ABSTRACT
Popular images of Ethiopia have played a significant role at various points in world history. This chapter outlines the popular images by examining the intellectual assumptions connected with them, and thereby prepares the way for a new image based on recent developments in sociological theory and on a fresh look at the field of Ethiopian studies. The first generations of Ethiopianist scholars saw their work chiefly as a branch of Semitic studies. The view of Ethiopia as a museum of peoples is implicit in the work of a number of anthropologists who have worked in the country. The image of Ethiopia as a Semitic outpost has informed and inspired most of the best scholarship on Ethiopia to date. The disciplined study of Ethiopian culture has made it possible to replace the various conventional images discussed at the beginning of the chapter with more firmly grounded conceptions.
