Ramses Was a Semite: New Sciences of Antiquity and Arab Modernity in the Late Ottoman World
Dr. Elena Dodge Corbett
Resident Director, Amman Study Center, Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
Wednesday 8 April 2015 at 6:00 pm
Reception to Follow
About the Lecture:
Dr. Elena Corbett has recently published a new book entitled Competitive Archaeology in Jordan, and her lecture will be drawn primarily from selected contents of the new book.
An examination of archaeology in Jordan and Palestine, Competitive Archaeology in Jordan explores how antiquities have been used to build narratives and national identities. Tracing Jordanian history, and the importance of Jerusalem within that history, Corbett analyzes how both foreign and indigenous powers have engaged in a competition over ownership of antiquities and the power to craft history and geography based on archaeological artifacts. Competitive Archaeology in Jordan traces a complex history through the lens of archaeology’s power as a modern science to create and give value to spaces, artifacts, peoples, narratives, and academic disciplines.
About the Lecturer:
Elena Corbett is a specialist in the history of the modern Middle East with a background in Islamic archaeology. Her research focuses on 19th–20th century intellectual history and notions of communal identity in Jordan as based on engagement with archaeology and cultural heritage. Since 2012, she is the Resident Director of the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) Study Center in Amman, Jordan.
Elena Corbett’s scholarship ranges across Middle Eastern history. She was on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University in Erie and at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where she was also the academic programs coordinator for the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies. She holds an M.A. in Islamic Archaeology and a Ph.D. in Modern Middle East History from the University of Chicago’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
