I do recall that one of the important Egyptian negative confessions had to do with social welfare and many went to great lengths to claim that during their life time they took care of the poor. Structurally, though, ancient Egypt was stratified and a class society. So was Ancient Greece and Rome, whose philosophers have often been quoted ad nauseam. So too was American society, even to date, and from its inception to 1865 and after. Large percentages of the populations of all three were enslaved for substantial periods. Some of the campuses we teach in were built on the blood and sweat of slavery.
As historians we have the capability to understand the complexities of human society and the tremendous short comings, along with the strength -if not, only five percent of the structures on planet earth will be left standing and most of the works of philosophy destroyed.
Incidentally, the Islamists were contemplating the destruction of the pyramids in Egypt because in their view they represented idolatry. So far we have been spared this example of extreme idiocy and religious fundamentalism.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Sent: Friday, March 1, 2019 5:05:13 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Woman and the Pyramid : Take a Break from the Mind Bending Puzzles of Nigerian Elections
I find this discussion interesting. The pyramids are by all means great expressions of human ingenuity. But my main concern is whether at the time the pyramids were built, was the purpose of doing so to primarily address the struggles and human development of ordinary Egyptians? Or was it a more elite-driven agenda to satisfy their vision of the world which often is not coterminous with that of the masses?
I noticed this kind of situation with the Parthenon in Ancient Athens that was built under Pericles and the Coliseum in Rome built under Emperors Vespasian and Titus. These structures are indeed great architectural achievements and accomplishments but on the other hand, at what cost were they to the lives of ordinary people like slaves and the socially oppressed and marginalized, whose priorities were different?
Professor Ali Mazrui raised similar concern about something similar in his documentary series "The Africans," when he analyzed the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, which was built by late President Felix Houphouët-Boigny. It was truly a phenomenal building but definitely the goal of the building was not to attend to the social struggles of the poor masses of the country to uplift their human development. The building illustrates a divergence of priorities and lens through which people see and conceptualize social reality between the ruling elites on the one hand, and the masses, who are struggling for survival and dignity on the other hand.
I once attended a conference where an African scholar made a strong case for African achievements in order to counter Eurocentric scholars who think part of Europe's achievement that made the continent unique and spectacular is the structures that they have built in the past and present which we do not have in Africa. However, another African scholar immediately stood up and countered the logic of the preceding argument and reasoning, asking: does it mean that if there are African ethnic groups or people that have not produced any great architectural structure or art work, does it mean they are less human than Europeans? Interesting question.
Sometimes the emphasis on great architectural designs as an expression of a people's achievements can be subsumed under monumental or antiquarian history in Nietzsche's classification of history. On the other hand, examining the investment and human cost of erecting such structures would be part of critical history (the third type of history in Nietzsche's classification), which examines the same history from the perspective of the oppressed, the socially marginalized and those at the bottom of the totem pole of the social structure of a society.
Samuel
Thanks for that thoughtful response, Gloria.
I wonder if you could sum up the theory you see me as developing since I am not yet able to recognise it.
thanks
toyin
--On Wed, 27 Feb 2019 at 23:54, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:
--The Giza pyramid was constructed during the 4th dynasty, around 2550 BC -
more than two thousand years before Alexander the Great's invasion of Egypt
around 332 BC. Accession to power by Ptolemy 1, took place a decade later.
The Giza pyramid remained the tallest structure in the world for almost
four thousand years at 481 feet.Originally covered by limestone, it
took about twenty years to build, during the reign of Khufu, called Cheops
by the Greeks.
So why did the Egyptians and Nubians adopt the pyramidal
shape in their monumental constructions? This was a question
that a student asked me two weeks ago. I did not have a convincing
answer, so I consulted some resources and came across a few hypotheses,
subject to further assessment:
Adepoju has just added a third theory.
As for the West African tendency to construct a pyramidal shape
on a cylinder? I have no answer.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2019 1:17 PM
To: usaafricadialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Woman and the Pyramid : Take a Break from the Mind Bending Puzzles of Nigerian Elections--The Woman and the Pyramid
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
This awesome pyramid in Egypt must have taken an unknown massive length of time, expense, people and energy to construct.
The biological form in the foreground took two people and nine months in gestation and about 30 years in growth after entry into the world to reach its present state of construction.
Which is more magnificent?
Why should they be seen as comparable in the first place given the huge differences in the time and human power taken by their proximate creative processes?
Or for the glorious human shape, should we look also to unknown aeons of prior development of the human form in evolutionary history?
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