Race and Identity in Ancient Egypt, Vol. I

Who were the ancient Egyptians? Where did they come from? What were the central themes permeating throughout their culture? What other African cultural groups share these principal themes? What ‘race’ were the ancient Egyptians? What were their phenotypic characteristics? How did they identify themselves? How were they described by outsiders (in terms of looks, temperament, and culture)? In terms of genetics, language, psychology, politics, ritual, and religion, what other human groups do the ancient Egyptians best cluster with? These questions and more are systematically explored in the three-volume series, Race and identity in Ancient Egypt, by Asar Imhotep.

Volume 1, Towards an etymology of the place-name Km.t (2023), critically assesses and engages a long-standing debate on the etymology, meaning, and application of the placename Km.t (Kemet), which was one of many names for ancient Egypt beginning around the XII dynastic period. In addition to the linguistic question of the name Km.t, Race and identity in Ancient Egypt Volume 1 asks, “Was the name Km.t used to describe, physically, the ancient Egyptians and what role did it play, if any, in their ethnic identity?” This treatment is the culmination of 23 years of research on this question and makes a major contribution to the advancement of the study of ancient Egyptian historical, linguistic, religious, and anthropological studies. This Volume will especially interest researchers in the fields of Egyptology, Africology, Historical Comparative Linguistics, Cultural Anthropology, African Art, and Comparative Religious Studies.

Volume 2 will be an edited work that explores the essential research questions regarding ancient Egyptian ethnicity, biology/genetics, language, philology, anthropology, and research methodology pertaining to Egyptian identity with contributions from various scholars.

Volume 3 will be a reference work of primary source materials that describes the ancient Egyptians, from the Greco-Roman period to the early 1900s.