Egypt and Africa: Prehistoric Nubia

Egypt and Africa: Nubia in pre-history

W.F. Davies, Curator of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum

Throughout their long history, the ancient Egyptians had close contact with the Africans in Nubia who lived to the south of them in the land that is now known as Egyptian Nubia (Al-Wawat) and Sudanese Nubia (Kush). Over significant periods, the Egyptians remained in the center of political and military sovereignty in those regions and exercised influence on the local cultures there. Relations were often mutual, and the Kushite kings ruled Egypt for about a hundred years in the eighth century BC and founded what is known in Egyptian dynastic history as the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. The successors of these kings founded the first African city, the Kingdom of Meroe.

In July 1991, a new permanent exhibition hall was opened at the British Museum, called the “Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gallery for Egypt in Nubia.” This gallery is interested in exploring the cultural development of ancient Nubia and its changing relationship with Egypt over a period of 5,000 years, starting from prehistoric times until the arrival of Islam, as is evident from the collection of wonderful artifacts from Nubia, both Egyptian and Sudanese, available in the British Museum.

This book, “Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam,” represents a celebratory work on the occasion of the opening of this new hall. The book contains articles written by thirty-one distinguished scholars. These articles reflect the current state of research and discoveries in the field of Egyptian-Sudanese studies and Sudanese studies, a field that is witnessing an important and tangible development in scientific innovations and discoveries.

In the second issue, Arkamani will translate the most important and prominent articles published in this book.

Magic, science and religionamong primitive peoples

Malinowski was preceded by dozens of travelers, missionaries, and others, who wrote their observations and impressions about uncomplicated societies called “primitive” in various parts of the world, but there is no doubt that our scientific knowledge of these societies begins at the hands of Malinowski, a pioneer of field research and one of the founders of that branch of science known as social anthropology, and even the owner of a school and theory that researchers place within the framework of “structural functionalism.”

In his book, “Magic, Science, and Religion among Primitive Peoples,” Malinowski dispels the myth that has attached itself to primitive man, describing him as lacking religion, morality, and science. He says at the beginning of his research: “There are no people, no matter how primitive they are, without religion and magic. We must also add immediately that there are no primitive races that lack either scientific inclination or science.”

Methodologically, Malinowski emphasizes the importance of adhering to the culture to which that element belongs when studying a particular element. Malinowski says that if we try to evaluate the life of the primitive using the standards or moral rules prevailing in our societies, we will only come out with a comic picture that we worked hard to draw. Therefore, the researcher must be objective, meaning that in studying a fact and interpreting it, a commitment must be made to emphasizing the relationships between the fact and its primitive framework instead of separating it from its framework, as this separation leads to the loss of most of its basic meanings.

It is known that the functional school, of which Malinowski, along with Radcliffe-Brown, is the most prominent pioneer, studies the elements that make up culture, and knows the role or function that each element performs within the general cultural framework. In other words, the functional school was concerned with analyzing the culture of society, identifying its characteristics or elements, and clarifying the functions that each element performs in the prevailing cultural framework of this society.

Malinowski's research on "Magic, Science, and Religion" is considered an exemplary research in this direction. It deals with criticism and analysis of previous opinions on this subject, in particular the opinions of Taylor, Frazer, Mariette, and Durkheim, to ultimately conclude the cultural function of each of these elements.

The function of scientific knowledge - and Malinowski does not doubt for a moment that the primitive possessed this aspect of knowledge - is to enable man to control his surrounding environment. It gives him great biological value, by placing him far above other creatures. Religious faith establishes and enhances all valuable mental attitudes such as reverence for tradition, harmony with the surrounding social environment, courage and confidence in the face of difficulties and the possibility of death. It reveals to the primitive the truth in the broadest and most pragmatic sense of the word.

As for magic, it is useful in crossing dangerous gaps in every endeavor or critical situation. It enables the primitive to maintain his balance and mental integrity in bouts of danger, in the emotion of hatred, and in times of despair and anxiety. He is, as Malinowski put it succinctly, “the embodiment of hopeful folly.”

The second study in this book dealt with “Myth in Primitive Psychology” and reveals more than the previous one Malinowski’s pragmatic tendency. In his study of myth, he reveals one of its most important aspects, which is its utilitarian life aspect. “Myth, as it exists in primitive society, that is, in its primary, living form, is not just a story that is told, but rather a lived reality. It does not have the nature of imagination as we read it today in a novel, but it is a living reality, which is believed to have happened once in primitive times, and has continued since then to influence the world and human destinies. Myth in primitive culture fulfills an indispensable function: strengthening and codifying belief, protecting and upholding morals, testifying to the effectiveness of rituals and providing practical rules. To guide man, it is not a trivial story but an active force, nor is it an intellectual interpretation or an artistic imagination, but a pragmatic contract of primitive faith and moral wisdom.

The book “Magic, Science, and Religion” from this standpoint represents a methodological basis for us, the people of the Sudanese nation, if we are to escape from the “taboo” imposed in particular on every intellectual or educated person from the people of the geographical north. It is an imaginary, schizophrenic “taboo” that expresses the weak point of our ownership. It only gives a “comical” picture in which more than two million martyrs from the people of this nation have been killed.

Human history until the emergence of civilizations: a study in physical and cultural anthropology