Reimagining the soul: ancient Egyptian iconography and British material culture, 1830 - 1930

我的研究认为，埃及化图像的文化意义被埃及学家和历史学家低估了。目前的文献分为两个截然不同的群体。一个研究文化历史，帝国主义和宗教，但无视物质文化（科拉，卢克赫斯特，甘格）。其他人专注于美学，而没有探究思想和信仰的历史（Curl, Rugg, Brooks）。相比之下，我认为埃及在英国复兴的物质文化不纯粹是装饰性的，而是关于灵魂本质和来世意识的激烈辩论的物质标志。我的研究将是第一个使用维多利亚时代对埃及图像的挪用，结合档案研究，揭示古埃及的思想如何超越时间和文化，并在现代英国得到物质展示。我的方法结合了物质文化、宗教和展览的观点，展示了古埃及是如何影响现代英国人对死亡、灵魂和来世的概念的。目前的学术研究主要集中在大都市墓地的装饰元素上，然而，我将分析中部地区的许多墓地，以揭示古埃及对现代英国的影响程度。此外，来自神秘主义者（如Helena Petrovna Blavatsky和Aleister Crowley）的档案资料显示了古埃及观念被重新概念化的方式。除了展示这些墓地和纪念碑如何在装饰层面上影响英国文化之外，这项研究还将揭示英国埃及狂热的物质文化是如何代表招魂术、死亡和来世的概念的，这些概念受到埃及复兴和英国帝国介入埃及的影响。最终，我的目标是获得博士学位，进入学术界，并撰写一部关于现代英国对埃及死亡和灵魂概念的文化挪用的专著。

My research argues that the cultural significance of Egyptianising iconography has been underestimated by Egyptologists and historians. The current literature divides into two distinct groups. One examines cultural history, imperialism and religion yet disregards material culture (Colla, Luckhurst, Gange). Others focus on aesthetics without probing the history of ideas and belief (Curl, Rugg, Brooks). In contrast, I argue that the material culture of the Egyptian revivals in Britain were not purely decorative, but were material markers of fractious debates regarding the nature of the soul and the afterlife of consciousness. My research will be the first to use Victorian appropriations of Egyptian imagery, combined with archival research, to reveal how ideas of ancient Egypt transcended time and cultures, and were displayed materially in Modern Britain. My approach unites perspectives on material culture, religion, and display to show how ancient Egypt influenced conceptions of death, the soul, and the afterlife in Modern Britain. Current scholarship largely focuses on the decorative elements ofmetropolitan cemeteries, however, I will analyse numerous cemeteries in the Midlands to reveal the extent to which ancient Egypt was influencing Modern Britain more broadly. Also, archival sources from occultists such as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley show the ways in which ancient Egyptian notions were reconceptualised. In addition to showing how these burial sites and monuments influenced British culture on a decorative level, this research will reveal how the material culture of British Egyptomania represented notions of spiritualism, death and the after-life that had been influenced by the Egyptian revivals, and Britain's imperial involvement in Egypt. Ultimately, I aim for the PhD to lead to a career in academia and a monograph on the cultural appropriation of Egyptian notions of death and the soul within modern Britain.