Manuscript Cultures
Jonas Karlsson Succesfully Defends PhD Dissertation
3 November 2022
Photo: CSMC
Jonas Karlsson has passed his viva voce examination, thus completing his dissertation project in Ethiopian studies.
Congratulations to Jonas Karlsson, who defended his doctoral dissertation with the title The Formation of Dəggʷā last week. Traditionally attributed to the 6th-century saint Yāred, the Dəggʷā is a collection of antiphons used in the Divine Office in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It contains antiphons for the major liturgical celebrations of the year, including the feasts of the Lord, a number of Marian feasts, and feasts for major saints. Although of great importance for the life of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and widely attested in the manuscript material, the Dəggʷā has received little scholarly attention. Accordingly, the dissertaion addresses some basic questions of, for example, the age of the composition, its sources, its historical developments, and the question of authorship.
Since the submission of his dissertation in late February, Jonas Karlsson has been involved in the project 'Demarginalizing medieval Africa: Images, texts, and identity in early Solomonic Ethiopia (1270–1527)', which is being carried out both at UCL and CSMC headed by Jacopo Gnisci (UCL) and Alessandro Bausi (CSMC).