Research Interests
I approach the field of Egyptian Archaeology, explicitly, from an anthropological perspective. In the past, Egyptology has been a field of academic study that has existed in a vaccuum. Previous scholars have either been reluctant to use or ignorant of broad models and theories regarding human behavior, political organization, issues of selfhood, and cultural interaction. With that said, my specific research interests relate to gender, ethnicity, culture contact in the ancient world, and the construcion of identity.
Concerning my own research, I am examining an area and an era of Egyptian history that focuses on the peoples living along the border between Egypt and Nubia (Sudan) in the New Kingdom through the Late Period. In this broad temporal span, Egypt went from conquering Nubia to being conquered by Nubia. I am examining how these dramatic political shifts affected the lives of Egyptians and Nubians. With respect to the peoples on the border I am particularly interested in how identities are negotiated between traditional ideals and pragmatic concerns. To that end, I am studying the burial practices of the Nubians to stand as a signal of individualized identity.
In Nubian burials there are pronounced difference in how men and women are buried. Within the topic of studying identiy, I also want to examine the role of women in the process of identity constructions. In the literature of traditional anthropology, women are treated as 'currency' in that they are used by men to build alliances, that they are accumulated for status or economic benefits. What I would like to establish is the voice of women as it pertains to how they percieved their role in soceity and how they expressed their agency in the cultural exchange of this region.
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