Interview with Dr Abraham I. Fernández Pichel about Egypopcult!
Manchester Game Centre member Dr Jenny Cromwell recently had the opportunity to interview Dr Abraham I. Fernández Pichel, from the Universidade de Lisboa, about the research project that he leads, Egypopcult, which examines how ancient Egypt is represented in contemporary popular culture – including games!
Jenny: Hi Abraham, welcome to the Manchester Game Centre. It’s great to speak with you today about your work on Egypopcult, and especially the role that games play in the broader project. To begin with, can you tell us about what the project is and how it came about.
Abraham: The project is called Egypopcult, a designation that brings together two focal points of interest: on the one hand, ancient Egypt and, on the other, contemporary pop culture. Thus, Egypopcult uses films, TV series, comic books, horror and fantasy literature, board games, role-playing games and computer games, among others, as sources of study and research. The main objective is to analyse the different contemporary visions of ancient Egypt through the aforementioned cultural productions, i.e., how ancient Egypt is recreated in today's popular and entertainment culture.
The origin of this project, which is absolutely pioneering as far as funding by a public institution is concerned, is relatively recent. It stems, on the one hand, from my own work as an Egyptologist specialising in Egyptian religion and temple inscriptions from the Greco-Roman period in Egypt and, on the other, from my love of literature, comics and cinema. Over the decades, I have watched, read and compiled numerous audiovisual and literary works in which ancient Egypt plays a fundamental or simply incidental role. That is why Egypopcult is, in a way, the union of my two usual activities: one is work and academic, and the other is the one to which I devote a large part of my free time. Thanks to the funding we have obtained, we have managed to ensure that both now have a place in the academic sphere.
Jenny: You have put together quite a team of people, who are involved in the project in different ways. Did you have a wish list of people you wanted to work with?
Abraham: In the phase of setting up the team of scientific members and consultants for the project, one idea was fundamental to the implementation of the Egypopcult project: it had to include not only Egyptologists, but also specialists from other fields who would bring a different perspective to the products under analysis. Historical reception studies often suffer from a perspective characterised by a clear insularity, i.e., historians analyse historically inspired popular culture. In my opinion, this is partly necessary, but not without other perspectives provided by specialists in literature, film analysis, comics, games, or even some of the current trends in historiography, such as gender studies or cultural studies in general. As a vision of the past from the present, contemporary Egyptianising popular culture requires these approaches and their methodological tools of analysis in order to realise one of the fundamental objectives of Egypopcult: what elements influence the authors of popular culture when they consciously elaborate a recreation of ancient Egypt in their works. To this end, creators also have a place in the Egypopcult team.
Jenny: At the Manchester Game Centre, our focus is on games of all types. Can you tell us more about why you wanted to include games?
Image from ‘How Pharaohs Became Media Stars: Ancient Egypt and Popular Culture’, edited by Abraham I. Fernández Pichel. Drawing by Jesús C. Gan.
Abraham: Games are an essential part of the entertainment culture that is integrated into the sources used in the Egypopcult project. The reason for this lies not so much in questions of game dynamics, but mainly in the use of often complex narratives set in ancient Egypt or using Egyptian characters and artefacts. Whether in board games, role-playing games or computer games, the plots that articulate the players' experiences and decisions throughout the game are constructed through complex narratives that consciously elaborate a particular vision of the past. I have personally played some of the great Egyptian-inspired games, such as Assassins' Creed, or the role-playing games of the World of Darkness universe, as well as various board games. This led me to be aware of the narrative potential of these works, whose interest for the objectives of the project is fundamental.
Jenny: How do you think games differ in their representation of ancient Egypt compared to other forms of popular culture you’re looking at? Or do they differ at all?
Abraham: In general, I think that the majority of popular Egyptianised or Egyptomania culture products, regardless of the precise medium (games, films, comics, TV series...), rely on a series of precise leitmotifs, such as pyramids, mummies, curses, adventures, secret passages, millenary ruins... What games generally provide that, at least partially, other products do not allow us is the possibility of taking on an active role in the adventure. The player of Assassins Creed Origins, Ankh, or World of Darkness faces his own decisions in an environment inspired by ancient Egypt and intervenes as an active subject in the construction of the story. This performative and interactive dimension is a different approach to the past, which undoubtedly enriches our personal experience of ancient Egypt.
Jenny: How do you go about finding games to include in the database? What are the difficulties, whether analogue or digital games?
Abraham presenting at a conference on Tutankhamun in popular culture.
Abraham: The research of each section of the database is a research work in itself, and as such, we have specialists in the Egypopcult team in charge of compiling sources related to games, films, series... In each case, these are researchers and academics specialised in these fields and consumers of these types of products. They are in charge of gathering information on the games they already know, broadening their knowledge with others they were previously unaware of, and tracking down on different websites the new products that have recently and continuously appeared on the market. In addition, through our social networks, numerous fans contact the project with their knowledge of specific works, which immediately add to the corpus of works that make up our database.
Jenny: Do you include only games that focus directly on Egypt, or those in which fictitious lands or imagery is included that is clearly based on Egypt? A few games spring to mind that do this, but they wouldn’t be considered ‘ancient Egypt games’. For example, a recent indie game ‘Souldiers’ (2022), has a desert level (‘Sibuna Desert) with giant cat statues and ultimately the ‘Great Pyramid’ that has mummy, scorpion, scarab, and sphinx enemies, among others. But, it’s a trope that draws on recognisable imagery. Would you include a game like this, or does it not fit the parameters you’re working with?
Abraham: Games such as Souldiers are also part of our field of study. Egyptomania has a recognisable side in different products that is articulated through the creation of grand narratives set in ancient Egypt. In addition to this explicit inspiration, we have examples in which the influence is more subtle, but clearly recognisable through some of the most prominent cultural elements of Egyptian civilisation. Some characters integrated in narratives far removed from ancient Egypt, in space and time, show clear evidence of an Egyptian inspiration. All this has a place in our project and the detection of these elements is the opportunity to maintain an interdisciplinary dialogue between the different specialists and disciplines included in Egypopcult.
Jenny: On a similar point, are there any games that you have rejected because the use of Egypt isn’t sufficient?
Abraham: Often games elaborate complex narratives set in ancient Egypt or Egyptianising fantasy worlds. In others, however, the Egyptian influence takes the form of a simple incidental element, e.g., for example, a character in a game presents a statue of a sphinx or the bust of an Egyptian god as a totem or an object of power; or players have to visit a library to retrieve an ancient volume of Egyptian magic. In these cases, the use of Egyptianising elements is often secondary, but even in these cases they merit a commentary that has to do with game authors' and creators' visions of the Egyptian past, and with a centuries-old tradition of visions of what Egyptianness means in popular culture.
Jenny: What are your long-term goals for the project and the database, including how it’s managed when the funding period ends?
Abraham: As always, in the academic field, the achievement of a research project requires obtaining funding to be able to carry it out. Once funding has been obtained and after having tested the potential of the project's subject matter and its acceptance by the academic community, it is time to take a step further to consolidate not only the career of the researcher in charge, but also to continue developing the project by facing new goals and challenges. In the case of Egypopcult, having obtained the funding, we are now in the testing phase. From March 2024, or possibly from September, it will be time to assess the second phase, that of acceptance and impact of the project. Without wanting to anticipate too much some of the results of Egypopcult, the reception of the project could not have been better and no one at the Universidade de Lisboa doubts the need to continue its development through an application for leading international research projects that will provide more funding for the coming years. This will be our next step.
Jenny: As an almost final question: what’s your personal favourite ‘ancient Egypt’ game and why?
Abraham: I should distinguish the different areas of games that we include in our Project in order to be fair and not to leave out a particular type of product. As far as computer games are concerned, I think I am not at all original in choosing Assassins Creed Origins. As for board games, I must confess that I am particularly interested in Ankh, both for its gameplay and the narratives it develops. Finally, the role-playing games in the World of Darkness universe set in Egypt or featuring Egyptian characters are some of my favourites.
Jenny: And lastly, is there anything else you’d like to mention about the project, including upcoming events or anything else?
Abraham: Finally, I would like to inform you about some of the results of the Egypopcult project that will soon see the light: on the one hand, the publication of a monograph on popular culture and Ancient Egypt in the prestigious publishing house Archaeopress Oxford, which includes several articles on games, but also on cinema, literature, internet or comics. The book can be downloaded in free access through the project's social networks and the publisher's website, as well as being available in book format. Its name is 'How Pharaohs became Media Stars'. On the other hand, between 24 and 26 January 2024, an international conference on contemporary popular culture and the Ancient World will take place in Lisbon in a hybrid format (online and in person). It will bring together specialists in these disciplines from all over the world, with the aim of joining forces and further developing the study of the contemporary reception of Ancient Egypt at an academic level. If you are interested in following these events, do not hesitate to stay informed and follow our social networks at linktr.ee/egypopcultlisboa.