EGYPOPCULT - “Ich mache mir die (ägyptische) Welt wie sie mir gefällt": a multidisciplinary project on the reception of Ancient Egypt in contemporary popular culture
Project status
ongoing
Execution period
2023-2024
REF
-
Funding scheme
FCT
Main research unit
Centre for History of the University of Lisbon
Main institution
School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon
Principal Investigator
Abraham I. Fernández Pichel (CH-ULisboa)
Co-principal Investigator
Rogério Sousa (CH-ULisboa)
Research team
Eleanor Dobson; Filip Taterka; José das Candeias Sales (CH-ULisboa); Nuno Simões Rodrigues (CH-ULisboa); Samuel Neftalí Fernández; Sara Woodward; Tara Sewell-Lasater; Thomas Gamelin; Guillermo Juderías; Leire Olabarría; Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio; Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier; Marc Orriols-Llonch
The reception of Egyptian themes and motifs and its influence in various cultural spheres has been commonplace in the figurative arts and literature of the last centuries. During the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and America, many artistic styles and conceptions show this current of “Egyptomania”, which makes explicit the dialogue established between past and present through a conscious re-elaboration and re-reading of the former in each subsequent historical moment.
The appearance of new media and their enormous diffusion in the last decades of the 20th century and so far this century have increased and further diversified the examples of this dialogue. The so-called “Popular Culture” or “Pop Culture” (cinema, genre fiction literature, TV-series, comics, graffiti, computer and video games, rock and heavy music, among others) often makes use of motifs drawn from the observation and study of past cultures, which have been updated and reinterpreted in this way. Among them, the attention paid to Pharaonic Egypt stands out. Icons such as sphinxes and pyramids are used extensively in publicity and marketing, films set some of their stories in Ancient Egypt, and comics and TV-series often show galactic fantasies inspired by worlds related to the Egypt of the Pharaohs.
Increasingly, Egyptology scholars are including these productions and their dissemination in the mass media among their subjects of study, thus creating a fertile field of interdisciplinary analysis. Until 10 years ago, this type of initiative in European and American universities was highly “exotic” and, as such, remained on the fringes of what was considered “academic” Egyptology (which focused on the so-called “high culture”: literature, painting, decorative arts, for instance). However, recent publications and conferences show their growing interest. Alongside this type of event, there is also an abundant bibliographical production, with the frequent publication of articles and books focusing on the reception of Egyptian motifs in today's popular culture.
Our project in the History Center of the University of Lisbon seeks to provide new evidence of the interdisciplinarity between Egyptology and Popular Culture. The title of the project, “Ich mache mir die (ägyptische) Welt wie sie mir gefällt”, adapted from a phrase from a well-known Swedish TV-series of the 1960s and 1970s, refers to this thematic duality. In our context, it summarises the conscious reinterpretation of the past in the minds and creations of contemporary authors, who shape an image of the Egyptian reality that in each case is determined by their own circumstances and contexts.
In terms of concrete outputs, this project aims to promote these studies on Egyptology and pop culture by creating a space for multidisciplinary scientific debate and exchange. This collaborative initiative will be channelled through the creation of a free-access online database and a scientific network, both unparalleled, which can be used as an essential source for future research nationally and internationally. It also seeks to provide new approaches to the multiple recreations of Ancient Egypt in contemporary popular culture.
This network of researchers in Egyptology and popular culture will be not only integrated by scholars and users from the Western world but also from other cultural areas, such as Africa and Asia, whose cultural manifestations and mass media are less known to the Western public.
Different forms of collaboration are being established with other colleagues from different specialities and linked to different universities. In this respect, please do not hesitate to contact us if any of you would be interested in collaborating to the project.
