Abstract:
The wax and gold tradition is mainly known as an Ethiopian literary system that plays with
layers of meanings. It has also established itself as a system of knowledge and/or belief production
and validation. However, its social ramifications have presented scholars with conundrums that
divide their views. For some, it is an Ethiopian traditional society’s crowning achievement of
erudition—a poetic form that infiltrated communication, psychology, and social interaction. For
others, it is a breeding ground for social vices, i.e., mutual suspicion, deception, duplicity, etc., because
its autochthonous nature means it is inept in terms of modernizing and unifying the society. In this
essay, I aim to argue that there is one critical historical element that holds the key to the conflicting
social ramifications of the wax and gold system and, yet, is neglected by both sides of the debate:
the original doxastic space of qine (poetry) and sem ena werq (wax and gold system)—a hermeneutic
tool that deciphers the meaning of poems. This literary system was born in the space of worship
and liturgy. I will contend, therefore, that a shift of doxastic space from sacred to saeculum (the
world) is the reason not only for the behavior of doxastic agents but also for the social outcome of the
knowledge they create.
