Cow Tales

Decoding Images of Slavery in the Ethiopian Jewish Community

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11192565
AutoresHagar Salamon (0000-0002-6946-7800, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen29
Número3
Páginas415-435
Fecha de publicación2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSlavery and Abolition (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0144-039X • E-ISSN: 1743-9523
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01440390802267832
OpenAlexW2042766984
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas16

Based on life stories of ex-slaves from Ethiopia now living in Israel, the present article attempts to uncover complex relationships and conceptions of intimate domination and subjugation. The dramatic passage of masters and slaves from rural Ethiopia to the democratic State of Israel enables their stories to emerge. Hearing these personal stories became possible when continuous slavery taken for granted in one particular cultural context became alien and unbearable in another. Key images at the basis of Ethiopian slavery constitute an ample reservoir for new interpretations, in which hidden aspects are brought into relief within a new reality. The present article focuses on cows as an organising image through which complex master–slave (Choa–Barya) relations are decoded. It explores the centrality of this image for these exploitative, complex relations, both in Ethiopia and following the move to Israel. The cow figures prominently as the embodiment of a range of concrete and symbolic meanings, particularly in the most intimate details of master–slave power relations and hierarchies

Context (archaeology · Democracy · Judaism · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Symbolic power · African history and culture analysis · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology