Thomas Dowson

  The study of sex and gender in Egyptology, as with most fields of archaeology, has not only been normative, but also heteronormative. Normative in that it has taken certain supposed norms of sex and gender and imposed these on the archaeological record as fact. As these normative classifications of sex and gender centre on heterosexuality as a norm, constructions of sex and gender in Ancient Egypt are therefore also heteronormative. Despite recent attempts by a few more enlightened scholars in Egyptology to shake off this heteronormative tradition, problems in the way in which sex and gender in Ancient Egypt are constructed persist. The reasons for this are of course varied and complex. One of the reasons is certainly due the reluctance on the part of some Egyptologists to engage with recent gender theory – and this may never happen. But some of these scholars write influential books and papers and while we may never change their views, and the fact that some of their constructions might appear as the ‘straw men’, the flaws in their constructions must be explored. Another reason, and perhaps one that is much more complex to deal with, is the entrenched nature of many of the normative and heteronormative categories we use for understanding sex and gender in everyday life let alone our constructions of these in Ancient Egypt even amongst those more enlightened scholars.

In this presentation I outline what it truly means to Queer our constructions of sex and gender in Ancient Egypt. I challenge the idea that our academic and popular understandings of sex and gender in Ancient Egypt are already queer, rather they are constructed within a typical heterosexist framework. I use as my departure the Hollywood film Stargate. Although intended for a popular audience this film still has a significant impact. The film presented Ancient Eqyptians as ‘deviant’ and the West as saviours of heterosexuality; archaeology was used as a metaphor for this salvation. As Archaeology, and Egyptology plays its part, underwrites a heterosexual history of humanity, usually on the basis of very little evidence, it is not that surprising such a view of archaeology is peddled in mass contemporary material culture in this way.  Learning lessons form this appropriation of the archaeological metaphor I explore how recent attempts to queer Egyptian archaeology, more particularly our understanding of gender and sex relations between Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, can be developed.

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