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Tuesday, August 6, 2019

WHEN A SENATOR VISITS EGYPT, THE STUDENTS HAVE TO PREPARE THEIR TRANSLATIONS

WHEN A SENATOR VISITS EGYPT, THE STUDENTS HAVE TO PREPARE THEIR TRANSLATIONS

Reading the Arabic translation of Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule of Naphtali Lewis (Oxford University Press (1983), I find this Arabic translation of P.Tebt. I 33: Preparations for a Roman Visitor very useful for Egyptian students of papyrology to learn translation. A translation from Greek into English, English into Arabic, or from Greek into Arabic is a non trivial task. I can not remmebr when I first wrote this post, but her what I have done. [Your can find the Arabic book in my blog. I don't know exactly where but I do have a digital copy of it, if you want]

The first lines of the Arabic translation of Naphtali's English translation run smoothly i.e. almost word for word. However towards the middle of the text the Arabic translation diverts from the English original, so that I can not align most of the words. The words that I can not align are red in this visualisation: http://sosol.perseids.org/alpheios/app/align-editsentence-perseids.xhtml?doc=36376&s= 



The English translation of Lines 3-19 of the text runs, in Lewis, Life in Egypt (1983), S. 12 , as follow:

"Lucius Memmius, a Roman senator, who occupies a position of great dignity and honor, is making the voyage from Alexandria to the Arsinoite nome to see the sights. Let him be received with special magnificence, and take care that at the proper spots the chambers be prepared and the landing-places to them be got ready, and that the gifts of hospitality below written be presented to him at the landing-place, and that the furniture of the chamber, the customary tit-bits for Petesouchos and the crocodiles, the necessaries for the view of the Labyrinth, and the offerings and sacrifices be provided; in general take the greatest pains in everything that the visitor may be satisfied, and display the utmost zeal"

The Arabic translation in p. 15 of the translated book, runs as follow:

    
The Greek original runs as fellow: 

Λεύκιος Μέμμιος Ῥωμαῖος τῶν ἀπὸ
    συνκλήτου ἐν μίζονι (l. μείζονι) ἀξιώματι κα[ὶ] τιμῆι
5  κείμενος τὸν ἐκ τῆς π̣ό̣(λεως) ἀνάπλουν ἕως τοῦ Ἀρσι(νοίτου) νο(μοῦ)
    ἐπὶ θεωρίαν ποιούμενος μεγαλουπρεπέστερον(l. μεγαλοπρεπέστερον)
    ἐγδεχθήτωι(l. ἐγδεχθήτω), καὶ φρόντισον ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν
    καθηκόντων τόπων αἵ τε αὐλαὶ κατασκ̣ευα̣σ̣-
    [θ]ή̣σ̣[ο]ν̣ται καὶ αἱ ἀπ̣ὸ̣ τούτων ἐγβα(τηρίαι) ε̣[ ̣]ι̣ε̣[ ̣ ̣ ̣]
10 π̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ συντελεσθήσονται καὶ αὐτῶι προσ-
    ενεχ̣θ̣ήσε̣ται ἐπὶ τῆς ἐγβα(τηρίας) τὰ ὑπογεγρ(αμμένα) ξένια,
    καὶ τ[ὰ] εἰς τὸν τῆς αὐλῆς καταρτισμὸν
    καὶ τὸ γεινόμενον τῶι Πετεσούχωι καὶ τοῖς κροκο(δείλοις)
    ψω̣μ̣ί̣ον κ̣α̣ὶ̣ τὰ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ λαβυρίνθου θέαν
15 καὶ τ̣ὰ ̣[ ̣ ̣] ̣[ ̣ ̣ σ]ταθησόμενα θύματα καὶ τῆς
    θ̣υ̣σ̣ί̣[α]ς̣ ἡ̣ π̣α̣ρ̣ο̣χὴ̣ ο̣ἰ̣κ̣ο̣ν̣[όμη(?)]ται(?), τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἐ̣π̣ὶ̣ π̣ά̣ν̣[των]
    τὴν μεγίστην φροντίδα ποιουμενου (l. ποιούμενος) τοῦ εὐδοκοῦν̣[τ]α̣
    τὸν ἄ̣ν̣δ̣ρ̣α̣ κατασταθῆ[ναι] τὴν πᾶσαν προσενέγκαι
     σπουδὴ[ν]

OEDIPUS ON THE NILE: TRANSLATIONS AND ADAPTIONS OF SOPHOCLES' OEDIPUS TYRANNOS IN EGYPT, 1900-1970

OEDIPUS ON THE NILE


By Cormack, Raphael Christian (https://ergamegala.wordpress.com/)


[Retrieved from https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/23624 on 06/08/2010]


Between 1900 and 1970 seven different versions of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Tyrannos were performed or published in Arabic in Egypt. This thesis looks at the first 71 years’ history of this iconic Greek tragedy in Arabic and the ways it can be used to think through the cultural debates of the period. The long history of contact between Greece and Egypt and the 19th and 20th century interpretations of this history can be used to look at different models of colonial and post-colonial cultural interaction. Classicism offered Egyptian writers a constructive way of looking at their cultural identity and contemporary world – a way which takes in to account the legacies of colonialism but also engages Greek literature to create their own models of nationhood. Following the history of performance and adaptation of the play throughout the 20th century, this thesis offers close readings of the most prominent adaptations of Oedipus, particularly those of Farah Antun (whose text was used for Actor-Director George Abyad’s first version of the play in 1912), Tawfiq al-Hakim (1949), Ali Ahmed Bakathir (1949) and Ali Salem (1970). Using performance and translation theory, I show how performance of translated plays like Oedipus was a crucial but complex part of the formation of an Egyptian dramatic tradition through the dynamic interaction of diverse views of what the theatre should be, using, for instance, the role of singing in turn of the century drama. This thesis also revisits and revises misconceptions about the relationship between Islam and theatre. In addition to examining Egyptian Oedipus’ 19th and 20th century context, I also stress the contribution of performance and adaptation to readings of the original text. In particular, these versions of Oedipus ask questions about monarchical rule and democracy that form one link between this classical play and 20th century Egypt. Through its interdisciplinary approach as well as the close readings it offers, this thesis aims to make valuable contributions to the fields of Arabic Theatre Studies and Classical Reception in Colonial and Post-Colonial contexts as well as Performance and Translation Theory.
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Monday, August 5, 2019

Ain Shams University (Cairo) inaugurate an Institute for the Egyptian Written Cultural Heritage viz. Papyrology


HIGHER INSTITUTE OF PAPYRI, INSCRIPTION AND CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES AT ASU IN CAIRO




The English website of Ain Shams Institute of Papyri

About ASU institute OF PAPYRI

 [retrieved from the Arabic website on 05/08/2019 and translated by Google translator, and slightly edited for consistency and convenience by Usama Gad, for Arabic scroll down]

FROM THE A CENTER INTO A CENTER AND AN INSTITUTE

Over the past twenty three years, Ain Shams Center for the studies of papyrus and inscriptions carried out its scientific and specific tasks, which was the conduct of research based mainly on the documentary and literary papyri, whether published or not yet published. The Center has attracted the efforts of Egyptian and Arab scientists and researchers in the Arab world. It has also attracted many foreign scholars in this field . The most important fruits of these scientific efforts during these years were the publication of nineteen volumes of a scientific peer-reviewed journal that were exchanged with the corresponding specialised centres around the world. It is an internationally recognised journal by the AIP in Brussels. It published presentation, explanation or criticism of new studies in the field. The Nineteenth international Congress of papyrologists was held in 1989 at the Center for Papyri and Inscriptions at Ain Shams University. Its proceedings were published in two volumes of one thousands and five hundred pages. In 1998, the Center held a conference entitled "Palestine in light of papyri" The conference's papers were published in two large volumes. Each year, the Center had a rich cultural season; including scientific lectures, seminars and follow-up sessions attended by Egyptian and foreign scholars, who enriched the five department of the center through their inputs in Egyptian , Greek, Latin, Semitic, and Arabic papyrology, and in the department of conservation and cataloguing of papyri collections.

The Center has, therefore, carried out its tasks within the limits of its available physical and human resources. However, its scientific achievements and aspirations have seemed to those in charge of it to be below international standards, because research centres outside Egypt are supported by specialised institutes that provide these centres and nourish them always with sspecialist professionals who master the techniques of editing papyrus texts and fill the lacunae in the light of a comprehensive knowledge paleography, and of historical philology and linguistics of styles, idioms , expressions etc. Over more than two hundred years of active papyrological studies in Europe and America, these established standards have produced hundreds of edited volumes of papyrus texts with translations, short historical and morphological explanations, and line-by-line commentaries into English, German, Italian and French.

The reading and interpreting mission of Egypt's written heritage was entirely in the hand of foreign scholars who have excelled in dealing with its languages (Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic, Greek and Arabic) supported by professional educational institutions in Europe and America. The history of some of these institutions are dating back to the nineteenth century. And out of a feeling of scientific jealousy on this important and rich written heritage of Egypt, the scientific committe of ASU center has, in 1992, submitted a memorandum to the deans' council of Ain Shams University regarding the establishment of a high institute for papyrus studies whose task is to prepare professionals capable of editing the unpublished papyri that still make up nearly seventy percent of papyrus texts deposited in museum libraries or private collections in Egypt and around the world, and capable of reading and interpreting what has been already published and correcting some of the mistakes of the editio princeps, if there are errors.

At the time, the intense and in-depth discussions in scientific committees in the Council of Graduate Studies and Research at Ain Shams University and in the Council of the Faculty of Arts were in favour of the idea of ​​adding only some papyrological courses related to the departments of Faculty of Arts where papyrology is studied like the Department of Ancient European Civilization, the department of Arabic language and literature and the department of Oriental languages. Implementing this idea was practically and pragmatically not possible simple because these departments were already burdened with core courses indispensable to be replaced by papyrology. This is of course in addition to the idea that papyrology per se has become a specialised field of study with many sub-specialities like Greek papyrology, Arabic papyrology, Egyptian papyrology, juristic papyrology, papyri paleography, digital papyrology, papyri conservation, papyri cataloguing etc.(all these discipline is reflected in the proposed study programme of the Institute, which is now i.e. in 2015 ratified [see the Arabic section for more information on this]). The establishment of the Institute in 1992 was accordingly postponed until further notice!

And now, after more than twenty years of discussion, we see the need to create this Egyptian Institute of papyrology with a specific educational objective, which is to prepare qualified cadres capable of documenting Egypt's history and its ancient civilisation through these uniquely Egyptian resources; and why not when papyri is associated immediately in the minds and hearts of the whole humanity with Egypt!

However, this is no longer just a jealousy over the Egyptian heritage or a desire to emulate those of the great foreigner scholars who had the virtue of leadership. Even though this is in itself a legitimate scientific ambition and jealousy. Yet this scientific desire goes beyond this in fulfilling a serious national need i.e. to confront the attempts by some to distort and/or desecrate Egyptian written cultural heritage based on the method of filling the gaps [lacunae] in some of the papyri or adding characters to its original wording. No one is able to address this issue to show its invalidity and revealed its [real] intentions but qualified experts refuting [ideologized] argument with compelling , rational, well-balanced and reasoned argument. In a global digital age, the need is more urgent to counterbalance distortion- and fake-news that go viral in seconds in the networked world of the social media and internet. This task is a scientific obligation [frida] to perform, in an era filled with - unfortunately - conflicts at all levels, in order to achieve political goals.

Institute's academic and scientific objectives



We can summarise the above in the following points:

1- The Institute is a specialised national Egyptian scientific body concerned with studying and documenting the history of Egypt and its cultural heritage in all its various branches, from its original sources; papyri and inscriptions that have been recovered and are still in the land of Egypt.

2 - The Institute aims to provide Egypt and other countries with professional specialists skilful in the techniques of editing papyri and inscriptions and fill in its gaps in the light of a comprehensive knowledge paleography and the development of Egyptian language(s) throughout ages. A task that is beyond the center's current potential and can only be achieved through the establishment of a specialised institute to achieve this goal achieved by many European and American professional educational academic institutions.

3. The Institute aims to prepare specialists capable of editing the unpublished papyri that still make up nearly seventy percent of papyri manuscripts deposited in museum libraries and/or private collections, of re-reading and re-interpreting the texts that have already been published and of correcting some of the mistakes that publishers have made.

4 - The Institute is the only higher educational institution in Egypt capable of preparing and creating scientific cadres specialised in this arcane field of study, simply because the [Ain Shams University's] departments at which there are professional papyrologists are not up to this meticulous task because these departments are already burdened with core teaching and research programmes that can not be dispensed with. The short-term tactic of these departments was to add papyrology and epigraphy to the core curricula. This tactic is obviously not enough to graduate professionals in this large field of study, which became a main field of study with sub-specialities depending on the language of the texts .

5 - The establishment of the Institute is not a cultural and/or academic appropriation or a desire to imitate the European nations that preceded us in the establishment of similar institutes, but it goes beyond this to what is really a serious academic and cultural need in response to the recent attempts by some to distort some of these texts. Only qualified professionals are able to render and decalre invalid such politicised  and ideologized statements. This is urgent since there is a special need to respond quickly to the distortions, many of which aim to achieve political objectives.

6- Based on all the above-mentioned reasons, the Board of Directors of the Center for papyrological studies and inscription and all the professors interested in this field of study consider the establishment of the Higher educational Institute of papyri and inscriptions a national goal, let alone the fact that it will become the only higher education institute of its kind in the Middle East (except of course Israel, which seeks to make itself a representative of this speciality in the region). All this and more leads us to consider the need to take quick steps into the establishment of the institute urgent and compelling.

May God support our intentions and good offices!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Arabic originals [[retrieved from the Arabic website on 05/08/2019]
















بذة عن المعهد
 - وعلى مدى ثلاثة وعشرين عاما اضطلع مركز الدراسات البردية  والنقوش  بمهامه العلمية المحددة والمعلنة وهى إجراء البحوث التى تعتمد أساساً على النصوص البردية الوثائقية والأدبية سواءً منها ما سبق تشره أم لم ينشر بعد وقد استقطب المركز فى ذلك جهود العلماء والباحثين المصريين والعرب فى داخل الوطن العربى ، كما اجتذب كثيرا من العلماء الأجانب فى
 هذا المجال . وكانت أهم ثمار هذه الجهود العلمية فى خلال تلك السنوات إصدار تسعة عشر مجلداً من مجلة دورية منتظمة يتم تبادلها تبادلا علميا منتظما مع المراكز المتخصصة المناظرة فى أنحاء العالم وهى مجلة معترف بها دولياً من الجمعية العالمية لعلماء البردى ببروكسيل كما أصبح لها وجود ملموس يتمثل فى التنويه بما تنشره الدوريات على سبيل العرض أو الشرح أو النقد . كذلك عقد المؤتمر العالمى التاسع عشر لعلماء البردى فى عام 1989 بمركز الدراسات البردية والنقوش بجامعة عين شمس (وقد نشرت أعماله كاملة فى مجلدين من ألف وخمسمائة صفحة)، هذا إلى جانب أن المركز قد قام فى عام 1998 بعقد مؤتمر تحت عنوان " فلسطين فى ضوء أوراق البردى والنقوش " وقد صدرت أعمال هذا المؤتمر فى مجلدين كبيرين كذلك كان للمركز فى كل عام موسمه الثقافى الذى يتضمن محاضرات وندوات ومتابعات شارك فيها أساتذة مصريون وأجانب من خلال شعب خمس هى البرديات المصرية القديمة ، والبرديات اليونانية واللاتينية والسامية والعربية والترميم والصيانة .
 - قام المركز إذن بمهامه المحددة فى حدود إمكاناته المادية والبشرية المتاحة غير أن طموحاته العلمية بدت فى نظر القائمين عليه دون المستويات التى تتم عليه الدراسات البردية فى العالم ، حيث تساند مراكز البحوث هناك معاهد متخصصة ترفد هذه المراكز وتغذوها على الدوام بالمتخصصين الذين يتقنون حرفية تحقيق النص البردى وسد فراغاته فى ضوء معرفة متكاملة لديهم بعلم الخطوط القديمة وتطور اللغة عبر العصور من حيث الأساليب والألفاظ ، وهو ما أدى إلى حركة نشطة فى نشر البرديات بشروح وتعليقات ضافية.وإزاء هذا الشعور بالغيرة العلمية على تراث مصرى بالغ الأهمية ، لكن أمره كله موكول إلى دارسين أجانب برعوا فى تناوله بل نبغوا فيه بفضل مراكز للبحوث يقدم إلى جانبها معاهد تعليمية حرفية يرجع بعضها إلى أخريات القرن التاسع عشر الميلادى ، ونجد منها بعض البلاد الأوربية وفى الولايات المتحدة اكثر من معهد واحد ، فقد بادر مركز الدراسات البردية فى عام 1992 برفع مذكرة إلى رئاسة جامعة عين شمس الموقرة بخصوص النظر فى إنشاء معهد عال للدراسات البردية تكون مهمته إعداد متخصصين قادرين على نشر البرديات غير المنشورة التى لا تزال تؤلف ما يقرب من سبعين فى المائة من البرديات المودعة فى مكتبات المتاحف أو المجموعات الخاصة ، بل إعادة قراءة ما تم نشره وتصويب بعض ما وقع فيه ناشروه من أخطاء ، إن كان ثمة أخطاء .
 - وقد جرت فى ذلك الحين مناقشات حول إنشاء المعهد فى لجان علمية فى مجلس الدراسات العليا والبحوث بجامعة عين شمس وفى مجلس كلية الآداب  لكن المناقشات كانت تميل إلى تزكية فكرة الاكتفاء بإضافة بعض المواد المتعلقة بعلم البردى فى أقسام هذه الكلية كقسم اللغة العربية وقسم اللغة العبرية وقسم التاريخ وقسم الحضارة الأوربية القديمة ، بالرغم من علم أصحاب هذا الرأى بأن هذه الأقسام مثقلة بمواد تخصصية أساسية لايمكن الاستغناء عنها لتحل محلها مادة خاصة بعلم البردى وكذلك بالرغم مما وضع تحت نظرهم من أن علم البردى اصبح علماً قائما بذاته بل علوماً تفرعت حسب اللغات المتعددة للبرديات ، وما تتطلبه من دراسات تاريخية أو قانونية فضل اعن الوقوف على تطور خطوط تدوين الوثائق عبر العصور المتتالية ( كما يتضح من المذكرة المرفقة بمواد الدراسة المقترحة  لشعب الدراسات العليا فى المعهد ) وكان أن تعثر مشروع إنشاء المعهد أن رأت الجامعة إرجاءه  إلى حين .
 - والآن ، وبعد مرور عشر سنوات كاملة من مناقشة الموضوع ، نرى أن الحاجة أصبحت أكثر إلحاحاً علينا لإنشاء هذا المعهد المصرى العالى للدراسات البردية بهدف تعليمى محدد، وهو إعداد كوادر مؤهلة قادرة على توثيق تاريخ مصر وحضارتها القديمة من خلال هذا القسم المصدرى الفريد فى طابعه . ولاغرو فإن البردى إذا ذكر فى أى مجال ذكرت مصر على الفور .
 - غير أن الأمر لم يعد مجرد غيرة على تراث مصرى أو رغبة فى محاكاة من سبق من أولئك العلماء الأجلاء الذين كان لهم فضل الريادة ( وإن كان هذا فى حد ذاته طموحاً علميا مشروعا ) بل إن الأمر يتعدى ذلك إلى ما هو أخطر ، وهو ما لاح مؤخرا من محاولات من البعض لتحريف بعض النصوص اعتماداً على منهج ملأ الفراغات فى بعض البرديات التى ضاعت أو طمست حروف من بعض كلماتها ، وهو أمر لا يقدر على التصدى له لبيان بطلاته وكشف مقاصده إلا خبير مؤهل يقرع الحجة بالحجة .
 - وفى عصرنا هذا – عصر ثورة الاتصالات – فإن الرد على التحريف الذى ينتشر بسرعة البرق عبر شبكات المعلومات ، يصبح الأمر فريضة علمية واجبة الأداء ، فى عصر امتلأ – للأسف – بالصراعات على الأصعدة كافة ، بغية تحقيق مآرب سياسية . 

  ويمكننا أن نوجز ما سبق فى النقاط التالية :
1 - يشكل المعهد جهة علمية مصرية وطنية متخصصة تعنى بدراسة وتوثيق تاريخ مصر وتراثها الحضارى بكافة فروعه المختلفة وذلك من مصادره الأصلية وهو أوراق البردى والنقوش التى تم الكشف عنها والتى لا تزال تجود بها أرض مصر .
2 - يهدف المعهد إلى إمداد مصر وغيرها من الدول بالمتخصصين الذين يتقنون حرفية تحقيق النصوص البردية والنقوش وسد فراغاتها وذلك فى ضوء معرفة متكاملة لديهم بعلم الخطوط القديمة وتطور اللغة عبر العصور وهى مهمة تفوق إمكانات المركز الحالية ولا يمكن تحقيقها إلا من خلال إنشاء معهد متخصص لتحقيق هذا الهدف وهو أمر أدركته معظم مراكز البردى الأوروبية والأمريكية فعنيت بإنشاء معاهد تعليمية حرفية يرجع بعضها إلى أخريات القرن التاسع عشر الميلادى .
3 - يهدف المعهد إلى إعداد متخصصين قادرين على نشر البرديات غير المنشورة التى لا تزال تؤلف ما يقرب من سبعين فى المائة من البرديات المودعة فى مكتبات المتاحف أو المجموعات الخاصة ، بل إعادة قراءة ما تم نشره وتصويب بعض ما وقع فيه ناشروه من أخطاء .
4 - المعهد هو الجهة الوحيدة القادرة على إعداد وخلق الكوادر العلمية المتخصصة فى هذا المجال خاصة أن أقسام فى بعض الكليات التى على صلة بهذه الدراسات غير منوطة بهذه المهمة وذلك لكون هذه الأقسام مثقلة بمواد تخصصية أساسية لا يمكن الاستغناء عنها وقد اكتفى البعض منها بإضافة مادة خاصة بعلم البردى والنقوش وهو ما لا يكفى لتخريج المتخصصين فى هذه العلوم التى أصبحت علوماً قائمه بذاتها بلً تفرعت حسب لغاتها المتعددة.
5 - إن إنشاء المعهد لا يشكل مجرد طرف أو رغبة فى محاكاة الدول الأوروبية التى سبقتنا فى إنشاء معاهد مماثلة بل الأمر يتعدى إلى ما هو أخطر من ذلك وهو ما لاح مؤخرا من محاولات من البعض لتحريف بعض النصوص ، وهو أمر لا يقدر على التصدى له لبيان بطلاته وكشف مقاصده إلا خبير مؤهل فى علوم البردى والنقوش المتشعبة خاصة أن الحاجة ملحة لسرعة الرد على التحريفات التى يهدف العديد منها إلى تحقيق مآرب سياسية.
6 - وبناء على كل ما سبق يرى مجلس إدارة مركز الدراسات البردية والنقوش وجميع الأساتذة المهتمين بهذه الدراسات والعلوم المتخصصة أن إنشاء المعهد العالى للدراسات البردية والنقوش يشكل هدفا قوميا ذلك فضلا عن أنه من شأنه أن يصبح المعهد الوحيد فى دول الشرق الأوسط كافة وذلك باستثناء إسرائيل التى تسعى إلى اعتبار نفسها ممثلا لهذا التخصص فى المنطقة مما يدفعنا إلى ضرورة سرعة اتخاذ الخطوات التنفيذية نحو إنشاء هذا المعهد .
         
والله من وراء القصد ..,,,













Tuesday, July 9, 2019

"Digital Classics in Arabic" gets funding from the British Academy

Digital Classics in Arabic (DCA)

Makdisi, George,1980. The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West. Edinburgh University Press.


        After a delay of one year(!), my project "Digital Classics in Arabic", funded by the British Academy and hosted by the Institute of Classical Studies (ICS) of the University of London, has officially started. It has been a long journey from my office in Cairo until I arrived here safe and sound in London on Sunday the 7th of July 2019. I can not express how happy I am to start working in the ICS and I'm sure that, with the help and expertise of Gabriel BodardCharlotte Roueché and Valeria vitale, this project will achieve its goals and provide both our national and international classical and papyrological community with important tools and gadgets. For the moment I am just announcing the quick-off of this long-delayed project. So, dear classical and papyrological friends and colleagues (in and outside Egypt) stay tuned DCA is coming!

      As for the reasons behind this long delay, I will be giving a detailed account of this trip in a blogpost that will appear soon in "Everday Orientalism". For those who unfamiliar with this blog; this is the blog I, Katherine Blouin, and Rachel Mairs, are running for almost three years now. It's main focus is the discourse of Orientalism, Colonialism, Nationalism, politicized past in and around Antiquities-related disciplines. In addition to regular posts about these topics in English, French and Arabic, we are running an Egypt-based yearly workshop that brings together scholars from the Middle East, Europe, and North America, in order to reflect on the many ways in which Orientalism has shaped the field of “Classics” and its relationship to Egypt’s territory, history, and heritage. To know more about this initiative and our other activities, please visit the blog here https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/ .



Monday, April 29, 2019

COLONIALISM AND EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY

COLONIALISM AND EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY

González-Ruiba, Alfredo, Colonialsim and European Archeology in: Jane Lydon and Uzma Rizvi (eds.): Handbook of Postcolonial Archaeology.Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2010, pp. 37-47. Available throug the author's website here: https://www.academia.edu/366003/Colonialism_and_European_archaeology

Future Directions

Colonialism and European archaeology have been close allies for a long time. Even today,the colonial sin is far from being washed away. Postcolonial archaeology has to be lessself-in-dulgent and more critical in order to deconstruct the ongoing relationship withneocolonialism. Here are a few suggestions for producing a more radical archaeology. First,it is necessary to get rid of the condescending language of cooperation and progress, whichsimply transforms the savage of colonialism into the undeveloped native of the postcolony(González-Ruibal 2009). Second, we must take equality seriously (Rancière 1995) and stopdreaming of impossible, idealized partnerships. As Alberto Memmi (2004: 163) reminds us,“Partnership does not make sense except when both partners have a reasonably equal force.”It is still Western archaeologists who study Africa’s past, not the other way around. Third, itis important to embrace politics beyond identity issues, and recognize that politics is all aboutconflict (iek 2007). We have to be able to accept conflict in postcolonial situations. Fromhere, we have to consider ruling out concepts that have been deeply tainted by colonial valuesand Eurocentricity, such as “prehistory” (McNiven and Russell 2005), which situatescontemporary Indigenous communities in another time (Fabian 1983), or “historicalarchaeology,” which only considers Western World History as “historical” (Guha 2002).Then, archaeological traditions in Europe must properly address their colonial pasts andneocolonial presents. And finally, a dichotomy has to be broken between consciouspostcolonial scholars who focus on deconstructing their discipline and researchers who,without caring much about the history of the discipline, Indigenous communities, orcolonialism, tell us how the past truly was (Langebaek 2006: 118).

The History of Egyptian Law in Ptolemaic Egypt (in Arabic)

The History of Egyptian Law in Ptolemaic Egypt
and an Introduction to the Roman Law

It is a very good introduction, for Egyptians and Arab students, to the history of Egyptian law in Ptolemaic Egypt. In 323 pages, Prof. Ahmed Ibrahim Hasan of Alexandria University gives not only a concise history of the law in Ptolemaic Egypt (pp. 5-99), but a brief history of the evolution of the Roman law. It is a must read for every student of papyrology in Egypt. Congratulations for this effort, Prof. Ahmed. The book is published in Alexandria 2000 and to be obtained from Dar al-Matbu'at al-Gamiya (House of University publications). Here are the first pages of the book as well as its contents if you want to see for yourself.

 Book contents

















Tuesday, November 13, 2018

A New Publication: Tebtynis VI


From the IFAO website 13/11/2018: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/publications/catalogue/9782724706949/
Tebtynis VI
Scripta Varia

IF1139, ISBN 9782724706949 
2018 IFAO
Collection: FIFAO 78 
1 vol., 264 p., 45 € (818 EGP)


The abundant material discovered at Tebtynis includes few hieroglyphic or Aramaic texts, hieratic ostraca, graffiti, inscriptions, texts on stamps, seals, bones or glass. Nonetheless, these inscriptions are of interest and the present volume aims at gathering and classifying them, according to their language, the type of inscription and the material used. Indexes complete the classification. Thanks to this presentation, the reader interested in a particular type of text will easily find them grouped together here and anyone studying Tebtynis will have easy access to all the information these pieces offer about the village.
In order to facilitate studies on Tebtynis and to avoid the scattering of works on the village, an appendix devoted to the papyri of Soknebtynis, one of the major legacies of the site to modern science, has been included in this volume.
من منشورات المعهد الفرنسى للآثار الشرقية فى المنيرة.