The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros

A Seventeenth-Century African Biography of an Ethiopian Woman

Galawdewos, Wendy Laura Belcher, Michael Kleiner, Wendy Laura Belcher, Michael Kleiner

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780691164212
• eBook ISBN: 9781400874149
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies
• Index: History

The first English translation of the earliest book-length biography of an African woman

This is the hardcover scholarly edition of the award-winning English translation of the earliest-known book-length biography of an African woman, and one of the few lives of an African woman written by Africans before the nineteenth century. As such, it provides an exceedingly rare and valuable picture of the experiences and thoughts of Africans, especially women, before the modern era. It is also an extraordinary account of a remarkable life—full of vivid dialogue, heartbreak, and triumph.

The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros (1672) tells the story of an Ethiopian saint who led a successful nonviolent movement to preserve African Christian beliefs in the face of European protocolonialism. When the Jesuits tried to convert the Ethiopians from their ancient form of Christianity, Walatta Petros (1592–1642), a noblewoman and the wife of one of the emperor's counselors, risked her life by leaving her husband, who supported the conversion effort, and leading the struggle against the Jesuits. After her death, her disciples wrote this book, praising her as a friend of women, a devoted reader, a skilled preacher, and a radical leader. One of the earliest stories of African resistance to European influence, this biography also provides a picture of domestic life, including Walatta Petros's life-long relationship with a female companion.

Richly illustrated with dozens of color illustrations from early manuscripts, this groundbreaking volume provides an authoritative and highly readable translation along with an extensive introduction. Other features include a chronology of Walatta Petros's life, maps, a comprehensive glossary, and detailed notes on textual variants.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Abbreviations
• Chronology
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction to the Text
• Manuscripts of the Text and Earlier Translations
• Introduction to the Translation of the Text
• The Ethiopian Script and Its Transcription
• The Translation of the Life-Struggles of Walatta Petros (Gädlä Wälättä P̣eṭros)
• The Translation of the Miracles of Walatta Petros (Täˀamərä Wälättä P̣eṭros)
• Summaries of Additional Miracles of Walatta Petros (Täˀamərä Wälättä P̣eṭros)
• Summary of the Short History of Walatta Petros’s Community (in MSS I and J only)
• The Translation of the Poem Portrait of Walatta Petros (Mälkəˀa Wälättä P̣eṭros)
• The Translation of the Poem Hail to Walatta Petros (Sälamta Wälättä P̣eṭros)
• Colophons
• Appendix: Manuscript Folio Missing from the Conti Rossini Print Edition (from MS J)
• Glossary: People, Places, and Terms in the Text
• Works Cited
• Index