Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies offers a platform in which the old meets the new, in which archaeological, papyrological, and philological research into Meroitic, Old Nubian, Coptic, Greek, and Arabic sources confront current investigations in modern anthropology and ethnography, Nilo-Saharan linguistics, and the critical and theoretical approaches of postcolonial and African studies. Dotawo gives a common home to the past, present, and future of one of the richest areas of research in African studies. It offers a crossroads where papyrus can meet the internet, scribes meet critical thinkers, and the promises of growing nations meet the accomplishments of older kingdoms.
The ninth issue of Dotawo takes a long-term perspective on Nubian houses and households to explore the distinctive material, visual, and phenomenological worlds of Nubian homescapes. A “homescape” is an array of features related to the home. It is the socially constructed space of human activity, understood as having spatial, conceptual, or emotional boundaries and delimitations. Contributors to this volume embrace the dichotomy of homescapes, demonstrating how Nubians adapt their homescapes over time and space even while adhering to a core identity. The cross-disciplinary contributions to this volume include sociological, anthropological, archaeological, and linguistic approaches to the topic, as well as photographic essays, artwork, and fiction.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Boozer – Introduction
Handeen – From Homescape to Flora Landscape: Preliminary Observation on Plant Remains from the Christian Mud-Buildings in the Third Cataract Region
Schrader – A Bioarchaeological Approach to Everyday Life: Squatting Facets at Abu Fatima
Yvanez – Textiles Activities in Context: An Example of Craft Organization in Meroitic Sudan
Fulcher – The Use and Experience of Painting Materials in Ancient and Modern Nubia
Agha – A House against Housing: Post-Displacement Nubian Domesticity
Abdelsadeq – A Tale of Two Nubias
Goo-Grauer – Nubian Women’s Bridal Rooms
Jennings – Houses of Egyptian Nubia: West Aswan, Then and Now
Taha – Stereotypes and Negative Indexes of the Nubians in Egypt
Tsakos – The Homescapes of the Manasir: A Book Review
Boozer & Shatta – A Conversation with Khalid Shatta