Skin whitening in contemporary tewahdo iconography / Çağdaş tewahdo ikongrafisinde cilt beyazlatma

Abstract

In this thesis the influence of Caucasian religious imagery, particularly of Italian origin on the representation of race in Tewahdo iconography in Eritrea has been studied. Indigenous Christian iconographs which have been in use in the Tewahdo (Orthodox) church since the 8th century AD are commonly characterized with black skinned holy figures and traditional costume and environment. The study highlights the effects of Caucasian Catholic images that have influenced the culture of iconographic depiction, as iconographers use the imported images as models for their copied iconographs. The main focus is shed on the post colonial significance of the resulting whitening of iconographs in relation to their function in rendering the dehistoricization and depoliticization of the realities of colonial subjugation and discrimination. Further, the notion of colorism in the iconographs (skin colour distinctions within the black people) which has been reinforced during Italian colonization is discussed as symptomatic of pre-colonial hierarchies and claims of genealogical purity in association with Semitic descent. The thesis also discusses the use of racial body signifiers in the creation of dichotomous meanings of good and evil. Using a semiotic framework, it is argued that regardless of the intentions of the iconographers, the depicted representations yield a myth that legitimizes the existing power order of colonial hierarchy and subjugation.