Bailey: Anwar and I have been friends since my visit to El-Kurru last year (see post here). We stayed in contact through WhatsApp, and when I saw a Call for Papers over email about an AIA panel on decolonizing North African archaeology, I immediately thought of him.
Anwar: I flew to the United States for the first time in December 2022, and met with team members from the University of Michigan. It was fascinating to observe and learn about the mission members’ environment. My trip to Michigan helped me understand the conversations I’d had with the team for many years, which became a sort of cultural exchange between team members and the local community. I enjoyed visiting my colleague Geoff Emberling and his family, with whom I had the opportunity to taste several cuisines. I also took the opportunity to explore the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, about which I had heard much and seen portions in Zoom lectures, and toured the enormous university campus.
Bailey: It was also fun for me to show Anwar around Ann Arbor and see places that I’d visited many times before with new eyes. We visited the Kelsey Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus where “Narrating Nubia” will have an exhibition in the fall. I brought him to the Huron River and Dawn Treader Book Shop, and to plenty of good Ann Arbor restaurants. He was a big fan of Frita Batidos, but not so much of duck ramen from Tomukun.
Anwar: The primary purpose of the trip was to give a presentation at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, held in New Orleans. The paper also addressed the activities and efforts of the El-Kurru team in decolonizing archeology, approaching the local community, considering the community’s interests, and including the local community in the excavation and scientific research processes.
Bailey: Our presentation at AIA was my first in-person conference presentation, so I was very nervous, but doing it together with Anwar made it a lot less nerve-wracking. We were very proud of how it went, especially of the fact that we were the only paper addressing archaeological practice, while the others were more about ways of interpreting archaeology and ancient history.
Anwar: I really enjoyed the opportunity to experience a wide range of foods with my friends at the conference. I believe that each city has distinctive qualities that set it apart from the others.
Right now, we’re back to working on the El-Kurru Heritage Center. Renovation is continuing this year, and an exhibit designer from Khartoum has joined us to format texts and images in Arabic and English for the Center’s descriptive panels. We greatly appreciate everyone who made Anwar’s trip including the University of Michigan Humanities Collaboratory and the Archaeological Institute of America through their support for international scholars.
