Abstract:
Ancient Egypt is (and has been) primarily communicated through ideas, ideas that have
specific cultural and social uses for historically, politically, and geographically distinctive
contexts. This thesis explores how a particular, contemporary brand of these
Egyptocentric ideas—alternative theories—are expressed in digital communities on
Facebook and Reddit, and how alternative theories contribute to and perpetuate a
discourse of control over Egypt and its history and culture, i.e., alternative Egyptology.
As such, I examine how control is continuously enacted through individual
representations of ancient Egypt that alternative theories generate, often depicting Egypt
in mysterious, anomalous forms. I argue that these representations can also be
characterized by two main performative elements: ideological expressions and claims of
knowledge, both of which frequently defy ‘mainstream’ ideas about Egypt. How
alternative theories are discussed and evaluated in comment sections is just as important
as the initial post in terms of social and cultural functionality. Alternative theories, their
discussion, and alternative Egyptology in general colonize ancient Egyptian history in
order to legitimate a certain discursive position, constituting a communicative process I
label the colonization of the anomalous. Finally, I posit that alternative theories and
alternative Egyptology can be considered modes of vernacular Orientalism, both in their
exoticizing representations of ancient Egypt and in Egypt’s ideological/epistemological
usage to these discursive vehicles and the discourse itself.
