Lecture Egypt Land: Race and
American Egyptomania

Dr. Scott Trafton, associate professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina, and author of "Egypt Land: Race and Nineteenth-Century American Egyptomania," will present a history of American interest in ancient Egypt, and how the rise of “race” and racialization was key to its explosion and has been key to its strange longevity. Ancient Egypt has served as a source of fascination for a vast array of Americans in a huge range of social and political contexts, and this talk will explore how American anxieties over race and racial origin shaped the long history of American Egyptomania. This lecture is free and open to the public.