Prof. Amr El Hawary
Long-Term Fellow
April 2026 – March 2027
Bio
Amr El Hawary has been teaching Egyptology at the Universities of Bonn and Cairo since 2006. The focus of his research has been the study of Egyptian intellectual history, exploring the philosophical traditions of Egypt from antiquity to the present. He approaches this field through a postcolonial lens and other theoretical frameworks, critically engaging with questions of epistemology, cultural representation, and the dynamics of continuity and change across languages, religions, and traditions. His work seeks to establish Egyptian intellectual history as a foundational discipline for the field of Egyptian Studies, moving beyond the boundaries of traditional Egyptology to investigate the rich processes of cultural transformation. Central to his approach is the study of how ancient Egyptian philosophy can be meaningfully translated and connected to contemporary thought, with a special focus on the role of Egyptian colloquial Arabic as a bridge between past and present.
By engaging with sources from Pharaonic, Hellenistic, Coptic, Islamic, Arabic, and African contexts, he works to illuminate the unique aspects of Egyptian philosophy and its enduring relevance. His research addresses the challenges of cultural translation and representation, as well as contributing to ongoing dialogues between Egyptian and global intellectual traditions.
He published the comprehensive Edition of the Memphite Philosophy with philological comments and socio-cultural analyses (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 243, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010) as well as many other books and articles dealing with Ancient Egyptian religion, art and literature. Focusing on Egyptian intellectual history and history of science, Egyptian museology and material culture, he recently finished an extensive monograph on Ancient Egyptian Epistemology (forthcoming).
El Hawary has been awarded the Venia legendi in Egyptology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Bonn since 2023 and he is the holder of the Simpson Professorship of Egyptology at the American University Cairo.
Research
Ancient Egyptian Philosophy, Sciences and Wisdom, Hermetic Traditions, Islamic Philosophy and Kalam, Philosophy of Language, Mysticism, Sufism, Platonism and Neo Platonism in Alexandria, Panopolis and Hermopolis, Ancient Epistemologies, Philosophy of Science, Modern Arabic Philosophy in Egypt and North Africa, Intercultural Philosophy, Decolonial Theory, Critical Post-Humanism, Critical Occidentalism
Regions
Egypt, Sudan and North Africa
Languages
Ancient Egyptian (Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic), Arabic, Modern Colloquial Egyptian (Arabic with ancient Egyptian Grammar and vocabulary)
books
Thebanische Anschauungen: Die Crossword-Schautafel BM EA 194 als scholastische (Sprach-)Philosophie des ausgehenden zweiten Jahrtausand v. Chr. Eine historisch-epistemologische Untersuchung (forthcoming).
Weitergabe. Festschrift U. Rößler-Köhler zu ihrem 65. Geburtstag (hg. mit Ludwig Morenz), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014.
Wenn Götter und Propheten reden – Erzählen für die Ewigkeit, (als Hg.), „Narratio aliena?“ Studien des Bonner Zentrums für Transkulturelle Narratologie, Bd. 3, Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2012.
Was sind Genres? ‚Nicht-abendländische‘ Kategorisierungen von Textsorten, (hg. mit Stephan Conermann), „Narratio aliena?“ Studien des Bonner Zentrums für Transkulturelle Narratologie, Bd. 1, Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2011.
Wortschöpfung: Die Memphitische Theologie und die Siegesstele des Pije – zwei Zeugen kultureller Repäsentation in der 25. Dynastie, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Bd. 243, Göttingen: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010.
Articles
“How to Think in Hieroglyphs? Visual Speech and the Vocal Discourse of the Heart Logical Strategies of the Aesthetic Representation in the Egyptian Hieroglyph Script,” in: Stephen Quirke, Rita Luccarelli, Hany Rashwan (eds.): Rethinking the Visual Aesthetics of Ancient Egyptian Writing, forthcoming.
“Testing the Limits of the Sign: Writing Strategies for Advanced Scribes from the Educational Board BM EA 194,” in: Margaret Geoga, Aurore Motte, Judith Jurjens (eds.): Looking beyond the Text: New Approaches to Scribal Culture and Practices in Ancient Egypt, Harvard Egyptological Studies, Vol. 27, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025, pp. 85-104.
“Epistemological Things! Mystical Things! Towards an Ancient Egyptian Ontology,” in: G. Miniaci, S. Quirke, A. Stauder, J. C. Moreno (eds.): The Art of Making in Ancient Egypt. Voices, Images and Artefacts of Material Producers 2000-1500 BC, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2018, pp. 67-80.
