Mohamed Rahmy and Mohamed Yehia - The Streets as Archives

This lecture will be hosted on Thursday, 22 May 2025 at 6:00 pm.

The Streets as Archives: Storytelling of Microhistories, Grassroot Historiography of Egyptian Cities

In their research, both Mohamed Rahmy and Mohamed Yehia work with the streets; the built environment is the focal point of many of the stories they relay through different mediums on the urban histories of Egyptian cities.

The streets are their archives embodying -both directly and indirectly- the historic knowledge that informs the narratives they produce. Through their work, and by deploying these bottom-up approaches, microhistories of people and places are therefore created, introducing novel ways of understanding and engaging with Egypt’s past. Their work highlights the considerable potential of public history, its research, accessibility and its outreach to the wider audience, with and for the local communities.

Exploring Egypt Seminar: Histories and Historiographies

A joint collaboration between the Ifao (Institut français d’archéologie orientale) & the DAIK (German Archaeological Institute in Cairo), joined in 2025 by the CAI (Centro Archeologico Italiano), PCMA (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology Cairo) & NVIC (Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo).
This seminar series aims, broadly speaking, to discuss different aspects related to the production of historical knowledge on Egypt. Speakers are invited to reflect on the different ways of writing, narrating and thinking about Egypt’s history at different periods, as well as on the actors, contexts, and power relations involved in the production of historical narratives. By adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the seminar series seeks to bring into conversation fields which have traditionally been examined separately, such as the history of Egyptology, the study of modern Egyptian historiography, and the history of heritage and preservation.

In addition, while the seminar series seeks to shed a critical light on the formation of specific disciplinary fields and traditions, it also moves beyond an exclusive focus on professional history writing, in order to explore the various institutions, genres, and channels, through which historical narratives have been produced and disseminated. Among the themes that will be discussed, for instance, are the different “histories” of Egyptology, archaeology or Arabic and Islamic studies, academic versus “popular” representations of history, and heritage preservation as a site of production of historical narratives.

Exploring Egypt: Histories and Historiographies Seminar is organised by Fatma Keshk, Postdoctoral fellow at DAIK & Ifao and Malak Labib, scientific member of the Ifao.

Attention!

The lecture starts at 6 pm. The number of seats is limited and we work on a first-come, first-served basis. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier in case the lecture room reaches its full capacity. This talk will not be recorded nor livestreamed.