Political boundaries are sharp, but cultures tend to blend into each other. That ‘in-betweenness’ is rarely contained by political frontiers. What kind of social and cultural worlds connected Egypt with its southern neighbors? And what was Egypt’s relationship with other African cultures of its time? While contemporary scholarship acknowledges the indigenous origin of Egyptian culture, its story is still rarely told from an African perspective. Starting from the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the ‘otherness’ of people from Nubia was constructed through the concepts of the wretched enemy, the bound captive, the skilled mercenary. To what extent were their lives defined by Egyptian ideas and colonization? What societal roles and agency did they have and how did their cultural practices impact Egyptian ones? In later times, the Kushite and Meroitic rulers of Nubia revitalized pharaonic culture. Their adoption of Egyptian symbols and beliefs is frequently examined through the lens of ‘Egyptianization’. What was the nature of this borrowing, and how were Egyptian customs blended with indigenous and other traditions? This exhibition aims to showcase the deep cultural embeddedness of ancient Egypt in Africa, beyond merely acknowledging its geographical position on the African continent. What did Egypt owe to other African cultures in Nubia and, inversely, what did it bequeath to them? The exhibition demonstrates the complex interaction of different cultures in Egypt and Nubia, from prehistory (ca. 3800 BCE) through the Post-Meroitic era (600 CE).

Curated by Associate Professor of Art History, Anastasia Dakouri-Hild and the students in her course, ARTH 3595: Introduction to Museum Practice: Fralin Egypt & Nubia: Grace Delaar, Sophia Dexter, Tyler Glenn, Gabriela Hernandez, Annabelle Lawton, Ainsley McGowan, Lelia Morrell, Grace Saunders, Margot Sovocool, and Audrey Yin.