Conference
Egypt in its African Context
The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester
3-4 October 2009
Conference outline
The African elements of the ancient Egyptian culture, and indeed its physical location in Africa, have frequently been ignored. In addition, there exists a level of prejudice against suggestions that Egyptian culture can be situated within an African cultural context. The contextualising of ancient Egypt culturally and geographically within Africa, the concept of ancient Egypt as part of Black History, and the discussion of how the material is perceived and interpreted in the West have only recently begun to receive attention, and the discussion is still regarded as peripheral and often irrelevant.
The aims of the conference are to:
- address perceptions of ancient Egypt in the West, in scholarly writing and public understanding;
- present the work of scholars working on African-centred Egyptology;
- present a scholarly approach to the subject of Egypt in Africa to counterbalance the extreme Afrocentric views within which such a debate is often contextualised;
- investigate how community groups and professional Egyptologists can transfer their knowledge and points of view.
Key speakers include Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, Senior Assistant Keeper, Department of Antiquities, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Dr Adebayo Folorunso, Professor, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria; Dr Shomarka Keita, Research affiliations with the National Human Genome Center, Howard University and the Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, USA; Dr. José Lingna Nafafé, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, The University of Birmingham, UK; and Dr Kimani Nehusi, Senior Lecturer, Cass School of Education, University of East London, UK.
The conference will include a screening of Louis Buckley's film, Nubian Spirit: The African Legacy of the Nile Valley, with a Q&A session with the director.
The conference is organised in association with The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and with the support of The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.
Download the conference programme for the Egypt in its African Context conference (PDF 60Kb)
Download the abstracts for the Egypt in its African Context conference (PDF 116Kb)
Conference fees and registration
Delegate: £45
Student delegate: £30
Speaker: £25
To register for the conference, please send a cheque made out to 'The University of Manchester' for the appropriate amount, together with the registration form (Word document 40 Kb), to:
Dr Karen Exell, Curator, Egypt and the Sudan, The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.
Overseas participants may pay on arrival - please indicate on the form that you intend to do this.
Transport and accommodation (Word Document 36Kb)
Conference contact:
Dr Karen Exell, Curator, Egypt and the Sudan
Address: The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Email: Karen.Exell@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 161 2758772
