Overview

Ethnic groups are often seen as distinctive, well-defined units. Yet recent research suggests that ethnic boundaries are permeable, and that ethnic identities are contested, manipulated and overlapping. This is particularly true when cultures come into direct contact, as with the Egyptian conquest of Nubia in the second millennium BC. Professor Smith uses Nubia as a case study to explore the nature of ethnic identity. He begins by using the tools of anthropology, examining the ancient Egyptian construction of ethnic identities with its stark contrast between civilized Egyptians and barbaric foreigners - those who made up the 'Wretched Kush' of the title. The book then turns to archaeological evidence for ethnicity on Egypt's southern frontier, in the fortress community at Askut and the pyramid cemetery at Tombos. The multiple dimensions of ethnic identities and boundaries are highlighted, as the author juxtaposes the political use of the ethnic 'other' in texts and monumental art with archaeological patterns of mutual influence and intermarriage across ethnic boundaries. With its combination of the latest theoretical and methodological developments in the social sciences with previously unpublished archaeological data, Wretched Kush is an original and important work for Egyptologists, archaeologists and anthropologists.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stuart Tyson Smith
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.566kg
ISBN:  

9780415369855

ISBN 10:   0415369851
Pages:   252
Publication Date:   07 August 2003
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Boundries and Ethnicity, Chapter 2 Ethnicity in Antiquity: Ethnicity: Essential or Situational?, Bourdieu's Habitus and Ethnic Identity, Otherness and Ethnicity in Ancient Egypt, Chapter 3 Ethnicity and Archaeology: Finding Ethnicity in the Archaeological Record, Foodways and Ethnic Identity, Death and Ethnic Identity, Askut and Tombos, Chapter 4 Egypt and Nubia: Imperial Strategies and Native Agency, Bronze Age Center-Periphery Dynamics, Nubia in the Second Millenium B.C, Chapter 5 Life in Askut: Architecture, Material Culture, Ritual Contexts, Chapter 6 Death at Tombos: Architecture, Grave Goods, Ritual Practice, Chapter 7 Ideology and the Pharaohs: History or Propaganda?, Ethnic Stereotypes and Legitimization, Wretched Kush: Transmission of Ethnic Stereotypes, Chapter 8 Ethnicity, Agency and Empire: Women & Foodways at Askut, Monumentality and Display at Tombos, Was Kush 'Wretched'?

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Author Information

Stuart Tyson Smith is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He excavates in the Egyptian colonial cemetery in Tombos, Sudanese Nubia, and has acted as a consultant on several Hollywood movies featuring ancient Egypt.

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