Whose Mummified Remains? Egyptian voices and views surrounding mummified human remains

Heba Abd el Gawad

8 September | Note: This is a hybrid event

Within Eurocentric scholarship and museum practice is a rising discomfort towards the display of mummified Egyptian human remains. Yet this literature often ignores contemporary Egyptian views towards exhibiting bodies. In this talk, I argue that Egyptians do constitute a community of descent for such remains, connected through land and a perceived genealogy to their ancient Egyptian ancestors. Ongoing debates need to be inclusive of these voices, even when they do not offer consensus, and to be transparent and sensitive when addressing histories of acquisition and interpretation. Human remains evoke a variety of personal and emotional sensitivities, meaning that scholarship and museum practice will need to accept that this will always be an ongoing dialogue as communities and circumstances change.

About the speaker
Egyptian Egyptologist Heba Abd el Gawad is the project researcher for the AHRC funded project: ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Views from Egypt’ at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London aimed at amplifying the voice, visibility, and validity of modern Egyptian communities in UK museums. She has previously led various curatorial roles in the UK including co-curating Two Temple Place’s 2016 Beyond Beauty: Transforming the Body in Ancient Egypt exhibition, project curator of the British Museum’s Asyut Project, and more recently has guest curated Listen to her! Turning up the Volume on Egypt’s Ordinary Women exhibition at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. She specialises in the history of Egyptian archaeology and Egyptian perceptions and representations of ancient Egypt.

She has been selected as one of the most influential 21 Egyptian women in 2021 for her community work in the heritage sector.

To be held on Campus at the Chau Chak Wing Museum and on Zoom. Please click here for CCW map.

If you aren’t on the email list for the Archaeology Seminar series and would like to join, please click here to fill in the form

More information
Please contact Dr Michael Spate
Click here to email

The Department of Archaeology is part of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI).

Social Media

• Follow USYD Archaeology postgraduates on Twitter
• Follow USYD ArchSoc on Facebook
• Follow the School of Humanities on Twitter
• Follow the School of Humanities on Facebook