Abd el Gawad, Heba; (2024) Reclaiming the Archive: The Contribution of Egyptian Women to the Archaeologies of the Delta (1880–1924). In: Blouin, Katherine, (ed.) The Nile Delta: Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period. (pp. 595-610). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

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Abstract

In this short chapter, I consider the representation of and contribution of Egyptian women to archaeology as suggested by the archaeological archive. I do so by looking at Flinders Petrie’s Delta excavation archives (1880–1924), reflecting thereby on the biases and absences in the record through a female Indigenous archaeologist lens. By highlighting the instances of recording Egyptian women in the colonial archive, and by reflecting on what such rare recording occasions can reveal, I centre not only the roles played by women, but also the strategic narcissism through which Egyptian women were, and at times still are, (un)seen. As an acknowledgement of the role they have played in the overall archaeological knowledge production process, I also challenge the persistence of colonial framing by referring to Egyptian male and female members of the excavations as ‘archaeologists’ rather than as ‘workforce’.

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