Terje Østebø

About

Terje Østebø is a Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida, holding a joint appointment with the Center for African Studies. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Religions from Stockholm University. Østebø was the founding director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies, serving from 2014 to 2017. His research interests focus on Islam in contemporary Ethiopia, Islamic reformism, Salafism in Africa, and the intersection of religion and politics in the Horn of Africa. He has lived in Ethiopia for six years and possesses extensive field research experience, along with a broad publication record on these topics. Østebø has also been involved in briefing and advising national and international policymakers on issues related to religion and politics in the Horn of Africa. His teaching portfolio includes courses on Islam in Ethiopia, Ethiopian history, contemporary Ethiopian society and politics, religion and politics in the Horn of Africa, and courses on Muslim cultures, Christian-Muslim relations, and African Traditional Religions, both nationally and abroad.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Law
• Gender studies
• Social Science
• Anthropology
• Religious studies
• Psychology
• Philosophy
• Aesthetics

Selected publications

• Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia

  2020 · 44 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Focusing on the role of religion and ethnicity in times of conflict, Terje Østebø investigates the Muslim-dominated insurgency against the Ethiopian state in the 1960s, shedding new light on this understudied case in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of religion, inter-religious relations, ethnicity, and ethno-nationalism in the Horn of Africa. Islam, Ethnicity and Conflict in Ethiopia develops new theoretical perspectives on the interrelations between ethnic and religious identities…

  DOI

• Interpreting contemporary Oromo politics in Ethiopia: an ethnographic approach

  Journal of Eastern African Studies · 2020 · 41 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Decades of both non-violent and armed struggle did not bring much result to the Oromo quest for political power over the Ethiopian state, and contemporary Oromo politics often appear recondite and discordant. When Abiy Ahmed came to power as the new Prime Minister in April 2018 as the first Oromo politician entering the former imperial palace, many believed it was the Oromo’s turn to rule. Developments since then have, however, revealed a far more complex picture, where previous internal divisio…

  DOI

• Religion and the ‘Secular shadow’: responses to covid-19 in Ethiopia

  Religion · 2021 · 14 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  In Ethiopia, both Christians and Muslims interpreted the Covid-19 pandemic as God's punishment for sin. Prayer, fasting, and congregating in houses of worship therefore became important as means to plead God to act; practices that deviated from the biomedically informed efforts promoted by the Ethiopian government. This article explores these religious perceptions and practices and how they were negotiated in relation to official public health policies. At first glance, this case could serve as…

  PublisherDOI

• God’s Wrath in the Era of the Digidemic: Religious Interpretations of Covid-19 in Ethiopia

  Journal of the American Academy of Religion · 2021-11-08 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  Abstract During the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Ethiopians viewed the pandemic as an expression of God’s punishment for sin. Although such interpretations reflect historical continuity, an analysis of these sentiments and of how the pandemic unfolded in Ethiopia reveal an interesting conundrum. Whereas the Covid-19 pandemic clearly has had devastating impacts all over the world, the very experiences that historically generated interpretations of divine punishment and judgement—vio…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Health and politics in pandemic times: COVID-19 responses in Ethiopia

  Health Policy and Planning · 2021-07-21 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  With a focus on responses to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ethiopia and on political developments that have occurred in the country during the pandemic, this article contributes to the existing scholarship that explores the relationship between health and politics. Drawing on qualitative data from the project 'COVID-19 Impact Tracing in Ethiopia: Social, Economic, Political, and Security Ramifications', carried out in the Tigray, Amhara and Oromia Regional States (RS) from June to Septe…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Patrick Desplat

  Délégation Paris 6

  7 shared

• Kjetil Tronvoll

  5 shared

• Marit Tolo Østebø

  University of Florida

  5 shared

• Christoph Antweiler

  University of Bonn

  4 shared

• Gert Leipzig

  University of Bonn

  4 shared

• Ina Kempf

  University of Bonn

  4 shared

• Birgit Marx

  University of Bonn

  4 shared

• Neapel Katrin Bromber

  University of Bonn

  4 shared

Labs

• ReligionPI

Similar researchers at University of Florida

• Richard Wangh-57
• Bron Taylorh-25
• Anna L. Petersonh-14