Intellectuals may be public figures, but we are not expected to know them in person to appreciate their talents, intelligence, or wisdom. As we are not supposed to know artists in person to admire their music or paintings, we are not expected to know intellectuals personally to appreciate their ideas and their contributions to knowledge and social progress. Intellectuals tend to be reclusive or loners who communicate more with books than with living persons. Their circles of friends may be small and often based on shared interests, and their exposure to society is limited, not because they are shy or lack self-confidence, but because they are not one hundred percent sure about what they preach or think. They are always unfinished works in progress, and we love them in a remote or roundabout way.
People may not know the late Elizabeth Wolde Giorgis (PhD), in person, but most of those who even knew her remotely through the media cannot remain indifferent to this tragedy. Like many other intellectuals, Elizabeth(PhD) lacks a public persona except that she sometimes appears in the media, talk shows or debates on Sheger Radio. This eloquent and highly articulate and an authority in her fields of study used to attract the attention of most of her fans not only for her erudition but for her talent to make difficult ideas and erudite arguments quite accessible to both educated and less educated members of society who found in her eloquence something to take away and muse on in their private moments.
Elizabeth (PhD) was not only a very articulate academician who had mastered her subjects. She was also a prolific and multitalented scholar who was handling various issues quite deftly while sticking to her two most cherished areas of her long academic studies, namely modern art in Ethiopia and the topic of modernity in the context of Ethiopian politics, society, history, literature, or philosophy. “An intellectual is generally understood as a person engaged in critical thinking, deep analysis, and the pursuit of knowledge, often on abstract ideas and complex concepts.” While this definition perfectly describes the late Elizabeth (PhD), her versatility sets her apart. Elizabeth’s (PhD) versatility was born of her strong anchoring in those academic subjects she widely read about, seriously discussed, and passionately defended. Her academic erudition was developed through her practical engagements, not only in developing her ideas but also in the diverse responsibilities she shouldered and created opportunities to turn her theoretical and scholarly knowledge into a living reality.
According to conventional wisdom. Intellectuals play a vital role in society by shaping ideas, fostering critical discourse, and driving cultural and ideological progress, often acting as a conscience and catalysts for social change. Antonio Gramsci is a prominent Italian communist intellectual who wrote a great deal about the role of intellectuals in society and social change. “The role of the intellectual for Gramsci is to create a new consciousness for a social stratum that can bring meaning and understanding to one’s position in society and their role in life (thus intellectuals are like a glue that keeps society together and in harmony).”
Gramsci further argued that, “Organic intellectuals emerge from a specific social class and articulate its interests while traditional intellectuals are seen as remnants of a former historical order, often detached from the needs of the working class.”
There is also a more radical definition of the role of an intellectual in American society. The famous American intellectual and scholar Noam Chomsky defines the responsibility of an intellectual as being one of exposing the lies of governments, analyzing actions according to their causes and motives, and hidden intentions. Functionalist scholars argue that the role of intellectuals is the production and dissemination of culture and knowledge. Bertrand Russell, the famous British philosopher, used to say that “intellectuals may influence people’s talk more than their actions.”
It is not always necessary to know intellectuals in person to appreciate the role of intellectuals in the dissemination of new ideas, conducting debates around vital social issues, or shaping the consciousness of society at the national level. Intellectuals are often introverted personalities who give more time and attention to their work, their research and to the production of ideas that need isolation or privacy. They often shun the public space and confine themselves to the four walls of their studies or the libraries with which they have permanent contact. They seldom come into public view and never chase celebrity status.
Intellectuals are social and national figures not because they have something to sell but they have the interests of society and the national interest at heart. They earn their status as influential thinkers because they have something useful to say about the state of the nation, the condition of society and the need for progressive change. Most of them are truth seekers, non-conformists and sometimes outright rebels who dream of turning society upside down. In any guise or pretension, intellectual figures are the conscience of a nation and catalysts of change.
They sometimes call them the intelligentsia, which is “a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labors by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics and culture of their society.” The definitions of an intellectual are diverse and often subject to debate. Elizabeth (PhD) was often described as an art historian, art curator, theoretician on Ethiopian modernity and as a scholar interested and engaged in social and political change.
Tributes to the late Elizabeth (PhD) Wolde Giorgis were pouring out from various quarters following her unexpected death. She has been given various accolades. She is known as the Chair of the Department of Humanities and Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. She was a distinguished scholar, curator and advocate for Ethiopian art and history. She is portrayed as a visionary who profoundly shaped Ethiopian art and visual studies. She was also the former Director of the Ethiopian Studies and Research Institute at Addis Ababa University. She was Professor of Theory and Criticism at the College of performing and Visual Arts and Director of the modern art Museum.
As indicated above, Elizabeth’s (PhD) main interest is Ethiopian art and Modernity in Ethiopia in a broader context. She has also written a book on modernity, entitled “Modernist Art in Ethiopia.” According to one review of the book, “Modernist Art in Ethiopia makes an important contribution to historical understanding of pan-African artistic movements and visual cultures through its detailed investigation, persuasive argument, and richly written style. Elizabeth (PhD) has written an exhaustively detailed social history, account, drawing on her longstanding archival work and capacity convey the complexity of cultural, political, and social history. The book places modernist art in Ethiopia within the extraordinary transformations and turbulence of the twentieth century, up until the contemporary moment.”
In this book, Elizabeth (PhD) passionately defends the originality and modernity of Ethiopian art and architecture that had been neglected for a long time due to the influence of colonial art as a reflection and model of modernism in Africa. Elizabeth (PhD) held the opposite view that Ethiopian art has never been affected by European modernism and the country has developed its original version of art. In this book, Elizabeth (PhD) puts the dilemma of Ethiopian modernism in the context of colonialism. She says, “If modernism initially came to Africa through colonial contact, what does Ethiopia’s inimitable historical condition -its independence, save for five years under Italian occupation-means for its modernist tradition?’
Elizabeth (PhD) has passed away at the not so advanced age of 59. Judging from her intellectual contributions to the development of critical thinking on many issues affecting the past and present of Ethiopian modernity, it would be safe to say that she has done a great job in bridging the knowledge gap in this area that no other scholar or researcher has so far tried or achieved, although intellectuals may not like comparison. She was a living example of a scholar who was engaged in social and political debates, reflecting her independent view on these issues.
As one European intellectual said a long time ago, “the role of the intellectual is to differ” from society. Elizabeth (PhD) had her vision of the past, the present and the future of Ethiopian art and society, as she made it clear during her numerous media interventions as well as in her works. Elizabeth’s (PhD) death is not only a personal loss for her loved ones but also a loss for Ethiopia and Africa at large. She had a productive and well-lived life as a prominent intellectual, and that is why she will be missed for a long, long time.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 30 MARCH 2025
