A social and historical interpretation of Ramesside period votive stelae

The following thesis analyses a dataset of 436 Egyptian votive stelae dating to the Ramesside period (1295-1069 ВСЕ), from six sites: Deir el Medina at Thebes (264 stelae), non-Deir el Medina stelae (55) from the Theban area, Abu Simbel (21 stelae) and Wadi es-Sebua (15 stelae) in Lower Nubia, Qantir/Pi-Ramesses in the eastern Delta (74 stelae) and Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (7 stelae) in the Libyan desert. The stelae were drawn from published catalogues of museum collections, excavation reports, individual publications, and photographs supplied by institutions and researchers where no published image existed. The thesis presents the votive stelae as the end result of defined social practices, exploring the role of votive stelae as social artifacts which, through image, text and materiality, are active agents in transmitting information on individual and group social status and identity, normative social structure, and alternate social organisation. The stelae are analysed according to the iconographie content, status- or function-related information (title and/or clothing of the dedicator), and original location, or context, of the stela. These elements are understood to provide information on the social context for the utilisation of stelae in Ramesside Egypt. Central to the thesis is a reading of the representations as coded references to actual events, or practices. The examination requires an analysis of the social and representational conventions within which the stelae and their representations were created. The methodology is initially tested against the core dataset of Deir el Medina stelae, followed by a comparative analysis of the non-Deir el Medina stelae from Thebes, and the remaining four geographically distant sites. The thesis reveals the form, use and production of votive stelae are related to royal activity and sanctions, and promulgate the shifting central ideology and structure. The votive stelae can also, when the iconography is decoded, be linked to specific events, illuminating the local social milieu of the communities studied, and their internal social organisation

Desiring the past and reimagining the present: contemporary collecting in Qatar

The collecting processes in Qatar at state level is intimately linked with the construction of a new Qatari identity for global consumption and national cohesion. At an individual level, collecting can be linked with the desire to preserve the disappearing present in the face of rapid development, as well as representing local traditions of authority and erudition. The national collections created for the first Qatar National Museum institutionalize this process and re-classify the objects as representing the newly constructed ‘Qatari’ identity. The Msheireb Arts Center holds the Echo Memory collection of found objects, collected to inspire a Qatari future but representing the lives of the South Asian community otherwise excluded from the Qatari national discourse. Using these examples, this paper situates the processes of collection, curation and display within, or in opposition to, the ongoing process of Qatari national identity construction, preservation and dissemination, and presents them as a facet of Qatar’s engagement with modernity and the reimagining of itself in the contemporary global age. Key words: Qatar, collections, modernity, national identity, authorized heritag

Ancestor Bust

Ancestor busts (also known as anthropoid busts) date to the New Kingdom. The majority of extant examples are from Deir el-Medina. They are most commonly interpreted as belonging to the cult of the recently deceased—that is, the ancestor cult

Ancestor Bust

Ancestor busts (also known as anthropoid busts) date to the New Kingdom. The majority of extant examples are from Deir el-Medina. They are most commonly interpreted as belonging to the cult of the recently deceased—that is, the ancestor cult

‘There is no heritage in Qatar’: Orientalism, colonialism and other problematic histories

This article discusses the construction of Qatari heritage in the context of pre-conceived ideas of ‘cultural heritage’ predominant in the global and regional spheres that operate in this country. It considers the location of Qatar within Middle Eastern heritage discourses and debates, and identifies productive similarities as well as unique avenues for further discussion. The authors identify the challenge of formulating methodologies that are able to recognize, accommodate, encompass and reflect local heritage dialogues and practices that exist in Qatar, which may aid in further researching the wider Arabian Peninsula, its histories and heritages