Marriage and Empire

Consolidation in Post-Liberation Ethiopia (1941–74)

Bibliographic Data

ID8980752
AuthorsSerawit B Debele (0000-0002-6620-5987, Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume61
Issue2
Pages201-217
Publication date2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853720000316
OpenAlexW3047704744
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited29

This article deals with marriage as mobilized by the Ethiopian Empire as part of its consolidation processes after 1941. It particularly concentrates on post-liberation anxiety and how the Ethiopian Empire envisioned tackling this disquiet by reforming marriage. Within the context of (re)building the empire, policies, laws, and discourses around monogamous marriage instilled normative ideas to produce the imperial subjects — procreative and productive — that a modernizing empire required. Sex was articulated within the confines of a heterosexual union, not only as a legitimate act but also as a responsibility of couples who were accountable for the consolidation of the empire. Sexual relations out of marriage were condemned as a source of degeneracy and the ensuing danger that confronted the empire. New laws were introduced to legislate sex to tackle the unease the empire felt about non-normative sex and associated pleasure(s). What started out as a battle against the Italian legacy continued more forcefully in the 1950s and 1960s with the rise of ‘new problems’ that educated young women and men posed. The article relies on a range of sources such as policy, legal, religious, and travel documents; newspapers; and novels, as well as self-help books produced between the 1940s and 1960s

Ancient history · Battle · Consolidation (business · Context (archaeology · Economics · Empire · Normative · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · History · Law

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