Rita
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 10:10 AM
Subject: Ancient Studies Research Seminar 24 March: Rita Lucarelli
Dear Colleagues, Students and Friends,
Please join us next Tuesday 24 March in the departmental seminar room (FASS 332) for the final Department of Ancient Studies Research Seminar of the first term. Next week one of our visiting academics, Professor Rita Lucarelli of the University of California, Berkeley, will be presenting some of her research on Egyptomania and Afrofuturisim to us. Attached is a poster of her presentation, and the title and abstract are included below in this message.
If you are not able to join in person, you are welcome to join online by clicking here or following this link: Department Research Seminar: Rita Lucarelli | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
To attend, please email Mrs Louise Damons (ldam@sun.ac.za) at least 24 hours in advance.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Egyptomania and Its Afterlives: Ancient Egypt in Global, National, and Black Cultural Imaginations
Tuesday 24 March, 17:10 in Arts 332 and online*
The reception of ancient Egypt has been one of the most enduring and complex phenomena in the history of cultural memory. >From classical antiquity to the modern era, Egypt has been repeatedly reimagined, appropriated, and mobilized in what is often termed "Egyptomania." This seminar explores how ancient Egypt has functioned as a powerful cultural symbol across different historical and political contexts, particularly from the nineteenth century to the present.
The talk examines the ways in which ancient Egypt has been invoked in European and American cultural production, from archaeology, exhibitions, and architecture to literature, film, and popular culture, often reflecting broader intellectual currents such as Orientalism, colonialism, and the construction of Western historical narratives. At the same time, the seminar considers how modern Egyptian intellectuals, artists, and state institutions have engaged with the Pharaonic past in shaping national identity, negotiating the legacy of colonial archaeology, and articulating modern Egyptian nationalism.
A further focus will be the reception of ancient Egypt within the Black Atlantic world. The seminar discusses the role of Egypt in the intellectual and cultural history of the African diaspora, including its importance for Black nationalism, Pan-African thought, and Afrocentric scholarship. It also explores contemporary artistic and speculative engagements with Egypt in Afrofuturism, where the ancient Nile civilization becomes a site for imagining alternative histories, futures, and identities.
By bringing these perspectives together, the seminar highlights ancient Egypt not as a static historical object, but as a dynamic and contested cultural resource, continually reinterpreted across global, national, and diasporic contexts.
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