Entry 12-Abstract for Class

So tomorrow my abstract for class is due and this is the one I am going to submit. Any thoughts would be fantastic:

Egyptology, the study of Ancient Egypt, began with the invasion of Napoleon in to Egypt and lead to a revitalized interest in Egypt as the birthplace of civilization. However, it was not until the rise of the Nationalist movement in the early 20th century that interest in the ancient past became part of Egyptian discourse. Although images of the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx were on heavily circulated items such as postage stamps, few Egyptians were involved in Egyptology. The appropriation of symbols by Egyptian Nationalists also carried with it an underlying theme that few have explored, the connection between women’s rights and Egyptological discourse. The juxtaposition of Pharaonic themes and modern women, the continuing popular interest in queens of Ancient Egypt, and the use of ancient history in current feminist discourse in Egypt shows how a discussion of gender is entwined with that of Egyptology.

For this research project, I will examine architectural portrays of females in Pharaonic styles from the early 20th century, the work of 2 Egyptian feminists from different periods, and popular articles written on “heritage” topics from the early 21st century. I would like to answer two important questions. First, how does the feminist discourse of the 20th century explore the ancient world? How far did feminist discourse draw in the past to explain the position of women in Egyptian society? Is it a theme that endures or is it related to other issues? Secondly, does the use of these Ancient Egyptian women change when it enters the popular sphere? Who is talking about Ancient Egyptians? What do they say about them? What could be the impact that stories about them have on segments of modern Egyptian society?

To answer these questions, I will look at both primary and secondary source material. For primary source material I look at the Nahdet Misr statue, Sa’ad Zaghlul’s Mausoleum, the façade of the Egyptian Museum, the memoirs of Huda Shaarawi, the work of Nawal Saadawi, and articles written by Nevine El-Asef for Al-Ahram weekly an English language segment of Al-Ahram. As for secondary source material I will evoke some of the ideas explored by Margot Badran in her discussions of Famous Women Biographies and of Nationalist Iconography in order to relate these pieces of evidence to the general values of the Nationalist and the Feminist movement in the 20th century.

My preliminary research suggests that the portrayal of females on the façade of the Egyptian Museum represented the rise of Neopharaonic styles in European architecture rather than local identification with those themes. The museum was built by Europeans and for Europeans which is evident from the presence of Latin inscriptions and that not a single Egyptian Egyptologist is remembered on the outside. The presence of women on other statues suggests the incorporation of the Nationalists perception of the whole nation as a household and as Egypt as a “Mother” country. This is supported by the famous women biographies that portray Queen Nefertari and Pharaoh Nitocris as good housewives that still maintained a public face and were able to rule Ancient Egypt themselves. These ancient women were able to combine the current gendered perceptions but at the same time complicate the issue of the female domestic sphere by being actively represented in art and ruling a nation.