Paper Short Abstract:

If love is central to Christianity, why do the Ethiopian Aari claim that conversion ushered in a decline in love? Examining indigenous and Christian conceptions of love, I trace a shift from friendship to selflessness and discuss love as a force for un/doing sociality.

Paper Abstract:

In Christianity, love is central. But among the Aari of southern Ethiopia, conversion to Christianity is said to have brought a decline in love. Why? In search of an answer, I examine indigenous Aari conceptions and practices of love and how they were affected by Christian conversion. I show that for the Aari, "love" (solma) traditionally involved being and eating together and cultivating bonds of affectionate friendship. Christian love among the Aari, in contrast, is centered on selfless service to others and the avoidance of conflict. The Christian vision of love was highly attractive to Aari when they began to convert in the 1990s. Coming from a world where the competitive pursuit of honor regularly undermined love, the converts hoped that adopting Christian practices of selflessness and conflict avoidance would allow them to more fully realize their long-held aspiration to be friends with everyone around them. Over time, however, Aari Christians realized that avoiding conflict and selflessly serving others were not enough to create the kind of loving sociality they valued. In telling the story of how Aari unwittingly forfeited love by embracing Christianity, the paper presents an argument about the quest for love as a driver of historical change and a force for un/doing sociality.