Please join us on Thursday, March 20 for this year’s Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecture by Geoff Emberling (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan): “Archaeology, its Colonial Past, and its Collaborative Future: A Community Project in El-Kurru, Northern Sudan.”

This lecture is co-sponsored by the University of Richmond Department of Classical Studies. It will be held on the UR campus in Jepson Hall 118 (building #221 on the campus map) at 6:00 pm, preceded by a light reception.

Lecture abstract:

Archaeology is among the most colonial fields of research, with its roots in extractive relationships that aimed to bring objects from colonized communities back to the museums of Europe and the United States. Many archaeologists are now trying to find ways to rethink archaeological practice so that the benefits of our fieldwork extend to local colleagues and communities where we work.

 El-Kurru is known in archaeology as the site of a royal pyramid cemetery of ancient Kush, but it is also a village of perhaps 3,000 people, mostly belonging to the Shaigiya tribe, who have their own perspectives on heritage. This talk describes the move from traditional archaeological research to a more collaborative model in the community of El-Kurru in northern Sudan.

Archaeology, its Colonial Past, and its Collaborative Future: A Community Project in El-Kurru, Northern Sudan