Three Egyptologists Walk into a Bar… and talk about books, movies, and shows. Engaging with Audiences through Pop Culture

Activity: Talk or presentationInvited talk

Description

The first podcast about ancient Egypt in Portuguese—Três Egiptólogues Entram Num Bar, or Three Egyptologists Walk into a Bar—began in 2022. Our goal in starting this podcast was to communicate Egyptological research to a broad audience in an unpretentious way that might convince those not otherwise interested in the ancient world to listen. Contemporary pop culture has proven highly efficient in attracting and engaging with broader audiences. In countries such as Brazil and Portugal, where access to Egyptological scholarship is limited, popular cultural products portraying ancient Egypt are often the first and most accessible way to gain insight into this part of the past. As such, ancient Egypt-related representations in literature, cinema, television, music, and other media are instrumental in crafting perceptions of/about ancient Egypt. Addressing such cultural manifestations in an Egyptological-dedicated podcast is a means to captivate listeners, while revisiting and deconstructing common stereotypes and misconceptions about the ancient Egyptian past. Thus, besides an episode entirely dedicated to this topic (in which we had the chance to talk about our own favorite productions featuring ancient Egypt!), pop culture emerges in several others, including “pod quizzes” (a pun on “pub quizzes”) and guest appearances. Furthermore, our book club, where we invite listeners to read fiction books about ancient Egypt and/or narratives that use Egypt or Egyptian tropes, offers us a further chance to dive deeper into these and related topics.
This paper will consider how Egypt-based pop culture products come up in our discussions and how fruitful they can be in disseminating scientific knowledge. In providing examples featured on previously published episodes and sharing our personal experience, Egypt-related pop culture will be discussed not only in terms of its fundamental role in fashioning ideas on/about ancient Egypt, but also as a core factor to enlarge our audience, including via the podcast’s Instagram page.
Period26 Jan 2024
Event titleEgypopcult: Reception of Antiquity in Contemporary Popular Culture
Event typeConference
LocationLisbon, PortugalShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Podcasting
  • Ancient Egypt
  • Reception of Antiquity
  • Popular Culture
  • Knowledge Dissemination