Africa and Egypt

In contemplating Africa, pharaonic Egypt plays a special role. Engaging with Egypt presents a challenge in locating its culture within Africa. Heinrich Balz describes how Africa's vigorous grasp on Egypt can be understood and how Africa is represented or not represented in contemporary Egyptology. The starting point is Cheikh Anta Diop's work on the African origins of pharaonic culture. This African reception is traced through the works of Théophile Obenga and Joseph Mabita Nkata, extending to intersections with Atlantic Afrocentrism. The way Western Egyptology addresses the relationship between Africa and Egypt is discussed through the cultural-historical works of Henri Frankfort and Jan Assmann. In a contribution, Martin Fitzenreiter draws a connection between the narrated memories of an African Egypt from antiquity to the modern era of the Nile Valley nations.