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A review by shanaqui
Mummified: The Stories Behind Egyptian Mummies in Museums by Angela Stienne
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.0
In a way, Mummified isn't about mummies. It's about how modern people react to them, and what we've done with them -- the afterlife of mummies, so to speak. Like many people, I'm fascinated by Egyptian history and, yes, by their practices around the afterlife... but I do have a lot of discomfort around it too. I had the same fascination in Pompeii, looking at the casts of ancient Roman deaths, and when looking at an exhibition of bog bodies -- I'm glad I saw them, and yet I also feel the discomfort of displaying a human being in a museum like this. Would we allow someone to do this with our own close relatives?
Stienne explores this discomfort alongside the history of how Europe has treated Egyptian remains, their use for medicine, for exploration of anatomy, for race science, for entertainment, and -- perhaps -- for education. It's not a comfortable read, of course, because European countries outright stole and destroyed the bodies of ancient people -- people who had beliefs about their afterlives, people who would be horrified about what we have done to them.
It's worth a read, especially because Stienne acknowledges the common fascination -- she has her own fascination with the mummy of Pacheri -- while asking how we can do better. She doesn't give a straightforward answer about what to do next, but leaves it with us to think about. I suspect some readers will think she doesn't go far enough, in fact!
Stienne explores this discomfort alongside the history of how Europe has treated Egyptian remains, their use for medicine, for exploration of anatomy, for race science, for entertainment, and -- perhaps -- for education. It's not a comfortable read, of course, because European countries outright stole and destroyed the bodies of ancient people -- people who had beliefs about their afterlives, people who would be horrified about what we have done to them.
It's worth a read, especially because Stienne acknowledges the common fascination -- she has her own fascination with the mummy of Pacheri -- while asking how we can do better. She doesn't give a straightforward answer about what to do next, but leaves it with us to think about. I suspect some readers will think she doesn't go far enough, in fact!