A POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE OF A VOYAGE TO EGYPT IN THE TRAVELOGUE UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN BY MILORAD RAJČEVIĆ
Keywords:
Milorad Rajčević, travelogue, Egypt, Arabs, orientalism, postcolonial perspective
Abstract
Milorad Rajčević (1890–1964), a famous Serbian traveller, adventurer, and travelogue writer, also went to Egypt in 1921 as part of his world travels. Impressions and experiences from his travels were published consecutively in Belgrade magazine Little Journal and in the form of monographs Under the African Sun (1924 and 1925) and In the Far East (1930). These writings provide us with an important insight into the Serbian bourgeois class image of both ancient Egypt and Egypt in the time Rajčević made his journey. His impressions and experiences from Egypt were transmitted through his travelogue Under the African Sun and were shaped by colonial discourse of a European traveller. It provides us with an insight into the attitudes towards ancient and modern Egypt before academic interest in studying ancient Egyptian past in Serbia. The travelogue contains numerous Orientalist ideas about Arabic population of Egypt. From the point of view of history of archaeology, particularly important are his comments on progress and modernisation. In that context, his comparisons of European with Ancient Egyptian cultural and technical achievements play a significant role. This paper analyses the content of the travelogue Under the African Sun from a postcolonial perspective and argues that although certain ideas inherent to colonial episteme of his time can be recognized, it is not possible to pinpoint the exact sources Rajčević used.
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References
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______. ‘Memories under the African Sun. An Overview of Milorad Rajčević’s Journey to Egypt’, in: E. Epštajn (ed.), Under the Spotlight. Ancient Egyptian Collections in Museums in Serbia. Belgrade: The Museum of African Art-the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection, 2019b, 83–94.
______. Ethnic Identities in the Land of the Pharaohs. Past and Present Approaches in Egyptology. Elements-Ancient Egypt in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Мihajlović, V. ‘Kanonski lepo-estetski kriterijumi i geneza rasizma’. Etnoantropološki problemi 6.3, 2011, 625–640.
Mihajlović, V. D. ‘Borislav Jankulov, kultura sećanja i tumečenje praistorije I: rasiološki pristup prošlosti’, in: M. Samardžić (ur.) Kultura sećanja na vojvođanskom prostoru, Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet, 2017, 71–99.
Milosavljević, M. ‘Divlji čovek kao mera drugosti’, Etnoantropološki problemi 6.3, 2011, 607–624.
______. ‘Niko Županić i konstrukcija jugoslovenske etnogeneze’, Etnoantropološki problemi 8.3, 2013, 717–746.
Novaković, P. Historija arheologije u novim zemljama Jugoistočne Evrope, Sarajevo: Univerzitet u Sarajevu, 2014.
Palavesta, А. Kulturni konteksti arheologije. Beograd: Filozofski fakultet, 2011.
Prodanović Bojović, A. ‘From Egypt to Serbia. Creating Ancient Egyptian Collections’, in: E. Epštajn (ed.), Under the Spotlight. Ancient Egyptian Collections in Museums in Serbia. Belgrade: The Museum of African Art-the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection, 2019, 15–36.
Rajčević, М. Iz žarke Afrike. Uspomene Milorada Rajčevića, svetskog putnika I. Beograd: Grafički zavod Makarije, 1924
______. Iz žarke Afrike. Uspomene Milorada Rajčevića, svetskog putnika II. Beograd: Grafički zavod Makarije, 1925.
______. Na Dalekom Istoku. Beograd: Štamparija Đura Jakšić, 1930.
Reid, D. M. Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, Museums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to World War I. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002.
Said, E. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books, 1977.
Savković, N. N. Putovanje-životna opcija Milorada Rajčevića. Filolog, IX, 2018: 514–530.
Sretenović, D. Crno telo, bele maske. Beograd: Muzej afričke umetnosti, 2004.
Stefanović, D. ‘Market-women and Market-place in Pharaonic Egypt: According to Hdt, II, 35, Egyptian Written Sources and Iconography’, Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva, 15–16, 1999, 145–151.
______. ‘Serbian encounters with Egypt: Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945) and Nikola Vulić (1872–1945)’ unpublished manuscript of the lecture given on 16. 10. 2014, at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wiem – monthly lectures by Egypt and Austria Society.
Šćukanec Rezniček, P. ʻThe Egyptian Collection in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb: History and Researchʼ, in: M. Tomorad (ed.), A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture Conducted in Southeast Europe. Archaeopress Egyptology 8. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015, 85–92.
Tomorad, M. ʻThe Ancient Egyptian Antiquities in Institutional and Private Collections in Croatiaʼ, in: M. Tomorad (ed.), A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture Conducted in Southeast Europe. Archaeopress Egyptology 8. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015, 85–92.
Turner, B. S. Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalism. London: Routledge, 2004.
Tylor, E. B. Primitive culture, researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art and custom. Vol, I. London: John Murray, 1903.
Vasiljević, V. ‘Iskrivljena slika starog Egipta’. Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva 8, 1992, 159–163.
______. ‘Egiptologija kod nas–luksuz ili potreba?’ Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva, 15–16, 1999–2002, 97–301.
______. ‘Stari Egipat u našem kulturnom nasleđu?’ Etnoantropološki problemi 8.3, 2013, 825–844.
______. ‘Enterijer kairske kuće na slikama Paje Jovanovića’, Znornik Narodnog Muzeja-Beograd XXI/2, 2014, 205‒220.
______. Senka Egipta. Beograd: Dosije, 2016.
http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/365428/Braca-Savic-srpska-braca-Limijer, accessed on 2nd June, 2018.
______. ‘Egyptian Antiquities in the Museums of Serbia’, in: M. Eldamaty and M. Trad (eds.), Egyptian Museum Collections around the World. Studies for the Centennial of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Volume One, Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002b, 39–50.
______. ‘Staroegipatska zbirka Gradskog muzeja u Somboru’, Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva, 23, 2007, 227–244.
Anđelković, B. i Panić-Štorh, M. Staroegipatska zbirka Gradskog muzeja u Vršscu. Vršac: Gradski muzej Vršac, 2002.
Anđelković, B. and Harker, J. ‘Identity Restored: Nesmin’s Forensic Facial Reconstruction in Context’, Etnoantropološki problem, 3.6, 2011, 715–728.
Anđelković, B. and Elias, J. P. ‘Ernest Brummer and the Coffin of Nefer-renepet from Akhmim’, Etnoantropološki problemi 8.2, 2013, 565–584.
Bhabha, H. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.
Babić, S. ‘Still innocent after all these years? Sketches for a social history of archaeology in Serbia’, in: P. F. Biehl, A. Gramsch und A. Marciniak (Hrsg.), Archäologien Europas: Geschichte, Methoden und Theorien, Münster: Waxmann, 2002, 309–322
______. ‘Archaeology in Serbia-A Way Forward?’ in: N. Tasić and C. Grozdanov (eds.), Homage to Milutin Garašanin, Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2006, 655–659.
______. Metaarheologija. Ogled u uslovima znanja o prošlosti. Beograd: Clio, 2018.
Bädeker, K. Ägypten: Handbuch für Reisende. Band 1. Unter-Aegypten bis zum Fayûm und die Sinai-Halbinsel. Leipzig: Karl Bädeker Verlag, 1877.
______. Ägypten: Handbuch für Reisende. Band 2. Ober-Aegypten und Nubien bis zum zweiten Katarakt. Leipzig: Karl Bädeker Verlag, 1891.
Burden, R. Travel, Modernism and Modernity, London and New York: Routledge, 2015
Burdett, Ch. and Duncan, D. ‘Cultural Encounters: European Travel-Writing in the 1930s’ in: Ch. Burdett and D. Duncan (eds.), Cultural Encounters: European Travel Writing in the 1930s, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2002, 1–10.
Champion, T. ‘Egypt and the Diffusion of Culture’, in: D. Jeffreys (ed.), Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte: Imperialism, Colonialism and Modern Appropriations, London: University College of London Press, 2003, 127–146.
Daeschel, M. ‘The Civilizational Obsessions of Ghulam Jilani Barq’, in: H. Fischer-Tine and M. Mann (eds.), Colonialism as Civilizing Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India, London: Anthem Press, 2004, 270–290.
Douglas, M. Purity and Danger. An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London and New York: Routledge, 2001 [1966].
Díaz-Andreu, M. A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology: Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
Dimitrijević, N. Leskovac 101. 6000 p.n.e-1945. god. Leskovac: Đak, 2015.
Gregory, D. ‘Scripting Egypt: Orientalism and the Cultures of Travel’, in: J. Duncan and D. Gregory (eds.), Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Literature, London: Routledge, 1999, 114–150.
Hassan, F. A. ‘Egypt in the Memory of the World’, in: W. Wendrich (ed.), Egyptian Archaeology, Oxford: Blackwell, 2010, 259–273.
Jeffreys, D. ‘Introduction-Two Hundred Years of Ancient Egypt: Modern History and Ancient Archaeology’, in: D. Jeffreys (ed.), Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte: Imperialism, Colonialism and Modern Appropriations, London: University College of London Press, 2003, 1–18.
MacKenzie, J. M. Orientalism. History, theory, and the arts. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995
Matić, U. ‘Slike faraonske prošlosti: O razvoju i stanju egiptologije u Srbiji’, in: E. Epštajn (ed.), Egipat u sećanju Srbije, Beograd: Muzej afričke umetnosti. 2011/2013, 29–46. https://www.museumofafricanart.org/images/publications/Epublications/Egipat_u_secanju_Srbije_e_izdanje.pdf, pristup Jun 2, 2018
______. ‘Pyramids, dragons and whores: (Post)colonial myths and metafictions in "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels by G. R. R. Martin’, in: B. Hinson and B. Janulikova (eds.), Archaeology: Myths within and without, Cambridge: Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 2015, 172–184.
Matić, U. ‘Der “dritte Raum”, Hybridität und das Niltal: Das epistemologische Potenzial der postkolonialen Theorie in der Ägyptologie’, in: S. Beck, B. Backes und A. Verbovsek (Hrsg.), Interkulturalität: Kontakt – Konflikt – Konzeptualisierung: Beiträge des sechsten Berliner Arbeitskreises Junge Aegyptologie (BAJA 6). Göttinger Orientforschungen IV. Reihe: Ägypten. Band 63, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. 2017, 93–111.
______. ‘Review of Staša Babić. Metaarheologija. Ogled o uslovima znanja o prošlosti (Beograd: Clio, 2018, 188pp., ISBN 978-86-7102-596-6)’, European Journal of Archaeology, 22.2, 2019a, 289–293.
______. ‘Memories under the African Sun. An Overview of Milorad Rajčević’s Journey to Egypt’, in: E. Epštajn (ed.), Under the Spotlight. Ancient Egyptian Collections in Museums in Serbia. Belgrade: The Museum of African Art-the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection, 2019b, 83–94.
______. Ethnic Identities in the Land of the Pharaohs. Past and Present Approaches in Egyptology. Elements-Ancient Egypt in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Мihajlović, V. ‘Kanonski lepo-estetski kriterijumi i geneza rasizma’. Etnoantropološki problemi 6.3, 2011, 625–640.
Mihajlović, V. D. ‘Borislav Jankulov, kultura sećanja i tumečenje praistorije I: rasiološki pristup prošlosti’, in: M. Samardžić (ur.) Kultura sećanja na vojvođanskom prostoru, Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet, 2017, 71–99.
Milosavljević, M. ‘Divlji čovek kao mera drugosti’, Etnoantropološki problemi 6.3, 2011, 607–624.
______. ‘Niko Županić i konstrukcija jugoslovenske etnogeneze’, Etnoantropološki problemi 8.3, 2013, 717–746.
Novaković, P. Historija arheologije u novim zemljama Jugoistočne Evrope, Sarajevo: Univerzitet u Sarajevu, 2014.
Palavesta, А. Kulturni konteksti arheologije. Beograd: Filozofski fakultet, 2011.
Prodanović Bojović, A. ‘From Egypt to Serbia. Creating Ancient Egyptian Collections’, in: E. Epštajn (ed.), Under the Spotlight. Ancient Egyptian Collections in Museums in Serbia. Belgrade: The Museum of African Art-the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection, 2019, 15–36.
Rajčević, М. Iz žarke Afrike. Uspomene Milorada Rajčevića, svetskog putnika I. Beograd: Grafički zavod Makarije, 1924
______. Iz žarke Afrike. Uspomene Milorada Rajčevića, svetskog putnika II. Beograd: Grafički zavod Makarije, 1925.
______. Na Dalekom Istoku. Beograd: Štamparija Đura Jakšić, 1930.
Reid, D. M. Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, Museums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to World War I. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002.
Said, E. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books, 1977.
Savković, N. N. Putovanje-životna opcija Milorada Rajčevića. Filolog, IX, 2018: 514–530.
Sretenović, D. Crno telo, bele maske. Beograd: Muzej afričke umetnosti, 2004.
Stefanović, D. ‘Market-women and Market-place in Pharaonic Egypt: According to Hdt, II, 35, Egyptian Written Sources and Iconography’, Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva, 15–16, 1999, 145–151.
______. ‘Serbian encounters with Egypt: Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945) and Nikola Vulić (1872–1945)’ unpublished manuscript of the lecture given on 16. 10. 2014, at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wiem – monthly lectures by Egypt and Austria Society.
Šćukanec Rezniček, P. ʻThe Egyptian Collection in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb: History and Researchʼ, in: M. Tomorad (ed.), A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture Conducted in Southeast Europe. Archaeopress Egyptology 8. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015, 85–92.
Tomorad, M. ʻThe Ancient Egyptian Antiquities in Institutional and Private Collections in Croatiaʼ, in: M. Tomorad (ed.), A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture Conducted in Southeast Europe. Archaeopress Egyptology 8. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015, 85–92.
Turner, B. S. Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalism. London: Routledge, 2004.
Tylor, E. B. Primitive culture, researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art and custom. Vol, I. London: John Murray, 1903.
Vasiljević, V. ‘Iskrivljena slika starog Egipta’. Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva 8, 1992, 159–163.
______. ‘Egiptologija kod nas–luksuz ili potreba?’ Glasnik srpskog arheološkog društva, 15–16, 1999–2002, 97–301.
______. ‘Stari Egipat u našem kulturnom nasleđu?’ Etnoantropološki problemi 8.3, 2013, 825–844.
______. ‘Enterijer kairske kuće na slikama Paje Jovanovića’, Znornik Narodnog Muzeja-Beograd XXI/2, 2014, 205‒220.
______. Senka Egipta. Beograd: Dosije, 2016.
http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/365428/Braca-Savic-srpska-braca-Limijer, accessed on 2nd June, 2018.
