Call for Papers (2022.1) - Northeast Africa in Antiquity

Scholarship on the ancient past of the northeastern portion of Africa has been marked by colonialism and Orientalism (Said, 2010). Egyptology is among the disciplines that actively engaged with such ideologies, both in theory and practice, within a context of colonial expansion (Carruthers, 2015). Egyptology's emphasis on Egypt's role as the origin of civilisation became entangled with narratives about human (Western) progress, which boasted the discipline as a fruitful context to test archaeological methods, but also converted it into a gravitational pole for pseudoscientific racism (see Smith 2018).

However, recent studies on the antiquity of northeast Africa have been through major changes, including criticism of homogenising interpretations of diverse past cultural experiences (e.g. Lemos, 2020) and the overall exploration of connections with other parts of the African continent (e.g. Cooper, 2020). This leads us to dive into other disciplinary waters such as African History and Archaeology.

In the 21st century, scholarship on northeast Africa became aware of Nubia's central role in the region independently from Egypt, or the complexity and heterogeneity that characterised various peoples sharing similar Nilotic experiences (see Wengrow et al. 2014). Other aspects recently explored include critical historiographies of colonial pasts, interdisciplinary research projects and a growing interest in theoretical and ethical issues. The potential of such perspectives remains to be fully explored, especially if taken outside traditional Egyptological boundaries.

In this special issue of Mare Nostrum, we invite contributions from various areas of expertise focusing on ancient northeast Africa, including studies focusing on Egypt and Nubia, but also regions that have remained underexplored; e.g. desert areas around the Nile valley. We also welcome contributions that explore alternative perspectives to traditional topics, such as the interconnections between Egypt, Nubia and other regions in Africa. Contributions can make use of a wide range of sources, such as literary accounts or material culture, and may also include theoretical, methodological and epistemological debates on the history and archaeology of northeast Africa. We equally welcome critical analyses of Egyptology and other disciplines traditionally active in the region. Suggested topics of interest are:

- Cultural convergence and diversity in northeast Africa;

- The creative potential of local social realities beyond traditional, normative interpretations;

- Interconnections within northeast Africa (e.g. connections between Egypt and the surrounding deserts);

- Interconnections between northeast Africa and other parts of the continent;

- Global perspectives on northeast Africa and connections with the Mediterranean region and Asia;

- Teaching of African history (especially Egypt and Nubia) and its potential to generate knowledge about African history and heritage.

 

References

Carruthers, W. Introduction. Thinking about Histories of Egyptology. In: Carruthers, W. (Ed.) Histories of Egyptology: Interdisciplinary Measures. London: Routledge, 2015, pp. 1-15

Cooper, J. Egyptian among Neighboring African Languages. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2020. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fb8t2pz

Lemos R. Material Culture and Colonization in Ancient Nubia: Evidence from the New Kingdom Cemeteries. In: Smith, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Cham: Springer, 2020, pp. 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3307-2

Said, E. Orientalismo. O Oriente como Invenção do Ocidente. São Paulo: Cia de Bolso, 2010.

Smith, S. T. Gift of the Nile? Climate Change, the Origins of Egyptian Civilization and Its Interactions within Northeast Africa. In BÁCS, T., BOLLÓK, Á, and VIDA, T. (Eds.) Across the Mediterranean – Along the Nile: Studies in Egyptology, Nubiology and Late Antiquity Dedicated to László Török on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday. Volume 1. Budapest: Archaeolingua, 2018, pp. 325–346.

Wengrow, D. et al. Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the Nile Valley: A Prehistoric Perspective on Egypt’s Place in Africa. Antiquity, n. 88, 2014, pp. 95–111.

 

Editors

Fábio Frizzo (UFTM, fabio.frizzo@uftm.edu.br)

Maria Thereza David João (UNINTER, maria.jo@uninter.com)

Rennan Lemos (LMU München, rdsl3@cantab.ac.uk)