Two and a half years separate the opening of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in April 2021 and the anticipated opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in November 2023. This tale of two museums, and their accompanying grand spectacles, is not simply about Egypt’s efforts to lure tourists back by highlighting pharaonic antiquities. Analyzing the Egyptian government’s increased interest in pharaonic legacy during the past three years reveals the state’s deliberate promotion of a nationalist discourse that encourages pharaonic identity politics or what some scholars call neo-pharaonism.
This article traces the two main phases of Egypt’s recent racial nationalism while pointing out its racist underpinnings. Between April 2021 and April 2023, the state was implicit in its embrace of pharaonic revivalism, banking mainly on mega spectacles and a wider range media production that celebrates pharaonism. A more aggressive turn started from the second half of 2023 as the state became more direct in articulating and enacting its neo-pharaonic and anti-blackness policy.
In many cases, asserting a neo-pharaonic identity comes at the expense of an Arab or African one
Neo-pharaonism is an extreme form of nationalism that underscores the exceptionality of the Egyptian race and claims that contemporary Egyptians share the same genetic makeup as ancient Egyptians. In many cases, asserting a neo-pharaonic identity comes at the expense of an Arab or African one. In retrospect, we can look at the grand spectacle of the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade in April 2021 as the cornerstone of this racial nationalism. During the hours-long broadcasted event, the Egyptian president witnessed the transfer of 22 pharaonic mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the nearby National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat.
The parade was accompanied by multiple live and recorded performances, including chants in the ancient Egyptian language. Some historians analyzed the spectacle as an erasure of any remaining revolutionary connotations still attached to Tahrir Square and rebranding it as a grand stage for Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Analysts agree that this pharaonic revivalism points to a break from earlier nationalist currents in Egypt’s recent history, where successive presidents have always preferred to position Egypt as part of the pan-Arab or pan-Islamic nations.
In its early stages, the state’s flirtation with neo-pharaonism remained restricted to areas of grand spectacles, music, language, and culture. In addition to the Pharaohs’ golden parade, both 2021 and 2022 have witnessed the opening of the Sphinx Avenue in Luxor, with many similar elements to the parade; state-led initiatives to teach the ancient Egyptian language to children and youth both in schools and youth centers; expansive interest in pharaonic music that includes producing songs in ancient Egyptian language and organizing conferences on pharaonic music; and dedicating a considerable air time to programs and shows that promote pharaonic revivalism.
The [social media] accounts describe their mission as disseminating pharaonic identity, raising awareness about falsified history, and educating Egyptians about the true history of their ancestors
The state’s official celebration of pharaonism enabled and amplified previously muted racial nationalist voices. Multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts have sprung in the past two years and names like Egyptos, Kemet the black soil, Kemet, Knights of Kemet, National Awakening, and Egypt Conscious, garnered followers that span from a couple of thousands to tens of thousands of followers. The word “Kemet” is an ancient Egyptian term meaning The Black Land referring to increased soil fertility after the annual flooding of the Nile. The bios of these accounts describe their mission as disseminating pharaonic identity, raising awareness about falsified history, and educating Egyptians about the true history of their ancestors.
Two hugely successful online campaigns brought these pages and groups into light: a call to cancel an Afrocentric conference that was to be held in Aswan in February 2022, and an even bigger Twitter campaign demanding the cancelation of comedian Kevin Hart’s stand-up comedy show in Cairo at the end of 2022 because of his alleged ties to Afrocentrism. Afrocentrism is a blanket term that refers to a spectrum of political and scholarly currents that span from critical calls for centering African people in analyzing African histories and cultures to more populist mythologized notions of a unified black Africa that started in Ancient Egypt. Within the Egyptian context, Afrocentrism is usually invoked in this latter sense of the populist ideology and is always linked to conspiracies against Egypt and its civilization. In the wake of these campaigns, analysts, activists, and political commentators in Egypt started to note growing neo-pharaonic sentiments, while warning against the racist and anti-Black dimensions of these relatively novel nationalist imaginaries. In her article, Professor Soha Bayoumi tried to illustrate the multiple voices within Afrocentrism, questioning the reasons behind adopting, what she called, Egyptocentrism over the more inclusive pan-Africanism. A refugee rights group published a commentary describing how these neo-pharaonic pages fill their social media posts with hate speech and anti-refugee discourse. Some writers drew connections between the growing popularity of neo-pharaonism as consequential to the state’s staging of mega events that glorify pharaonic heritage.
A more vocal racial nationalist policy
Although the forerunners of neo-pharaonic social media accounts have repeatedly alluded to the state’s cooperation and responsiveness in canceling the Aswan conference and the Kevin Hart stand-up performance, it is safe to say that up until then, the state had relatively kept its distance from these racial nationalist commotions. However, the controversy over the Netflix series Queen Cleopatra marks a watershed moment in the authorities’ endorsement of racial nationalism. After releasing the documentary’s trailer in April 2023, these neo-pharaonic social media accounts started a media storm toward the show because of their choice of a Black actress to play the role of Cleopatra. Increasing their usage of English hashtags this time, neo-pharaonic ideologues demanded Netflix to stop “blackwashing” Cleopatra and falsifying Egyptian history, and called for Egyptians to boycott Netflix.
This time, though, the state did not keep its previous disinterested veneer. On April 27, 2023, two weeks before the airing of the documentary, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities issued an official statement to confirm that Cleopatra was “fair-skinned and had hellenistic features.” The head of the Supreme Antiquities Council, who was the first to be quoted in the statement, mentioned that choosing a heroine who is “dark-skinned and with African features and characteristics” is “a falsification of Egyptian history.” The press release that amassed multiple experts’ opinions went in length to detail the queen’s ancestral origin and emphasize her Macedonian roots.
The state was clearly articulating its policy of racial nationalism while even employing the rhetoric and catchphrases of neo-pharaonic fanatics
The social media users’ reaction to the statement oscillated between celebration and mockery. Those who hold these conspiratorial neo-pharaonic beliefs, along with media outlets, hailed the statement as “a blow to Afrocentrists” and a victory to Egypt’s history and civilization. On the other hand, many intellectuals and revolutionary figures ridiculed the statement, particularly the use of banal expressions like “the queen had a thin/sharp nose and delicate lips.” Their ridicule, nonetheless, misses the real significance of this statement: it was the first official positioning of the Egyptian state pertaining to issues of race and nationalism. In this instance, the state was clearly articulating its policy of racial nationalism while even employing the rhetoric and catchphrases of neo-pharaonic fanatics.
Weeks after its statement against the Netflix series, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities revoked the permit of a Dutch archeological mission over a Dutch exhibition called Kemet, which showcases the influence of ancient Egyptian civilization on jazz, funk, and hip-hop. On June 7, the managing director of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden reported to the press that he received an email from the Egyptian authorities banning the museum’s 40-year long archaeological mission from excavating the Saqqara necropolis, located 40 kilometers southwest of Cairo. The Egyptian authorities cited the falsification of Egyptian history and the adoption of an Afrocentric perspective as the reasons for their decision. Initially, the museum’s curators and managers tried to reason with Egyptian authorities in hopes of reversing the archeological ban. Later, the museum published a clarification in which they supported the exhibition, emphasizing that the Egyptian authorities’ accusations and misconceptions about it arise from decontextualizing its content.
What is alarming about this controversy is that, unlike the rows over Kevin Hart’s performance or the “Queen Cleopatra” series, this was not a Twitter-led incident. In this instance, the state decided, without anybody calling for its intervention, to initiate this attack on the museum and frame it as part of its effort in fighting Afrocentric conspiracies against Egypt. Yet, as clearly shown here, there is a symbiotic relationship between the state’s policy of racial nationalism and social media neo-pharaonic frenzy: the more proactive the state becomes in its anti-Blackness tirades, the fiercer and more racist neo-pharaonic pages become as well.
The interdependence between state policy and social media populism is most evident in the latest manifestation of this emerging trend of nationalism: the controversy that followed the announcement of Travis Scott’s album release concert, that was supposed to take place by the Giza pyramids in July 2023. The moral panic this announcement stirred was not restricted to the usual Afrocentric accusations. This time, it also included claims about the rapper’s affiliation with the Freemasonry and his performance of satanic rituals in his concerts. Fueling this conspiratorial fear-mongering climate even further, the state-affiliated musicians’ syndicate published a statement a few days before the performance canceling its previously granted license for the concert. It is worth mentioning that the syndicate is known for its censorship, particularly of a music genre called mahraganat, often associated with marginalized urban poor young men.
This press release shows how the state is taking its cues from social media users. The concluding paragraph of the statement reads “After examining social media opinions and feedback, as well as the news circulating on search engines and social media platforms, which included authenticated images and information about peculiar rituals performed by the star during his performance contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions, the syndicate’s president and board of directors have decided to cancel the license issued for hosting this type of concert, which goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people.”
Contrary to the syndicate’s expectations, some artists and public figures criticized their decision and indicated the negative repercussions such a decision might have on tourism. In response, the syndicate’s secretary general appeared on a satellite channel contending that he did not cancel the concert, but rather just made it conditional upon approvals required from other official bodies like the Ministry of Culture. Dizzying back-and-forths and confused statements unfolded in the days that preceded the concert, culminating in canceling the concert and in establishing a new investigative unit in the syndicate. The information technology unit, which will be made of multilingual fresh graduates, will be tasked to “scrutinize” foreign singers who wish to perform in Egypt and ensure the alignment of their music with Egyptian culture and values.
The psychological wage of being of pharaonic descent
The backdrop of these successive events is a severe economic crisis, an external debt that exceeds $150 billion, and a weak currency that pushed the inflation to unprecedented high rates. Thus, some commentators believe that the state’s decision to invest in a racial nationalist policy that promotes racial purity and incites hatred is a tactical maneuver to distract people from more pressing crises; a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. Others attribute it to the state’s attempts to search for grounds for legitimacy amid the shifting of economic and cultural hegemony increasingly toward the Gulf.
Racial nationalism remains a perilous game nonetheless. The danger of this ideology that celebrates racial purity lies in its legitimization of hate speech against black and ethnic minorities, and migrants and refugees more broadly. Repeatedly, neo-pharaonists treat Nubians either as naive people prone to falling victim to Afrocentric plots, or explicitly accuse them of being separatists and traitors. In fact, some Egyptian Nubian activists had to make their twitter accounts private to avoid the online harassment they receive from neo-pharaonic accounts. Kemetic and neo-pharaonic pages are even more hostile toward refugees. They dedicate multiple posts to “warn” about the increasing number of refugees in Egypt or their “attempts” to steal Egyptian lands, minerals, and scarce jobs. More disturbingly, dozens of individual social media accounts of those who call themselves Kemetic or Egyptian nationalists promote outright racist discourse using hashtags that call for “kicking the refugees out of Egypt.”
For those neo-pharaonic fanatics, racial nationalism feeds a sense of grandiosity and belonging to an ancient civilization that acts as a psychological compensation for the dire conditions they endure
In his analysis of the absence of an interracial workers’ coalition between white and Black workers in post-war America, Du Bois suggested that whiteness functioned as a “public and psychological wage” for the white working class. Similarly, for those neo-pharaonic fanatics, racial nationalism feeds a sense of grandiosity and belonging to an ancient civilization that acts as a psychological compensation for the dire conditions they endure. No matter how much they suffer, they will still enjoy a sense of superiority over Black people, and more particularly Black refugees.
It is important to view this policy in the larger North African context. Although the Egyptian state has not issued any statement against Black refugees, unlike its Tunisian counterpart, adopting a policy of racial nationalism is a slippery slope. Such policy does not only assume black racial subordination, it further contributes to the dehumanization and demonization of Black people. Intentionally or not, racial nationalism antagonizes citizens against the growing numbers of refugees in Egypt. This is doubly dangerous as thousands of Sudanese families are crossing to Egypt, fleeing armed conflict in their country.