Faith at the Crossroads ― Religious Syncretism and Dispute Settlement in Northern Ethiopia: a Study of Sufi Shrine in North Eastern Ethiopia

Identifying a gap that is manifest in the existing literature regarding the interplay between religious syncretism and dispute settlement, Eresso provides her contemporary, comprehensive, ethnographic work originating from a personally-shaped narrative from extended fieldwork and many experiences accumulated from studying an Islamic shrine dedicated to sayh Serag Muhammed (d. 1972), known as the shrine of Taru sina, located in northeast Ethiopia. She analyzes two interrelated subjects: the dynamic formation of religious syncretism and its reflection in dispute settlement. In three parts she presents the problem under discussion as well as treats method and theory; the issues of process and agency in a syncretistic formation; and, finally, lays out the syncretic religious practices of the shrine’s weekly court of dispute settlement. She offers her book as a useful complement to existing textbooks or for readers in the field of anthropology of religion and legal anthropology. Annotation c2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)