Good morning from Day 2 of the @issegyptomania #OnwardsUpwards2022 conference kicking off with @JacksonEmmet on reception in Ireland & pseudo archaeology.
https://twitter.com/issegyptomania/status/1584119296988368896
Prevalent themes in pseudo archaeology. The Irish were Egyptians… 
Second theme - new age & local myth combining with ideas of Egypt. Eg. the Fellowship of Isis - about the sacred feminine & combining with Celtic goddesses. Divine plan to emphasise the feminine to balance male aggression & materialism. #onwardsupwards2022
Similarities with the Order of the Golden Dawn. Both groups - construction of Isis as a representative of the zeitgeist.
We shouldn’t dismiss pseudo archaeology - it’s worth exploring as a part of our understanding of reception of ideas about Egypt. @JacksonEmmet #onwardsupwards2022
Next up @CloEmmo on Egyptology in the context of wider imperialist archaeology. #onwardsupwards2022 - Shanks ‘kairos’ moment - where past and present meet and you can stare at history. Interest in events such as Carter’s opening of the tomb because of this unique insight.
What is imperialist archaeology? 👇
Archaeology becomes a way of ideologically & practically connecting to the bible & the cradle of civilisation. Victorian spectacular. The world on display so it can be connected to & consumed. Victorian interest in justifying its own imperialism. #onwardsupwards2022
Expands our also into popular culture through inspiration for literature etc… Key analytical frame was idea of orientalism & archaeology’s role in extracting knowledge - viewing the east as ‘the other’ to be gained from. Bound up with visual art and books. #onwardsupwards2022
All archaeology operates within its time whether we are conscious of it or not says @CloEmmo
Idea that we could do something better than locals. Class and race hierarchies of the time. Liberating the archaeology from some of the nations whose outlook the west might not respect. Photos with mass of unnamed & unpaid labour of locals.
This leads through to manias as part of an orientalist project. Concept that it’s an imperialist’s right to explore and take. Not just artefacts on show - also the people.
Still a lot of connections back to the bible. Archaeology could perhaps be used to prove the bible false or right.
Suez & that part of the world critical politically. Imperialist archaeology motivated by both imperial ambitions & idea of linear progression through history. Some archaeologists used as spies. Egyptomania v much a western phenomenon - affects the discipline. #onwardsupwards2022
Important that we look to approaches beyond eurocentrism. Things are changing. Allowing contemporary Egyptians space for narratives about ancient past. Egyptian music, directors, archaeologists. Need to keep addressing the way our discipline has evolved with roots in colonialism
Next this morning is @Eiphit_eolaiche looking at Egyptomania in Scotland. Themes around Egypt being used to further agendas such as freemasonry. #OnwardsUpwards2022
In Edinburgh, Egypt was used to further certain ideas - eg James Hogg using Egypt to get into society. Rosetta Stone has been deciphered - Egyptology becoming a discipline. Edinburgh society keeping up with the news. People showing they are fashionable & Hogg hooking into this.
Over in Glasgow - we have satire. Using Egypt to poke fun at the establishment. Setting up Edinburgh & Glasgow rivalry.
Work in Glasgow at Hunterian and beginnings of Kelvingrove as part of an international exhibition. Research underway as only bequests from male donors were displayed. Female role written out at the time.
Also links to art & photography. David Robert & in turn Melville
Interesting how role of Egypt in Scottish art & design underplayed. See Margaret Macdonald MacIntosh piece based on the mourners.
Gold of the Pharaohs - Scotland’s first/second blockbuster. Led to some of the connected (often tenuous) advertising using Egypt. Key point by Claire - Egyptomania means different things in different places. #OnwardsUpwards2022
Next this session Prof Stacy Davidson on ‘Egypt’ or ‘Little Egypt’ in Illinois @scribespalette #OnwardsUpwards2022
So interesting that people in southern Illinois referred to themselves as Egyptians in 19thC - came from reception not immigration. There was also a point the term ‘little Egypt’ began to be used despite social comment it shouldn’t. Some use of Egyptian names in towns & symbolism
19thC Egyptian revival Sentinel building renovated after Tutankhamun discovery. Then 1939-41 Egyptianising VA Hospital & a railroad. #Tutankhamun100 #OnwardsUpwards2022
It’s everywhere…
Centenary - also included Egyptian imagery
But @scribespalette asks why? West as Orient. Mississippi referred to as America’s Nile. Rivers meet at ‘Cairo’. Connection to prosperity, abundance & a place you can get food. Connection to Egypt as breadbasket in time of crop failure. #onwardsupwards2022
Starts as positive but then later connection with ignorance & pro-slavery. @scribespalette Project getting into the connection & why. Work still underway. #onwardsupwards2022
Will be a handbook and also an album with music from the area - historical and new.
Research intended to unify not divide. Incorporating community voices in this knowledge making experience.
Positive impacts on local community. Increased curiosity in the research through the project. #onwardsupwards2022
First in this pm’s @issegyptomania #onwardsupwards2022 is @N_Nielsen4 on the last voyage of the Beatrice & the Sarcophagus of Menkaure. Richard Weiss travelled around Egypt, not an Egyptologist but wanted to excavate. Permissions were achieved for a team, which he left working.
1837 - very impatient. Worked on Great Pyramid clearing passageways. He used gunpowder liberally 😮
Latest 1837 worked on Menkaure’s pyramid. Not the first in (Arabic graffiti) but the sarcophagus was present. He concluded the sarcophagus wouldn’t be safe in situ & offered it to the @britishmuseum - politicians were kept briefed on the transport & shipping of 3 tonne artefact.
Loaded onto Beatrice which sailed the route between Liverpool & Alexandria. Captained by Wichelo. We don’t know why he was commissioned for the task. She left without her captain who was ill. He followed and arrived in Malta. She hadn’t arrived.
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