Faith, displacement, and intergenerational relationships: a communication accommodation theory approach to the Ethiopian Orthodox diaspora

This qualitative study applies communication accommodation theory (CAT) to examine intergenerational communicative dynamics between first- and second-generation Ethiopian Americans in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church diaspora. Based on ethnographic observations and interviews, it explores how parents and adult children negotiate religious and hybrid identities through embodied liturgical practices. The study expands CAT by emphasizing indigenous Ethiopian cultural regulators yilugnta (social gaze), sene-sirat (discipline), and kibir (honour) as mechanisms driving accommodative behaviors. Findings reveal that divergence frequently functions as strategic cultural preservation rather than communication failure, necessitating the decentring of Western paradigms.