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EGYPT IN AFRICA
Edited by Theodore Celenko
Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1996. Distributed by Indiana University Press, Bloomington. 134 pp., 74 b/w EK 20 color illustrations, 4 maps. $39.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Egypt, like other Northeastern African countries, has long been relegated to marginal status within the field of African studies. Likewise, past scholarship in African art studies has not fully incorporated the expressive cultures of the peoples from this part of the continent. In his seminal work on art historical methodology, Art History in Africa (1984), Jan Vansina wrote that the artistic traditions of North and East Africa are part of African history, and "we cannot amputate half of Africa, and call a portion of what remains 'African art.' "
Recently the regional traditions from these areas have begun to receive the attention of art historians. For instance the achievements of ancient Nubia have dazzled the public at several major museums in the United States and Canada (e.g., "Vanished Kingdoms of the Nile: The Rediscovery of Ancient Nubia," Oriental Museum, Chicago, 1993; "Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa," Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 1993). Michigan State University's "Ethiopia; Traditions of Creativity" (1994) finally kicked the old adage that "Ethiopia is in Africa, but not of it" out the door, revealing it as a millennia-old crossroads for African and Middle Eastern cultures.
The current interest in the early civilizations of Northeast Africa has been fueled by the political-intellectual movement called Afrocentrism. Afrocentrism is overtly political in its commitment to the liberation of Africans and the African diaspora from what is perceived as domination by a Eurocentric intellectual framework. Afrocentric scholars located in the traditional academy have strived to create new methodologies, approaches, and frameworks for scholarly analysis. Senegalese scholar Chiekh Anta Diop, who has written extensively on Egypt's relationship to the rest of Africa, views the ancient Egyptians as an African people. Martin Bernal's widely contested Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (vol. 1, 1987) embroiled classics scholars in bitter arguments over the "race" of Egyptians and their influence on Western civilization.
Egypt in Africa, written to accompany the exhibition of the same title at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, judiciously assesses the Afrocentric position that Egypt is not only...