Exhibiting Nubia in Today’s World

Rita Freed, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“Black Lives Matter,” “colonialism,” “institutionalized racism,”…these are but a few of the issues confronting us today. Can archaeology – and specifically Nubian archaeology and culture make a positive contribution? I will argue a definitive “yes!” in this presentation, which will showcase the superb Nubian collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, while owning up to past mistakes and addressing possible ways of correcting them to make ancient Nubia relevant in the world of the 21st Century.

Biographical notes:

Rita Freed obtained her at BA from Wellesley College and her PhD in Near Eastern Art and Archaeology from New York University. She is currently Curator, Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1989-present) and Adjunct Professor, Wellesley College (1991-present). Her previous positions included: Exhibition assistant of Egyptian Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1978-1982); Curator, University of Memphis (1983); Founding Director, Egyptian Gallery, University of Memphis (1984); research assistant at the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Selected publications include: Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen (co-authored, 1999), Ramses II: The Great Pharaoh and His Time (1987), and numerous exhibition catalogues.