Cairo in my lungs
Back to Cairo now and the āResearch Skills for Egyptologyā workshops are well underway. Yesterday I had a small class of third year undergraduate students from Cairo University (pictured above) who are studying for their Egyptian history and archaeology degrees in English (as opposed to Arabic). They belong to less than 5% of the entire cohort of 4000 + students at undergraduate and postgraduate level pursuing their studies in English at the Faculty. Ā Iāll be teaching the Masters group tomorrow.
While the research workshops are running, Iām also busy preparing a museology lecture Iām due to deliver later this month to ICOM-Egypt, followed by students in the Museum Studies program at the University of Helwan (see draft flyer above). About two weeks ago I had the privilege to meet with Dr Ossama Abdel Meguid (museum consultant, lecturer and Vice President of ICOM-Arab) and Dr Mohamed Gamal (lecturer and curator at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo) about the current state of museums in Egypt. This was a fabulously insightful discussion for me and I was most interested to hear that two of the key areas they're seeking international assistance with, is: (1) museum branding, marketing and communication and, (2) ways of engaging children and family audiences. Although these arenāt directly related to myĀ areas of expertise, I was certainly able to draw on a lot of relevant examples Ā from exhibitions Iāve worked on. They were also extremely fascinated to hear about the recent re-branding of the museum I work at (the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, Australia), as well as the Governmentās proposal to relocate us from Sydneyās CBDĀ to a satellite city about 25km west (you can read more about this hereĀ and here).Ā Given all this, Iām now looking to present on āMuseums in Australia: a behind-the-scenes insight into current issues and practicesā, which Iām really looking forward to.
In other news, I feel like Iāve breathed in the whole of Cairo. Most days, Cairo is enveloped by smog (you can get a sense of this from the photo above). This isnāt anything new, and itās always something I find myself contending with, but it can be particularly unpleasant when youāre trying to lecture for 2-hours straight. So, Iām currently self-medicating on some magical Parisian throat lozenges and powdered drink (thank you my dear French friend!), as well as embracing the facial scarf wrap.Ā Actually, the picture above has another story to it too. This is the ridiculously long queue we found ourselves in on Saturday for the Cairo International Book Fair. We had no idea what to expect, especially with queues like that! Was their a fun park inside? Free food? A famous author doing book signings? Well, it was kind of all that - and more! There were also puppet shows, clowns, musical entertainment, lots of food trucks, people having picnics on theĀ āgreenā, lectures, live television interviews and so on. Actually, if youāre reading this, and happen to be in Cairo, it is well-worth going along to. Diwan and AUC Press were selling some great books at really low prices. My steal for the day was an anthology of women travellers in Egypt at only 10LE (thatās less than $2 AU). Iāve also turned my bedtime reading to a bit of Nietzche. Somehow, Cairo is just the right place for him.
