HSS Workshop: Living Fossils

"Living Fossils" traces the scientific afterlife of the mummy Queen Henhenit from excavation to examination and display at the Naguib Mahfouz Museum of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Cairo. Henhenit's story highlights the production of race science by 'colonial' and 'nationalist' doctors that fictively linked ancient and living women's bodies. These women became objects of scientific observation and study largely without their consent. The talk illuminates the violent, material histories of race and reproduction forged through the measurement of pelvic bones, quantifications of reproductive labor power, and invasive gynecological surgeries in twentieth- century Egypt.