CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Negatu, Kal |
|---|---|
| Title | Honoring culture while challenging patriarchy: Feminists reinterpretation and reformation of the Shimgilina ceremony in Addis Ababa |
| Summary | This thesis explores how urban, middle-class Ethiopians who identify as feminists engage with Shimgilina—a pre-wedding ceremony that, while deeply rooted in patriarchal tradition, remains central to Ethiopian marriage practices. The ritual often reinforces male dominance through male-only negotiations and, in rural contexts, is closely linked to child marriage. Yet, Shimgilina is also seen as a vital expression of cultural identity, a means of preserving heritage, and a way of fostering bonds between families. Amid these tensions, many feminist women and men still choose to include the ceremony in their marriage process. Given their relative privilege and autonomy, this participation is unlikely to stem from coercion. Instead, it prompts a more complex question: what forms of agency are being exercised within this deeply gendered cultural space? Using qualitative research methods, I conducted semi-structured interviews with ten self-identified feminists—nine women and one man—based in Addis Ababa. While participants shared similar social locations, they held divergent perspectives and strategies for navigating Shimgilina. In analyzing these experiences, I drew on four theoretical frameworks 14;intersection ality, patriarchal bargaining, Nego-feminism, and Saba Mahmood’s rethinking of agency—to trace how feminist agency is expressed within the Shimgilina ceremony. Two distinct patterns emerged. The first group expressed a strong sense of autonomy prior to the ceremony, particularly through independently choosing their partners. Influenced by this autonomy and by cultural expectations they embraced, they did not perceive Shimgilina as a site of struggle. Instead, they viewed it as a symbolic gesture—one that legitimized their personal choices in the eyes of their families, strengthened new relational bonds, and affirmed their cultural belonging. In contrast, the second group did not articulate the same level of autonomy beforehand—not because it was absent, but because it was not felt or foregrounded in their narratives. For them, the ceremony itself became the key site through which to assert agency. Drawing on their feminist consciousness, they intervened more visibly—reshaping the ritual by including maternal figures, pushing for gender-inclusive representation, or challenging patriarchal norms embedded in the process. Overall, this research reveals that agency within Shimgilina is shaped by culture, power, and a fluid sense of autonomy. Even within a relatively homogeneous group, expressions of feminist agency vary significantly, making the practice deeply contextual, yet plural and internally diverse. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/negatu_kal.pdf |
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