New Kingdom Egypt spanned the time from c. 1500-1000 BC, and a wealth of relatively well-preserved material is still available, in fact continues to appear, for researchers studying the period.
Egyptology has historically been quite an insular, narrowly focused field, but Dr Reinert Skumsnes is taking a different approach to his research in the EgFem project, in which he is exploring the potential for interdisciplinary links between Egyptology and feminist theory. “I work with theories from several different disciplines, but the landscape I work in is essentially defined by critical and new materialist theories,” he says.
This is the framework within which Skumsnes is re-examining material from ancient Egypt, aiming to shed new light on the divide between body, sex and gender, concepts for which the ancient Egyptians had no equivalent. “I’m using these concepts as analytical tools, to stretch and contrast assumed boundaries,” he outlines.
Body, sex and gender
This research involves analysing textual sources as well as other types of material, with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the manifold expressions of body, sex and gender in New Kingdom Egypt.
While some of this material might fit with how we understand body, sex and gender today, other parts of it don’t, and so Skumsnes is seeking a more nuanced approach to his research. “It’s about leaving room for complexity,” he says.
This approach is reflected in the seven articles that have been written so far within the project, including a piece on a specific papyrus which arrived in Turin in the early part of the 19th century. “We don’t know exactly where this papyrus originated, it could be the workmen’s village of Deir-el-Medinah,” continues Skumsnes. “I’m interested in how the way this papyrus has been understood - or treated or talked about - has changed, from the time that it arrived in Italy until the present day.”
Skumsnes explains, “The papyrus arrived in fragments, and Jean-François Champollion was one of the first to see these. His comments describing the animal scenes as caricatures and the human scenes as monstrous obscenity are well known. The fact is that this papyrus drew the attention of many of the founding fathers of Egyptology. But despite their fascination, they reacted in much the same way as Champollion, even resorting to Latin when describing the human scenes.”
The reconstructed papyrus was on display for about 60 years, from 1882 to 1943.
The second world war was the reason behind its removal but there were also lingering concerns over the nature of the material depicted on the papyrus, around two-thirds of which shows naked people having sex. “This didn’t fit the picture that people had - or maybe wanted to have - of the ancient Egyptians,” explains Skumsnes.
In 1965, the animal section of the papyrus was put back on display while the human section remained in the magazines until the turn of the millennium. “It’s been on display for the last twenty years or so, and there have even been exhibitions dedicated just to this one piece. So it’s not really a source of controversy any more,” says Skumsnes. “It’s often still framed in a sort of satirical or comic way, it’s widely considered to be fun. There are many copies of this papyrus around, numerous museum and university collections across the world have one, and a lot of people are aware of them.”
As part of the project, Skumsnes has written an article seeking to move beyond the satiric-comic framing of this papyrus, exploring how perceptions of it have shifted over time and in different contexts, also shedding light on knowledge production, mundane resistance, and the possibility of negotiating alternative body worlds.
In a further article, Skumsnes looks at how the ancient Egyptians conceptualised the body and differentiated between bodies, while he has also written a more overarching, bigger picture piece. “In my article 'Sex/gender as relational, historical, and hybrid phenomena', I draw attention to what I describe as assemblages of mutually determining relations, the significance of spatiotemporal positions and perspectives, and the fact that the records themselves are highly fragmented and ambiguous. I take a longer look over Egyptian history, from the Old Kingdom through the Middle and New Kingdoms, to map patterns, change and variation,” he outlines.
“Throughout Egyptian history, men are highly visible, the main focal point. But in certain periods – for example during the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom – women become more visible, and they start to appear on their own.”
Linear history
This runs counter to the common assumption that the relationship between the genders has grown progressively more equal over time, to the point where we are today. Evidence from ancient Egypt shows that this isn’t the case, and in reality the overall picture is far more complex and nuanced, says Skumsnes. “The history of gender equality isn’t a one-way street.
This isn’t something that goes in one direction, there have been steps back as well as forward,” he stresses. This doesn’t mean that existing conceptions or ways of understanding body, sex and gender are entirely wrong, but it does suggest that there might be alternatives. “I believe that there might be other ways of understanding body, sex and gender, and that’s what I’m working to do,” continues Skumsnes.
Moving beyond disciplinary boundaries
The EgFem project itself has reached the end of its funding term, yet work is still ongoing, with several articles still in the pipeline and being readied for publication.
Alongside the articles, Skumsnes has co-edited three volumes together with colleagues from different institutions across the world, while a conference has also been held, which could lead to further inter-disciplinary collaboration. “A conference was held at Emory University in the US in 2022 to discuss some of the topics explored in EgFem,” says Skumsnes.
Beyond the EgFem project, Skumsnes plans to continue his research in this area, potentially with a wider scope. “I hope to explore new kinds of records in the future,” he outlines. “In my PhD I focused on the monumental remains – tombs, stelae and statues, and the non-literary ostraca and papyri – letters, legal and administrative documents. I’ve since expanded beyond that to healing texts for example, and the satiric-erotic papyri that I described, and I hope to continue to branch out.”
This includes the possibility of further interactions beyond disciplinary boundaries, with Skumsnes already working with theories from several different disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology and philosophy.
Looking further ahead, Skumsnes hopes that his approach to investigating questions of body, sex and gender will gain wider currency. “When we look at the ancient material today, we of course do so through the lens of the present, that’s the way we view the past. With this explicit dialogue between Egyptology and feminist theory, there is a recognition of our own biases,” he says.