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(More customer reviews)I purchased this book based solely on the title. Please don't be fooled by it. This book is not a scholarly treatise on the "Ancient Egyptian Family." It is a shockingly ignorant anti-Caucasian, anti-Semitic rant, with no academic value.
First of, let me say that racism is wrong, whether it is in the mind of a black person, a white person, a green person, or a purple person (and yes, that is purposely absurd, as is racism, but since his whole book is about color and racism, I'll continue the theme).
The author lets us know where he stands from the start, raging about the "European invasion" and the "enormous assault of Western culture" on Egypt. To him, Black = Good. African = Good. White = Bad. European = Bad. Semitic = Bad. The author is a very angry bigot.
You can usually assume that anyone that narrow minded and hostile has problems with logic and reasoning, and this foolish book backs that up with gusto. He has decided, for whatever reason, that Ancient Egyptian society followed a matrilineal organization simply because it was the "dominant mode of social organization in pre-colonial African societies," and he's not about to let the facts get in the way - in large part because he is unacquainted with the facts.
The author has no understanding of ancient Egyptian history, society, culture, language or grammar. He certainly is unaware that Ancient Egyptian civilization encompassed over 3,000 years of history, during which time there were many social changes. For instance, there are huge differences between the position of women during the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom.
Black Men?
He freely reinterprets terms to fit his preconceived racist notions. One glaring and egregious example is his translation of the word "kmt," which he describes as Egypt's "authentic name." Well, no. Further, he says, "the name Kemet means literally `the country of the Black men.'" (Wow! Both racist and sexist at the same time!) Again, no, it doesn't. He goes on to mock those who use the actual and accurate translation of "black earth" or "black land" as being "Eurocentric and Semitic-centered." He's so proud of his ignorant prejudice.
Worse yet, he invents words like "kemeters" to refer to the Egyptians in order to disassociate himself with those nasty Semitic and European people. Has he no shame?
Race simply has nothing to do with the study of Ancient Egypt. The concept of races and people being "black" or "white" simply did not exist in ancient Egypt. I'm sure the author is as clueless to that fact as he is of anything else regarding the ancient world.
Purple Men?
The author is also ignorant of the rules of the Egyptian language and its grammar. To translate "kmt" as "country of the Black men" is grammatically and logically impossible. It is similar to my saying, "this is a purple shoe," and you hearing "this is a shoe belonging to purple men." They simply are not the same, and anyone who has actually studied and learned the language knows that.
By the way, the Egyptians would have used a word like "rmtt" - a feminine plural with a male and female determinative - to refer to people in general, so his fantasy of "black men" is doubly offensive.
Of course, the basis for the author's lack of comprehension becomes obvious when he says he used dictionaries to develop his theories of kinship, admitting, "I am fully aware of the inadequacy of material culled from dictionaries, yet in this case this method is inevitable." Huh? Hey, Allen, then maybe you should write about something you know.
Red Men?
Other than his lack of grammatical comprehension, the author also shows no knowledge of Egyptian literature, which clearly distinguishes and contrasts kmt (the habitable area of Egypt where the soil was yearly "blackened" with the nutrient-enriched flood waters) and dshrt (the red land of the desert and hills) - which, by his own "logic," he would have to translate as the "Country of the Red Men"!
But Allen glories in his racist ignorance: "Contrary to most studies of this kind, I have not attempted to camouflage my theoretical assumptions. Rather I have forthrightly stated both my theoretical and philosophical position."
His derision of serious and respected scholars (whose names I will not include here) is shameful. He reminds me of a bully on the school playground ridiculing the smart kids.
I'll let his own words warn you of his total lack of scholarly insight: His "research" consisted of "a general survey and review of the literature produced on the family, marriage, sexual like, women, and kinship of ancient Egypt." That is an exact quote.
I won't waste any more time on his various theories. You simply can't believe a word of this book, so what's the point.
I am shocked that a respected publishing company such as Routledge published this drivel.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Ancient Egyptian Family: Kinship and Social Structure (African Studies)
Scholars in Egyptology have often debated the following question: was the ancient Egyptian society organized along patrilinealor matrilineal lines? In taking a fresh and innovative look at the ancient Egyptian family, Allen attempts to solve this long-standing puzzle. Allen argues that the matrilineal nature of the ancient Egyptian family and social organization provides us with the key to understanding why and how ancient Egyptian women were able to rise to power, study medicine, and enjoy basic freedoms that did not emerge in Western Civilization until thetwentieth century. More importantly, by examining the types of families that existed in ancient Egypt along with highlighting the ancient Egyptians' kinship terms, we can place the ancient Egyptian civilization in the cultural context and incubator of Black Africa. This groundbreaking textis amust-read for Historians and those working in African Studies and Egyptology.
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