The Media Line Repositioning Egyptologies

Date and time: Saturday, October 3, 2020, 3 to 4 pm Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Dr. Jennifer Miyuki Babcock & Dr. Alexander Nagel host a conversation on representations of North African Pasts in Art History and Museums.

Discussants: Dr. Solange Ashby (PhD, University of Chicago), Dr. Vanessa Davies (PhD, University of Chicago), Dr. Lisa Saladino Haney (PhD, University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Elizabeth Minor (PhD, University of California, Berkeley)

Solange Ashby received her Ph.D. in Egyptology, with a specialization in ancient Egyptian language and Nubian religion, from the University of Chicago. She has researched in Egypt at the temple of Philae and participated in an archaeological excavation in El-Kurru, Sudan (royal Kushite cemetery). Her first book, Calling Out to Isis: The Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae, was released in July by Gorgias Press. Her current research explores the roles of women in traditional Nubian religious practices. Dr. Ashby is working on the first monograph dedicated to the history, religious symbolism, and political power of the queens of Kush.

Vanessa Davies’ research focuses on the epigraphy and art of pharaonic Egypt. She received her Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2010. Her dissertation “The Dynamics of ‘Hetep’ in Ancient Egypt,” examined the use of the word hetep in monumental texts over three millennia. This word encompasses the ideas of “rest” after death, “offerings” given to deities and the dead, “contentment” in interpersonal relationships, and political “peace.” Vanessa is currently writing a book on conversations between white Egyptologists who held university positions in the US and Europe and scholars of African descent in the US so that the voices of black scholars will become integrated into Egyptology’s disciplinary history.

Lisa Saladino Haney is a Postdoctoral Assistant Curator of Egypt on the Nile at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. She received her PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania; she also holds an MA in Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian Studies and a concentration in Museum Studies from New York University. She has excavated in Egypt and Oman and her work has focused largely on the archaeology and material culture of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030 – 1650 BCE), particularly the reign of Senwosret III. Her research utilizes archaeology, textual sources, and material culture to examine how the kings of Egypt’s 12th Dynasty chose to have themselves represented and why.

Elizabeth Minor is Visiting Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Wellesley College. In her work, Elizabeth focuses on cultural connections between ancient Egypt and Sudan. Eighteen years of museum work include educational outreach, registration, development, and digital imaging projects, and work experiences at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

NEXT FROM