills and space differently. The embodiment and performance of their respective crafts are perceived to transform them into different ontological categories of men and women who also are attributed with the dangerous capacity to consume fertility, landscape and people.

Résumé

Malgré la façon intégrée et codépendante de la production des réceptacles et outils et la production culinaire, les identités entremêlées de l’artisan, le fermier et le cuisinier sont rarement perçus comme partie du même « continuum culinaire » dans lequel la production des instruments culinaires, de la nourriture et de la cuisine constituent diverses catégories de personnes. Les études concernant la cuisine mettent le point soit sur le rôle de la cuisine aux négociations du statut social et du pouvoir en contextes des festins, soit sur la constitution des identités normatives sociales du sexe, de l’état de personne, et de l’ethnicité. Ce qui est présenté ici est une étude concernant les potiers, les forgerons et les fermiers du Tigray oriental, Éthiopie. Semblable aux professions marginalisées ou des castes inférieures de nombreuses sociétés africaines, les potiers et forgerons de Tigray oriental sont marginalisés, évités et avilis dans les situations ou la nourriture et les relations sexuelles sont partagées. Les identités normatives de genre sont constituées dans l’acculturation des garçons et des filles pendant qu’ils apprennent à cultiver des aliments et à cuisiner, respectivement. Les hommes et les femmes effectuent ces tâches genrées dans la vie quotidienne utilisant des pratiques technologiques et des espaces également séparés et genrées. Les potiers et forgerons transgressent ces attentes normatives genrées par l’utilisation des compétences technologiques et espaces différemment. L’incarnation et l’effectuation de ses métiers respectives sont perçues comme servant à les transformer en catégories ontologiques différents des hommes et des femmes qui sont aussi attribués avec la capacité dangereuse de consommer la fértilité, la paysage et les personnes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbebe Kifleyesus. (2002). Muslims and meals: The social and symbolic function of foods in changing socio-economic environments. Africa, 72(2), 245–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, J. W. (2006). Living with pottery: Ceramic ethnoarchaeology among the Gamo of Southwestern Ethiopia. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, K. W. (2010). Feminine knowledge and skill reconsidered: Women and flaked stone tools. American Anthropologist, 112(2), 228–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bachand, H., Joyce, R. A., & Hendon, J. A. (2003). Bodies moving in space: Ancient Mesoamerican human sculpture and embodiment. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 31(2), 238–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bahru Zewde. (1995). A history of modern Ethiopia. London: James Currey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, D. (1977). Household and society in Ethiopia. Occasional papers no. 6. African Studies Center. East Lansing: Michigan State University.

  • Bereket, Zerai & Zenebe Gebreegziabher. (2011). Effect of nonfarm income on household food security in eastern Tigrai, Ethiopia: An entitlement approach. Food Science and Quality Management, 1, 1–22. http://www.iiste.org/

    Google Scholar 

  • Boivin, N. (2005). Orientalism, ideology and identity: Examining caste in South Asian archaeology. Journal of Social Archaeology, 5(2), 225–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1999). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Costin, C. L. & Wright, R. (Eds.). (1998). Craft and social identity. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Number 8.

  • Crummey, D. (2000). Land and society in the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, N. (Ed.). (2012). Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture. Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, N., & Sterner, J. (2012). Smith and society: Patterns of articulation in the northern Mandara Mountains. In N. David (Ed.), Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture (pp. 87–114). Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietler, M., & Herbich, I. (1998). Habitus, techniques, style: An integrated approach to the social understanding of material culture and boundaries. In M. Stark (Ed.), The archaeology of social boundaries (pp. 232–263). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilley, R. (1986). Tukulor weavers and the organization of their craft in village and town. Africa, 56(2), 123–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dilley, R. (2000). The question of caste in West Africa with special reference to Tukulor craftsmen. Anthropos, 95(1), 149–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilley, R. (2010). Reflections on knowledge practices and problems of ignorance. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), S176–S192.

  • Dobres, M.-A. (2000). Technology and social agency. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobres, M.-A., & Robb, J. (Eds.). (2000). Agency in archaeology. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobres, M.-A., & Robb, J. (2005). “Doing” agency: Introductory remarks on methodology. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 12(3), 159–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downey, G. (2010). ‘Practice without theory’: A neuroanthropological perspective on embodied learning. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.), S22–S40.

  • Finneran, N. (2003). Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working. Folklore, 114, 427–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, G., & Loren, D. D. (2003). Embodying identity in archaeology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13(2), 225–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, B. (1998). Mande potters and leatherworkers. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, D. (2003). Understanding marginalization in Ethiopia. In D. Freeman & A. Pankhurst (Eds.), Peripheral people: The excluded minorities of Ethiopia (pp. 301–333). Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, D., & Pankhurst, A. (Eds.). (2003). Peripheral people: The excluded minorities of Ethiopia. Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamst, F. C. (1969). The Qemant. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gebru Tareke. (1991). Ethiopia, power and protest: Peasant revolts in the twentieth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • González-Ruibal, A., Almudena, A., & Politis, G. (2011). Ontology of the self and material culture: Arrow-making among the Awá hunter–gatherers (Brazil). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 30, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosselain, O. (2001). Globalizing local pottery studies. In S. Beyries & P. Pétrequin (Eds.), Ethno-archaeology and its transfers. BAR International Series 983 (pp. 95–112). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosselain, O. (2008a). Mother bella was not a bella. In M. T. Stark, B. J. Bowser, & L. Horne (Eds.), Cultural transmission and material culture breaking down boundaries (pp. 150–177). Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosselain, O. (2008b). Thoughts and adjustments in the potter’s backyard. In I. Berg (Ed.), Breaking the mould: Challenging the past through pottery. BAR International Series 1861 (pp. 67–79). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guèye, N. S. (2011). Dis-moi quel tu as et je te dirai qui tu es! Matérialiser les identités sociales dans les décors céramique en Afrique. Azania, 46(1), 20–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haaland, G., & Haaland, R. (2007). God of war, worldly ruler, and craft specialists in the Meroitic Kingdom of Sudan: Inferring social identity from material remains. Journal of Social Archaeology, 7(3), 372–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haaland, G., Haaland, R., & Dea, D. (2004). Smelting iron: Caste and its symbolism in south-western Ethiopia. In T. Insoll (Ed.), Belief in the past (pp. 75–86). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpike, C. R. (1968). The status of craftsmen among the Konso of south-west Ethiopia. Africa, 38, 258–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harlow, D. (2011). Investigation of aspects of the raw materials used in ceramic production in eastern Tigray. Unpublished MA thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary.

  • Herbert, E. W. (1993). Iron, gender, and power. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoben, A. (1970). Social stratification in traditional Amhara society. In A. Tuden & L. Plotnicov (Eds.), Social stratification in Africa (pp. 187–224). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hruby, Z. X. & Flad, R. K. (Eds). (2007). Rethinking craft specialization in complex societies: Archaeological analyses of the social meaning of production. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Number 17.

  • Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, R. (2000). Girling the girl and boying the boy: The production of adulthood in ancient Mesoamerica. World Archaeology, 31(3), 473–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, R. (2003). Making something of herself: Embodiment in life and death at Playa de los Muertos, Honduras. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13(2), 248–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, R. (2006). Feminist theories of embodiment and anthropological imagination: Making bodies matter. In P. L. Geller & M. K. Stockett (Eds.), Feminist anthropology: Past, present, and future (pp. 43–54). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, S. (1992). The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohtamaki, M. (2010). An ethnoarchaeological study of Twa potters in southern Rwanda. Azania, 45(3), 298–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, O. (2012). The development of endogamy among smiths of the Mandara Mountains eastern piedmont: Myths, history and material evidence. In N. David (Ed.), Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture (pp. 225–256). Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A. (1995). Women craft specialists in Jenne: The manipulation of Mande social categories. In D. C. Conrad & B. E. Frank (Eds.), Status and identity in West Africa: Nyamakalaw of Mande (pp. 170–181). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A. (2000). Ethno-archaeology in Jenné, Mali: Craft and status among smiths, potters and masons. BAR International Series 838. Oxford: Archaeopress.

  • Lesure, R. (2005). Linking theory and evidence in an archaeology of human agency: Iconography, style, and theories of embodiment. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 12(3), 237–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, H. S. (1970). Wealth, influence, and prestige among the Shoa Galla. In A. Tuden & L. Plotnicov (Eds.), Social stratification in Africa (pp. 163–186). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone Smith, A. & Van der Veke, A. (2007–2009). The “Crossing Borders Project”: Pottery traditions in Katanga (DRC). Afrique: Archéologie & Arts, 5, 141–148.

  • Livingstone Smith, A., & Viseyrias, A. (2010). Shaping Kabambian pottery: Identification and definition of technical features. The Open Anthropology Journal, 3, 124–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D. (2007). Cuisine and identity: An ethnoarchaeological example from Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Journal of Social Archaeology, 7(3), 346–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D. (2009). How I built my house: The logic of gendered technical practice in Tigray Region, Highland Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnoarchaeology, 1(2), 137–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D., & D'Andrea, A. C. (2003). Griddles, ovens, and agricultural origins: An ethnoarchaeological study of bread baking in highland Ethiopia. American Anthropologist, 105(3), 515–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D., & Freeman, A. (2009). “I’m not evil”: Materialising identities of marginalised potters in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Azania, 44(1), 75–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacEachern, S. (1990). Du Kunde: Processes of montagnard ethnogenesis in the northern Mandara Mountains of Cameroon. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Calgary.

  • McIntosh, R. (2005). Ancient Middle Niger: Urbanism and the self-organizing landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh, S. K. (Ed.). (1999). Beyond chiefdoms: Pathways to complexity in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning, K. M. (2011). Potter communities and technological tradition in the Lower Tilemsi Valley, Mali. Azania, 46(1), 88–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maquet, J. (1970). Rwanda castes. In A. Tuden & L. Plotnicov (Eds.), Social stratification in Africa (pp. 93–124). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchand, T. H.J. (2010a). Embodied cognition and communication: Studies with British fine woodworkers. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.), S100–S120.

  • Marchand, T. H.J. (2010b). Making knowledge: Explorations of the indissoluble relation between minds, bodies and environment. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.), S1–S21.

  • Mayor, A. (2010). Ceramic traditions and ethnicity in the Niger Bend, West Africa. Journal of Ethnoarchaeology, 2(1), 5–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayor, A. (2011). Impressions de vanneries et technique du martelage sur forme concave: Anthropologie et histoire d’une technique dans la boucle du Niger. Azania, 46(1), 88–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meskell, L. (Ed.). (2005). Archaeologies of materiality. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (Ed.). (2005). Materiality. London: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, B. J. (2007). Multicrafting, migration, and identity in the American Southwest. In I. Shimada (Ed.), Craft production in complex societies (pp. 25–43). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris, L. (2004). Shedding skins: The materiality of divestment in India. Journal of Material Culture, 9(1), 59–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyssen, J., Haile, M., Naudts, J., Munro, N., Poesen, J., Moeyersons, J., et al. (2009). Desertification? Northern Ethiopia re-photographed after 140 years. Science of the Total Environment, 407, 2749–2755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst, A. (1999). ‘Caste’ in Africa: The evidence from south-western Ethiopia reconsidered. Africa, 69(4), 485–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst, A. (2003). Introduction: Dimensions and conceptions of marginalization. In D. Freeman & A. Pankhurst (Eds.), Peripheral people: The excluded minorities of Ethiopia (pp. 1–26). Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst, H. (1992). Gender, development and identity: An Ethiopian study. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst, R. (1968). Economic history of Ethiopia 1800–1935. Addis Ababa: Haile Sellassie I University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst, R. (1990). A social history of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies Addis Ababa University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson, D. (2000). Archaeology at Aksum, Ethiopia, 1993–7. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson, D. (2012). Foundations of an African civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn 1000 BC–AD 1300. Rochester: James Currey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portisch, A O. (2010). The craft of skilful learning: Kazakh women’s everyday craft practices in western Mongolia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.), S62–S79.

  • Quirin, J. (1979). The process of caste formation in Ethiopia: A study of the Beta Israel (Felalsha), 1270–1868. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 12(2), 235–258.

  • Quirin, J. (1992). The evolution of the Ethiopian Jews. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quirin, J. (1998). Caste and class in historical north-west Ethiopia: The Beta Israel (Falasha) and Kemant, 1300–1900. Journal of African History, 39, 195–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rafanell, I., & Gorringe, H. (2010). Consenting to domination? Theorising power, agency and embodiment with reference to caste. The Sociological Review, 58(4), 604–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reminick, R. A. (1974). The evil eye belief among the Amhara of Ethiopia. Ethnology, 13(3), 279–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robb, J. (2010). Beyond agency. World Archaeology, 42(4), 493–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robion-Brunner, C. (2010). Forgerons et sidérurgie en pays dogon. Journal of African Archaeology Monograph Series (Vol. 3). Frankfurt: Africa Magna.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salamon, H. (1999). The Hyena people. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, R. A. (2000). Contemporary pottery production in Wolayta (Ethiopia). In C. D. Roy (Ed.), Clay and fire: Pottery in Africa (pp. 169–188). Iowa: School of Art and Art History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simoons, F. (1960). Northwest Ethiopia. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterner, J., & David, N. (1991). Gender and caste in the Mandara Highlands: Northeastern Nigeria and Northern Cameroon. Ethnology, 30(4), 355–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterner, J., & David, N. (2003). Action on matter: The history of the uniquely African tamper and concave anvil pot-forming technique. Journal of African Archaeology, 1(1), 3–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamari, T. (1991). The development of caste systems in West Africa. The Journal of African History, 32(2), 221–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamari, T. (2005). Kingship and caste in Africa: History, diffusion and evolution. In D. Quigley (Ed.), The character of kingship (pp. 141–169). Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobert, N. (1988). The ethnoarchaeology of the Zaghawa of Darfur (Sudan). BAR International Series 445. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todd, D. M. (1977). Caste in Africa? Africa, 47(4), 398–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsehai Berhane-Selassie. (1991). Gender and occupational potters in Wolayta: Imposed femininity and ‘mysterious survival’ in Ethiopia. In B.-S. Tsehai (Ed.), Gender issues In Ethiopia (pp. 15–30). Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsehai Berhane-Selassie. (1994) The Wolayta conception of inequality, or is it inclusiveness and exclusiveness? In Bahru Zewde, R. Pankhurst & Taddese Byene (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (pp. 341–359). Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.

  • Tsehai Berhane-Selassie. (1999). Tabita Hatuti. Biography of a woman potter. In R. Silverman (Ed.), Ethiopia traditions of creativity (pp. 217–239). Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuden, A., & Plotnicov, L. (1970). Introduction. In A. Tuden & L. Plotnicov (Eds.), Social stratification in Africa (pp. 1–30). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Beek, W. E. A. (1982). “Eating like a blacksmith”: Symbols in Kapsiki ethno-zoology. In P.E. de Josselin de Jong & E. Schwimmer (Eds.), Symbolic anthropology in the Netherlands (pp. 114–124). The Hague: Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Institutuut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 95.

  • Van Beek, W. E. A. (1992). The dirty smith: Smell as a social frontier among the Kapsiki/Higi of north Cameroon and north-eastern Nigeria. Africa, 62(1), 38–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, J. H., Jr. (1970). Caste systems in the western Sudan. In A. Tuden & L. Plotnicov (Eds.), Social stratification in Africa (pp. 59–92). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade, J. H. (2012). The wife of the village: Understanding caste in the Mandara Mountains. In N. David (Ed.), Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture (pp. 257–284). Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warnier, J.-P. (2012). Afterward. In N. David (Ed.), Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture (pp. 327–343). Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wayessa, B. S. (2011). The technical style of Wallaga pottery making: An ethnoarchaeological study of Oromo potters in southwest highland Ethiopia. African Archaeological Review, 28(4), 301–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weedman, K. (2005). Gender and stone tools: An ethnographic study of the Konso and Gamo hideworkers of southern Ethiopia. In L. Frink & K. Weedman (Eds.), Gender and hide production (pp. 175–195). Oxford: AltaMira.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weedman, K. (2006). An ethnoarchaeological study of hafting and stone tool diversity among the Gamo of Ethiopia. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 13, 189–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitely, J. L. (2009). Food and bodily fabrication: An alimentary approach to personhood in Papua New Guinea. Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 34(1), 42–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S., & Mapunda, B. B. B. (2008). This is what pots look like here’: Ceramics, tradition and consumption on Mafia Island, Tanzania. Azania, 43, 2–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. (1997). Peasant revolution in Ethiopia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the generosity of the farmers, potters and blacksmiths who participated in this study and shared their experiences. Permission for research in Tigray was facilitated by the kind assistance of the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Addis Ababa, the National Regional State of Tigrai Tourism Bureau in Mekelle and the Woreda Saesie Tsaeda Emba office in Sinkata. Further permissions were obtained from the Tabia chairs of Mai Maghelta, Hadush Adi, Marium Agamat and Ra Ilhe. Research was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Killam Foundation and the University of Calgary. Many thanks also to the following people who participated in field and laboratory research: Dr. Joanna Casey, Dr. Andrea Freeman, Mulubrhan Haile Sellassie, Degol Fissahaye, Negussie Gebreselassie, Daniel G/Kidane, Abrhaley G/Libanos, Atakilte G/Tsedik, Goitum Fitsom, Diana Harlow and Autumn Whiteway. Thanks also to Kees de Ridder for the French translation of the abstract. A version of this paper was presented at the Society of Africanist Archaeologists meeting in Toronto in June 2012. I thank Amanda Logan and Cameron Gokee for organizing the SAfA session and this collection of papers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 8th Floor Earth Sciences Building, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1 N4

    Diane Lyons

Authors
  1. Diane Lyons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diane Lyons.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lyons, D. Perceptions of Consumption: Constituting Potters, Farmers and Blacksmiths in the Culinary Continuum in Eastern Tigray, Northern Highland Ethiopia. Afr Archaeol Rev 31, 169–201 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-014-9149-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-014-9149-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation