Dr. Heba Abd el Gawad is a post-doctoral research fellow with the AHRC ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Views from Egypt’ project at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London (UCL) and has a doctorate from Durham University. Her work with Egyptian comic Nasser Junior Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage Project: Multi-directional storytelling through comic art works to amplify the voices of modern Egyptians and center focus on community-led research. In addition to Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage Project, Heba has been a project curator of the British Museum Asyat Project, creator of the Beyond Beauty: Transforming the Body in Ancient Egypt exhibition, and guest curator Listen to Her! Turning Up the Volume on Egypt’s Ordinary Women exhibition. She is also a host of the Only Collections in the Building podcast.
Listen in, as Dr. Heba Abd el Gawad discusses the legacy of colonialism in the field of Egyptology, and the importance of community-based research in anti-colonial action.
Interested in more information? Check out these publications from Dr. Abd el Gawad:
Abd el Gawad, Heba. (2023). “Strategic Narcissism: A Lived Experience of ‘Decolonising’, Inclusion of and ‘Collaborations’ with Indigenous Researchers.” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie/Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology, 148 (2): 289-304.
Abd el Gawad, Heba. (2024). “Reclaiming the Archive: The Contribution of Egyptian Women to the Archaeologies of the Delta (1880–1924).” In The Nile Delta: Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period, edited by K. Blouin, 595–610. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Abd el Gawad, Heba. (2025). “Deconstructing Middle Eastern and North African Archaeological Practices: An Indigenous Egyptian Counter-Narrative.” In Finding Antiquity, Making the Modern Middle East: Archaeology, Empires, Nations, edited by G. Crouzet and E. Miller, 209–222. London: Bloomsbury.
Abd el Gawad, H., & Stevenson, A. (2021). “Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Multi-directional Storytelling through Comic Art.” Journal of Social Archaeology, 21(1): 121-145.
Abd el Gawad, Heba; Volk, Sharyn; Van de Ven, Annelies; Stevenson, Alice. (2024). “From Ancient to Living Egypt: Centering Lived Experience in Teaching Egypt within and outside Museums.” In Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums Pedagogies in Practice, edited by J. Thum, C. Walsh, L.M. Jiménez, and L. Saladino Haney, 201-217. Routledge: London, UK.
Looking for a transcript of this episode? Click here.
Comic on Amelia Edward’s legacy and her claims to protect Egyptian heritage by taking objects out of Egypt, leading to physical and intellectual destruction and the extraction of heritage:
Nasser: you are destroying your country’s heritage
Amelia: habibi you are destroying heritage
Heba: finally someone will help us!
Amelia: I will keep it safe in London
Heba: Hang on Miss!!!
Academic Publications
Shalaby, Nora, Ayman Damarany, and Jessica Kaiser (2020). “Tewfik Boulos and the Administration of Egyptian Heritage at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 106, no. 1/2: 75–88.
Stevenson, A. and Williams, A. (2022). “Blind Spots in Museum Anthropology: Ancient Egypt in the Ethnographic Museum.” Museum Anthropology 45: 96-110.
Thum, Jen, Rohit Tanwar, Carl Walsh, Surbhi Bhatia, Lissette M. Jiménez, Varun Sapra, Lisa Saladino Haney, and Neelu J. Ahuja, eds. (2024). Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums: Pedagogies in Practice. Routledge: London, UK.
Open Access Resources
Abd el Gawad, Heba, and National Museums Scotland. “Projects – Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage.” National Museums Scotland.
Abd el Gawad, Heba. “Blog Post #76: Interview with Heba Abd el Gawad of Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage Project.” 2023. Peopling the Past.
Daswani, Girish. 2024. “Heba Abd el Gawad | Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage — Human Stories.” Human Stories.
Global Egyptian Museum. n.d. “The Global Egyptian Museum.” The Global Egyptian Museum. Accessed May 12, 2024..
Nasser Junior: https://www.nasserjunior.com/.
Like our content? Consider donating to Peopling the Past. 100% of all proceeds support honoraria to pay the graduate students and contingent scholars who contribute to the project.
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated. Please note that we cannot provide tax receipts, as we are not a registered charity.
Your contribution is appreciated. Please note that we cannot provide tax receipts, as we are not a registered charity.
Your contribution is appreciated. Please note that we cannot provide tax receipts, as we are not a registered charity.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly
Peopling the Past 