Uroš Matić – författare

Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt shifts the focus of gender studies in Egyptology to social phenomena rarely addressed through the lens of gender – war and violence, exploring the complex intersections of violence and gender in ancient Egypt.

Building on current discussions in philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, and on analysis of relevant historic texts, iconography, and archaeological remains by looking at possible gender patterns behind evidence of trauma, the book bridges the gap between modern understandings of gendered violence and its functioning in ancient Egypt. Areas explored include the following: differences in gendered aggression and violent acts between people and deities; sexual violence; the taking of men, women, and children as prisoners of war; and feminization of enemies. By examining ancient Egyptian texts and images with evidence for violence from different periods and contexts – private tombs, divine temples, royal stelae, papyri, and ostraca, ranging over 3,000 years of cultural history – Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt highlights the complex intersection between gender and violence in ancient Egyptian culture.

The book will appeal to scholars and students working in Egyptology, archaeology, history, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies.

Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt shifts the focus of gender studies in Egyptology to social phenomena rarely addressed through the lens of gender – war and violence, exploring the complex intersections of violence and gender in ancient Egypt.

Building on current discussions in philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, and on analysis of relevant historic texts, iconography, and archaeological remains by looking at possible gender patterns behind evidence of trauma, the book bridges the gap between modern understandings of gendered violence and its functioning in ancient Egypt. Areas explored include the following: differences in gendered aggression and violent acts between people and deities; sexual violence; the taking of men, women, and children as prisoners of war; and feminization of enemies. By examining ancient Egyptian texts and images with evidence for violence from different periods and contexts – private tombs, divine temples, royal stelae, papyri, and ostraca, ranging over 3,000 years of cultural history – Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt highlights the complex intersection between gender and violence in ancient Egyptian culture.

The book will appeal to scholars and students working in Egyptology, archaeology, history, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies.

This volume challenges the status quo by addressing a selection of intensely discussed themes in contemporary archaeological practice from a gender perspective. It aims to demonstrate that gender is intrinsic to archaeology and that gender archaeology can enrich our studies, irrespective of the discipline’s possible future directions and so-called paradigm shifts. The scholarly contributions commissioned for this volume critically discuss and reflect on a wide range of concepts, ideas, principles and theories presently applied in archaeology within the framework of gender.

The chapters included in the first part deal with themes in world archaeology that have little or no focus on gender, such as the Third Science Revolution (e.g. ancient DNA, stable isotopes analyses, big data), posthumanism (e.g. new materialism, symmetrical archaeology and the ontological turn) and digital archaeology and heritage. The second part focuses on themes in which gender archaeology has made serious advances (intersectionality, social inequality, violence, mobility). The third part deals with themes crucial for contemporary archaeology and society, namely, gender education, gender representation in museum exhibitions and the future of gender archaeology. The volume concludes with a coda chapter that critically assesses the preceding contributions and the volume as a whole. The book offers a gender-balanced and inclusive authorship consisting of both well-established and early career researchers closely connected to the EAA, whose professionally, culturally and geographically diverse backgrounds and experiences enrich the viewpoints discussed in the chapters. The targeted audience is archaeologists from all theoretical and scientific backgrounds at all stages of their career.

Chapter 2 “Sex, Gender and the Third Science Revolution” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.