Looks like Egyptian civilisation is an especially attractive target for appropriation by non-Egyptians, famously by Afrocentrists.
The most recent incident of such cultural appropriation came in June 2024 in the form of a Facebook post by Afrocentric advocate, Professor Kaba Kamene, who shared a photo of himself with a group of Afrocentrists visiting the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Mr Kamene posted: “I am Teaching Kenet Travel Group at Cairo Egyptian Museum our history.” He persisted on the Afrocentrist claim that the ancient Egyptian civilisation was established by black people. How about modern-day Egyptians who are definitely not “black”? Afrocentrists claim current Egyptians are descendants of the Romans and Arabs who invaded Egypt starting the first AD century. Predictably, Egyptians were outraged. Social media erupted in posts refuting and denouncing the Afrocentrist claim. Egyptologists and scholars chimed in with scholarly views.
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Let Egyptologists do the talking
Tarek Sayed Tawfik, President of the International Association of Egyptologists wrote:
“There is a science that is over 200 years old called Egyptology. Renowned scholars from all around the world have spent their lives studying the different aspects of ancient Egyptian civilization: language, religion, art, architecture, lifestyle, etc. This knowledge continues to flourish as an academic routine that closely works with other sciences such as anthropology, medicine, physics, and others.
“Academically trained and certified Egyptologists and historians are the only capable and trusted references when it comes to Ancient Egypt. No person may claim to teach about ancient Egypt without being a certified Egyptologist.
![Afrocentrists… again?](https://en.wataninet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Dr-Tarek-Sayed-Tawfik.jpg)
“Undoubtedly the ancient Egyptian civilisation is one that flourished on the banks of the Nile in the African country, Egypt. For 3000 years the ancient Egyptians had a very clear understanding of their country’s borders, which never extended southwards more than Kush, today’s modern northern Sudan. That was during the New Kingdom which spanned the period between the 16th and 11th centuries BC.
“Thousands of human skeletons from ancient Egypt including those of the famous kings of the New Kingdom, whose mummies are displayed today at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Cairo, have been discovered and carefully studied. Their anatomy clearly does not show that they were of ‘black’ origin. The Kushites only ruled Egypt for about 100 years from 754BC to 656BC, that was during the 25th Dynasty. They were strongly influenced by the ancient Egyptian civilisation and not the other way around. This ancient Egyptian influence continued beyond the 25th dynasty and can clearly be traced in the archaeological Kushite sites in northern Sudan.
“Ancient Egyptian civilization is fascinating but let professional Egyptologists tell you about it revealing its mysteries and don’t allow for this magnificent history of Egypt to be misused and misinterpreted for political, ideological, financial or ethnic agendas and propaganda.”
Under the feet of Egypt’s king
As to Professor Khaled Gharib Shaheen, Head of the Greco-Roman Antiquities Department at the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, [the Greco-Roman era in Egypt lasted from 330BC to 640AD], he wrote:
“Since the beginning of history and throughout the ancient Egyptian civilisation, Asians and Africans were depicted under the feet of the Egyptian king. When Senusret I expanded his borders to Kush in the 20th century BC, there was a deputy of the king in Kush from the modern State and the royal son was the ruler of Kush.”
![Afrocentrists… again?](https://en.wataninet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Dr-Khaled-Gharib-Shaheen.jpg)
Dr Shaheen wrote on his FB page, “Egypt, with its authentic and deep-rooted civilisation, possesses details that can silence all of these claims… And I conclude with the words of Amun Ra to King Taharqa III: ‘You have made your enemies from Asia and Kush under your feet’.”
Afrocentric vision
The Afrocentric vision of the Egyptian civilisation, the civilisation of the ancient Kemet insists that Egyptian people descended from African origins specifically from “Kush”.
It is a global movement that initially appeared to counter the general racial intolerance of Africa’s black people. Under the pretext of uplifting African culture and protecting it from alleged falsification, its followers claim that the history of African people has been falsified, resulting in their marginalisation. Afrocentrists thus seek connection linking them to ancient civilisations and attribute every human achievement in Africa to those of black African descent. Their current goal appears to be the cancellation of the non-black races in Africa, especially the Amazighs, North Africans, and the Afrikaans in South Africa.
Egypt is just Egypt
This is not the first time Egyptians are outraged at appropriation of their culture at the hands of Afrocentrists.
Back in May 2023, the streaming giant Netflix aired Queen Cleopatra, a four-part drama-documentary which features the biracial Adele James in the lead role.
The featuring of Cleopatra as a black woman outraged Egyptians, not simply because solid historical evidence indicates she was fair skinned, but because the production was categorised by Netflix as a drama documentary, implying that what the viewer sees is historically accurate. Egyptians accused Netflix of Afrocentrist bias, and said the entire matter reeked of “blackwashing”.
At the time a petition attributed to “the Egyptian people” and signed by more than 40,000 Egyptians, stressed that “Cleopatra was born in Alexandria, Egypt, during the Ptolemaic Dynasty which was of Greek origin. She was not black.
“This is in no way against blacks; it is simply a wake-up call to preserve intact the history of Egyptians and Greeks.
“Obviously”, the petition read, “the show is integral to the Afrocentric movement, a pseudo concept that appropriates the civilisation of ancient Egypt and claims it was black African. [We say] Egypt was never black, nor was it ever white; Egypt has always been just that: Egypt.
“There have been numerous great black African civilisations, but Egypt was never one of them.”
Where are African civilisations?
Also at the time, UK television personality and host Piers Morgan hosted Egyptian comedian and TV host Bassem Youssef who is now resident outside Egypt, for his view of the issue. Youssef was furious at views that Cleopatra would be depicted as African, insisting that Africa had so many wonderful civilisations, so why should they appropriate the Egyptian’s? When confronted with the idea that any actor should be able to play any part, he again replied that Queen Cleopatra was a documentary, so should have stuck to the facts and picked the right actor to represent an Egyptian or a Greek. He harshly criticised cultural appropriation, saying he was tired of Africans or Jews claiming they were the ones who built the pyramids.
It’s not about blackness
Renowned Egyptologist and former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass says that claims made by Afrocentrists of the “Black origins” of ancient Egyptian civilisation are “false and misleading information, having no basis in truth; they are pure fantasy.”
He told Watani back in May 2023 that: “Egyptians were never black Africans. Imagery on the walls of Egyptian temples show wars between Egypt and African or Asian countries, depicting each race with its well-known typical features; Egyptians and Africans are depicted typically different from one another.”
![Afrocentrists… again?](https://en.wataninet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Dr-Zahi-Hawass.jpg)
Dr Hawass explained, as quoted by Ahram Online on 20 June 2024, that the Black Kingdom of Kush ruled Egypt at the time when Pharaonic civilisation declined, but left no impact on that civilisation. Instead, he said, it was the Egyptian civilisation that influenced the people of Kush.
Reiterating what Egyptians in their vast majority say, Dr Hawass said: “We have nothing against blackness or black skin. It’s not about colour, it’s about faking history.”
Watani International
26 June 2024