New Kingdom Egypt and Late Bronze Age Globalization: from Imperialism and Diplomacy to Citizens and Localities

Join Dr Federico Zangani (University of Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Homerton College) in this seminar which will discuss possible ways of conceptualizing the development of New Kingdom Egypt as a constituent part of the first phase of globalization in world history, the Late Bronze Age.

Thursday 7 December, 5pm | Rendall SR 6 or Zoom

Abstract

Institutional policies such as imperialism and diplomacy undoubtedly contribute to creating global connectivities, interdependence, and awareness; however, the structure of a globalized world consists of citizens, situated in specific localities, generating networks of political and economic power. It is against this structure that New Kingdom Egypt and its participation in the global networks of the Late Bronze Age should be investigated. In particular, by addressing current debates and methodologies in the field of Global History, Egyptology should be able to understand how place-specific situations in Egypt related to global processes across the Near East and the Mediterranean, oftentimes regardless of direct connections

Suggested readings

We thrive to encourage scholarly debate around the presentation. For that purpose the speaker has been asked to provide a range of readings that would help the student audience gain familiarity, if and where needed, with the context in which the specialized research is embedded.

• Monroe, C. M. (2015) “Tangled Up in Blue: Material and Other Relations of Exchange in the Late Bronze Age World”, in Howe, T. (ed.) Traders in the Ancient Mediterranean, Publications of the Association of Ancient Historians 11, Chicago: Ares Publishers, pp. 7-46.
  
  
• Moreno García, J. C. (2020) “Egypt, Old to New Kingdom (2686–1069 BCE)”, in P. B. Bang, C. Bayly and W. Scheidel (eds.) The Oxford World History of Empire. Volume Two: The History of Empires, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 13–42.
  
  
• Moreno García, J. C. (2020) “Egyptology and Global History: Between Geocultural Power and the Crisis of the Humanities”, Journal of Egyptian History 13, pp. 29–76.
  
  
• Zangani, F. (2022) Globalization and the Limits of Imperialism: Ancient Egypt, Syria, and the Amarna Diplomacy, Prague: Charles University Press.