Lecture: Fatma Keshk “Egyptian Houses through the lens of ethnography”

The PCMA UW Research Centre in Cairo invites to a lecture by Dr. Fatma Keshk, the 2022/23 PCMA-Ifao Fellowship holder. The talk, wihich will be held in hybrid form, is entitled: “Egyptian Houses through the lens of ethnography”.

Dr. Keshk, who is based in Cairo, is a graduate of Leiden University, with a PhD from the Free University of Berlin. Her previous research includes ethno-archaeological studies on streets and open courtyards from both modern Sudan and ancient Egyptian settlements. As part of her PCMA-Ifao fellowship, she organized the conference: “Living in the house: researching the domestic life in ancient Egypt and Sudan”.

Abstract: “Research has proven long time ago that understanding the layouts, architecture and the use of space of ancient Egyptian houses is a challenging process. The focus on finding linear developments of domestic architecture in ancient Egypt, with little attention given to the study of ecological, social and economic contexts, has for a long time limited the results of research in this field of study. In recent years, there is an increasing interest in ethnographic research that is gradually leading to a clearer understanding of designs, building techniques and use of space of ancient Egyptian houses.

While some scholars in ethnography focused on the study of house forms and building techniques, others have approached social and climatic factors that affect domestic architecture in modern and contemporary rural Egypt. This lecture aims at presenting an overview of previous and current ethnographic research that added to the scholarly knowledge of modern and contemporary domestic architecture in rural Egypt. It also intends to analyse the ways in which this research may benefit the use of cross-disciplinary methodologies in studying ancient Egyptian domestic architecture.”

The lecture will be held at the RC Cairo premises at 11 Mahalla street, Heliopolis, and online on Wednesday, 6th September 2023 at 6 pm (Cairo time).

To attend or get a link, please write to cairo1.pcma@uw.edu.pl