Julian Sommerschuh
Biographic Data
| ID | 210231 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Julian Sommerschuh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Julian |
| FAMILY NAME | Sommerschuh |
| SIGNATURE | SOMMERSCHUH J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universität Hamburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9194-7130 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Phenomenology, by comparison: From ethnographic variation to experiential structure
Both phenomenology and anthropology study lived experience, but they have traditionally done so in different ways. Phenomenology aims to identify universal structures of experience via the epoché, reduction and eidetic variation. Anthropology, by contrast, foregrounds cultural diversity as documented through ethnography. Ethnographic accounts provide thousands of cases of lived experience, far more varied than any single mind could generate throu…
How to Be Hopeful About Climate Change
Why do people in climate‐vulnerable regions of Kenya and Namibia express more hope for the future than many in Germany, despite facing greater environmental threats? Drawing on ethnographic research and the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel, we make two arguments. First, in contrast to structural theories, we see hope as tied not to economic security but to experiences of “captivity” or constraint. In Germany, the second half of the 20th century was m…
Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Defending life: Environmental crisis and Catholicism in Western Kenya
Discussions of religion and ecology in Africa suggest a contrast between indigenous religions and Christianity. While indigenous religions are seen as environmentally friendly, Christianity is seen as promoting a harmful mindset of human dominance over nature. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Kenyan Catholics, the article provides evidence to the contrary. I show that in a context of environmental crisis, the church in western Kenya offers …
Answering the Protestant Challenge: Orthodox Christianity as Counterreformation in Southern Ethiopia
What makes Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity attractive to southern Ethiopians? Aari in the South Ethiopia Regional State formerly rejected Orthodoxy as the religion of their northern Ethiopian conquerors. Attempts made under the empire to convert Aari remained without lasting success. In recent years, however, Orthodoxy has gained followers among conservative Aari. I explain Orthodoxy's attractiveness in the light of the rapid post-1991 growth of …
The Grace in Hierarchy: Seniors, God, and the Sources of Life in Southern Ethiopia
Why is hierarchy often surrounded by ambivalence? This article contributes to current debates about the goods and the ills of social hierarchy by drawing attention to the double-edged role of grace in hierarchical relations. Taking the Aari of southern Ethiopia as my example, I show how a conception of seniors as founts of grace entails a social life marked both by intense love and frequent conflict. Conversion to Christianity flattens social hie…
Becoming Amhara: Ethnic identity change as a quest for respect in Aari, Ethiopia
Why do members of a southwest Ethiopian ethnic minority claim wanting to ‘stop being Aari’ and ‘become Amhara’? Since the mid-1990s, ethnic-based federalism has led many Ethiopians to identify more closely with ‘their’ ethnic group. This article presents a contrary case: building on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss Aari people’s quest to adopt the pan-Ethiopian identity of ‘Amhara’. I show that among Aari, a century of humiliation b…
From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia
How is it conceivable that people of their own accord radically transform their way of life? Examining a south Ethiopian people's shift from a life centred on feasting to one aimed at wealth accumulation, this article contributes new insights on the mechanisms of cultural change. Complementing Joel Robbins' recent work on the topic, I suggest that next to the adoption of new values, radical change can also result from people's attempts to more fu…
Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia
Research on the economic effects of African Christianity has mainly focused on Pentecostalism. The dominant opinion of this literature is that Pentecostalism stimulates economic activity and supports economic development. This article looks beyond Pentecostalism by discussing the case of an Evangelical church in southern Ethiopia. Covering a period of two decades, I trace a shift in the relation between Evangelicalism and local aspirations for ec…
Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia
This article explains the recent emergence of Orthodox Christianity in a majoritarian Evangelical Protestant community in southern Ethiopia. Examining conversion motives and forms of religious engagement, I show that Orthodoxy is attractive to erstwhile followers of traditional practice because it affords them the solution to a value conflict. Joining an institutionalized 'religion' associated with national elites, converts attain the respectabil…
Legal pluralism and Protestant Christianity: From fine to forgiveness in an Aari community
From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia
How is it conceivable that people of their own accord radically transform their way of life? Examining a south Ethiopian people's shift from a life centred on feasting to one aimed at wealth accumulation, this article contributes new insights on the mechanisms of cultural change. Complementing Joel Robbins' recent work on the topic, I suggest that next to the adoption of new values, radical change can also result from people's attempts to more fu…
Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia
This article explains the recent emergence of Orthodox Christianity in a majoritarian Evangelical Protestant community in southern Ethiopia. Examining conversion motives and forms of religious engagement, I show that Orthodoxy is attractive to erstwhile followers of traditional practice because it affords them the solution to a value conflict. Joining an institutionalized 'religion' associated with national elites, converts attain the respectabil…
The Grace in Hierarchy: Seniors, God, and the Sources of Life in Southern Ethiopia
Why is hierarchy often surrounded by ambivalence? This article contributes to current debates about the goods and the ills of social hierarchy by drawing attention to the double-edged role of grace in hierarchical relations. Taking the Aari of southern Ethiopia as my example, I show how a conception of seniors as founts of grace entails a social life marked both by intense love and frequent conflict. Conversion to Christianity flattens social hie…
Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia
Research on the economic effects of African Christianity has mainly focused on Pentecostalism. The dominant opinion of this literature is that Pentecostalism stimulates economic activity and supports economic development. This article looks beyond Pentecostalism by discussing the case of an Evangelical church in southern Ethiopia. Covering a period of two decades, I trace a shift in the relation between Evangelicalism and local aspirations for ec…
Defending life: Environmental crisis and Catholicism in Western Kenya
Discussions of religion and ecology in Africa suggest a contrast between indigenous religions and Christianity. While indigenous religions are seen as environmentally friendly, Christianity is seen as promoting a harmful mindset of human dominance over nature. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Kenyan Catholics, the article provides evidence to the contrary. I show that in a context of environmental crisis, the church in western Kenya offers …
Legal pluralism and Protestant Christianity: From fine to forgiveness in an Aari community
Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia
Research on the economic effects of African Christianity has mainly focused on Pentecostalism. The dominant opinion of this literature is that Pentecostalism stimulates economic activity and supports economic development. This article looks beyond Pentecostalism by discussing the case of an Evangelical church in southern Ethiopia. Covering a period of two decades, I trace a shift in the relation between Evangelicalism and local aspirations for ec…
Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia
This article explains the recent emergence of Orthodox Christianity in a majoritarian Evangelical Protestant community in southern Ethiopia. Examining conversion motives and forms of religious engagement, I show that Orthodoxy is attractive to erstwhile followers of traditional practice because it affords them the solution to a value conflict. Joining an institutionalized 'religion' associated with national elites, converts attain the respectabil…
Answering the Protestant Challenge: Orthodox Christianity as Counterreformation in Southern Ethiopia
What makes Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity attractive to southern Ethiopians? Aari in the South Ethiopia Regional State formerly rejected Orthodoxy as the religion of their northern Ethiopian conquerors. Attempts made under the empire to convert Aari remained without lasting success. In recent years, however, Orthodoxy has gained followers among conservative Aari. I explain Orthodoxy's attractiveness in the light of the rapid post-1991 growth of …
The Grace in Hierarchy: Seniors, God, and the Sources of Life in Southern Ethiopia
Why is hierarchy often surrounded by ambivalence? This article contributes to current debates about the goods and the ills of social hierarchy by drawing attention to the double-edged role of grace in hierarchical relations. Taking the Aari of southern Ethiopia as my example, I show how a conception of seniors as founts of grace entails a social life marked both by intense love and frequent conflict. Conversion to Christianity flattens social hie…
Becoming Amhara: Ethnic identity change as a quest for respect in Aari, Ethiopia
Why do members of a southwest Ethiopian ethnic minority claim wanting to ‘stop being Aari’ and ‘become Amhara’? Since the mid-1990s, ethnic-based federalism has led many Ethiopians to identify more closely with ‘their’ ethnic group. This article presents a contrary case: building on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss Aari people’s quest to adopt the pan-Ethiopian identity of ‘Amhara’. I show that among Aari, a century of humiliation b…
From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia
How is it conceivable that people of their own accord radically transform their way of life? Examining a south Ethiopian people's shift from a life centred on feasting to one aimed at wealth accumulation, this article contributes new insights on the mechanisms of cultural change. Complementing Joel Robbins' recent work on the topic, I suggest that next to the adoption of new values, radical change can also result from people's attempts to more fu…
Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Defending life: Environmental crisis and Catholicism in Western Kenya
Discussions of religion and ecology in Africa suggest a contrast between indigenous religions and Christianity. While indigenous religions are seen as environmentally friendly, Christianity is seen as promoting a harmful mindset of human dominance over nature. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Kenyan Catholics, the article provides evidence to the contrary. I show that in a context of environmental crisis, the church in western Kenya offers …
Phenomenology, by comparison: From ethnographic variation to experiential structure
Both phenomenology and anthropology study lived experience, but they have traditionally done so in different ways. Phenomenology aims to identify universal structures of experience via the epoché, reduction and eidetic variation. Anthropology, by contrast, foregrounds cultural diversity as documented through ethnography. Ethnographic accounts provide thousands of cases of lived experience, far more varied than any single mind could generate throu…
How to Be Hopeful About Climate Change
Why do people in climate‐vulnerable regions of Kenya and Namibia express more hope for the future than many in Germany, despite facing greater environmental threats? Drawing on ethnographic research and the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel, we make two arguments. First, in contrast to structural theories, we see hope as tied not to economic security but to experiences of “captivity” or constraint. In Germany, the second half of the 20th century was m…
Sociology (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · African history and culture analysis (5 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (4 works) · Christianity (4 works) · Ethnography (4 works) · Religious studies (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Anthropology (3 works)