Deutsch Intern
  • Extracts from magical texts in antiquity (Greek, Hieratic, Demotic, Akkadian): British Library P 122; British Museum P Chester Beatty 7 and P Leiden/London, British Museum BM 34065
DFG Centre for Advanced Studies MagEIA

Mersha Alehegne Mengistie

Curriculum Vitae

Education

 

09.2017 – 10.2024

School of Social Work, Addis Ababa University

Master of Arts in Social Work

04.2006 – 04.2010

Department of Ethiopian and African Studies, Hamburg University (Germany)

Doctor of Philosophy in Ethiopian Studies. Spc. Gǝʾǝz Philology: 02.06.10

09.2002-06.2004

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Addis Ababa University

Master of Arts in Literature: 06.2004

09.1993-06.1996

Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature, Addis Ababa University

Bachelor of Arts in Language Teaching: 06.1996

09.1991-06.1992

Kotebe College of Teachers Education

Diploma in Teaching Amharic: 06.1992

 

Academic Awards

2022 -

(PI) Written Heritage in the ‘Land of Origins’: Mapping, Locating and Inventory [Thematic Project funded by Addis Ababa University]

2018 - 2021

Research fellow, Hiob Ludolf Center for Ethiopian Studies, University of Hamburg

2021 - 2024

Co-PI: “Documenting an Ancient Education System in Africa: ʾAbǝnnät Tǝmhǝrt in Ethiopia” (funded by Gerda Henkel Stiftung)

2016 - 2018

(PI) The Abbay (Nile) Quest in Ethiopian Popular Imagination and Scholarship» [Thematic Project funded by Addis Ababa University]

2016 - 2018

(PI) «Asset Based Approach for the Development of Modern Education in Ethiopia: the abənnät in Focus»

[A book project funded by Addis Ababa University]

2011 - 2012

(PI) “Preserving the Written Heritage of East Gojjam: A Rich Culture in Jeopardy”, funded by Hill Monastic Manuscripts Library, Collegeville

2010 - 2011

(PI) “Preserving the Lay Bet andәmta: the Ethiopian intellectual legacy on the verge of extinction”, funded by the British Library Endangered Archives Program

 

Relevant Professional Experience

2018 -

Associate Professor of Ethiopian Studies. Spc. Gǝʾǝz Philology

Department of Linguistics and Philology, Addis Ababa University

2011 - 2018

Assistant Professor of Philology

Department of Linguistics and Philology, Addis Ababa University

 

2021 –

Editor-in-Chief of the Ethiopian Journal of Languages and Literature (Addis Ababa University)

 

 

2021 -

Director of St. Yared Academy of the Ethiopian Orthodox T. Church

 

 

2014 – 2018

Associate Dean for Research and Technology Transfer, College of Humanities, Addis Ababa University

 

Publications

  1. Books

  • Submitted: Mersha Alehegne (in Press): Printed Saints: Life and Afterlife of Ethiopian Saints from Parchment to Paper, (Leiden–Boston: Brill).
  • Mersha Alehegne (2022): ዐባይ: በግእዝ: ድርሳናት (ʿAbbay baGəʾəz dərsānāt, ‘Abbay in Gəʾəz Literature’) (Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press).
  • Mersha Alehegne (2019): ዜና፡ ጳጳሳት፡ ኢትዮጵያውያን (Zenā ṗāṗṗāsāt ʾityoṗyawyan, ’History of the Ethiopian Patriarchs’) (Addis Ababa: Far East Trading Plc.) 505 pp.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2018): በእንተ ስማ ለማርያም፤ ጥንታዊው የኢትዮጵያ ትምህርት ይዘቱ፤ ሥርዐቱ፤ ሕይወቱ (Ṭǝntawiw yä-Ityoṗṗya tǝmhǝrt yǝzätu, Śǝrǝʿatu, Ḫǝywätu, ‘In the Name of Mary - The Traditional Education of Ethiopia: Content, System and Life) (Addis Ababa: Far East Trading Plc.) 230 pp.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2010): The Ethiopian Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Critical Edition and Translation, Aethiopistische Forschungen, 73 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag) 722 pp.

  1. Articles

  • Mersha Alehegne (2022): Biblical Interpretation in Ethiopian Patristic Literature. In: Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 396-410.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2022): The Ethiopic Codex as Material for Cross-Disciplinary Research: a Few Notes. In: Zena Lisan (Special Issue) (Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University - Academy of Ethiopian Languages and Literature).
  • Mersha Alehegne (2020): Medieval Ethiopian Manuscripts: Contents, Challenges and Solutions. In: Bulletin of the Department of Linguistics and Philology No 10 (Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University, Department of Linguistics and Philology), pp. 37-63.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2017): Mälkəʾa Sämaʿətat Zä Däbrä Libanos:Text with Annotated Translation. In: Rassegna di Studi Ethiopic, ed. Gianfrancesco Lusini (Roma-Napoli: Istituto per L’Oriente C.A. Nallino (Roma) Università degli Studi di Napoli – «L’Orientale»), pp. 121-138.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2016): Orature on Literature: the Case of Abba Gärima and His Gospel. In: Aethiopica, ed. Alessandro Bausi (Wiesbaden: Hiob Ludolf Center of Ethiopian Studies, Harrassowitz Verlag), pp. 1-11.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2016): Ethiopian Christian Music and Liturgical Dance: Zema and aqwaqwam. In: The Songs of Africa: The Ethiopian Canticles, ed. Thomas C. Oden (Newhaven: ICCS Press), pp. 164-175.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2016): Christian Music and Liturgical Dance: Zema and Aqwaqwam. In: The Songs of Africa: The Ethiopian Canticles, ed. Thomas C. Oden (Newhaven: ICCS Press), pp. 176-182.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2015): Regularity and Uniformity in the Ethiopian Hagiographical Tradition: a Particular Focus on Narrating the Childhood of Saints. In: Aethiopica, ed. Alessandro Bausi (Wiesbaden: Hiob Ludolf Center of Ethiopian Studies, Harrassowitz Verlag), pp. 143-160.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2012): Features of Andemta: the Ethiopian Hermeneutics in Amharic. In: Journal of Ethiopian Church Studies, ed. Meseret Kebede (Addis Ababa: Mahibere Kidusan, Mega Printing House), pp. 114-121.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2011): Towards a Glossary of Ethiopian Manuscript Culture and Practice, In: Aethiopica, ed. Alessandro Bausi (Wiesbaden: Hiob Ludolf Center of Ethiopian Studies, Harrassowitz Verlag), pp. 145-162.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2009): The Woman in the Creation Story According to the Andəmta Commentary of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahədo Church. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, eds. Svein Ege, Harald, Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, (Trondheim: Department of Social Anthropology. Norwegian University of Science and Technology), pp. 517-526.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2007): What Happened to the Original Christian Unity in Ethiopia? Towards the Restoration of Our Original Unity in Christ. In: Aethiopica, ed. Siegbert Uhlig (Wiesbaden: Hiob Ludolf Center of Ethiopian Studies, Harrassowitz Verlag), pp. 266-268.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2005): Orthodox - Protestant Relationship in Ethiopia: A Glimpse on Interaction, Attitude, Causes of Disharmony, Consequences, and Some Solutions. In: Ethiopia and the Missions: Historical and Anthropological Insights. eds, Verena Böll & et al, (Münster: Africanische Studien, Lit Verlag), pp. 199-208.
  • Mersha Alehegne (2003): Ge‘ez Language in Ethiopia: Retrospect and Prospect. In: Proceedings of the Workshop on 'The Ethiopian Church Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. April 18-19. (Addis Ababa: Mahibere Kidusan, Mega Publishing House), pp. 34-41.