Ma’at is an ancient Egyptian goddess and she stands for a specific concept of “justice by balance”. Such a basic and crucial concept which would regulate the life of a society and how they relate to their environment must have grown out of a basic understanding in a culture / civilization that could only have been developed over a long period of time and passed through the filters of inter-individual exchange going from mind to mind, from experience to experience … . The idea represented in the concept of “Ma’at” is nevertheless ascribed to the policies of a religion that grew out of the hierarchical dynasties of the Egyptian highcultue.
A valid question that should be asked is whether the idea of “Ma’at” has been rooted in the fundamental notions of the people and cultures about justice, and that hence the kings could make use of such a concept. However many who discuss the issue separate the specific Egyptian concept of Ma’at from the cultural and religious concepts based in the early African culture overall.
The connection between Kemet (that is ancient Egypt) and the Subsaharan African cultures had been discussed by acclaimed scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop and Théophile Obenga. The connection has broadly not been accepted, so far, on the grounds of subconscious white racial prejudice it seems, and a seeming lack of scientific means or will for innovation to connect data from interrelating relevant fields (linguistics, anthropology, history, archaeology). A dismissal of the more logical view, that ancient Egypt and Subsaharan African culture can’t be separated in the cultural discourse, doesn’t help in advancement either.
Our projects seeks to show up the idea of Ma’at in a new visual light: Farangis G. Yegane confronts the Greek Erinyes, the goddesses of revenge (who avenge the/a natural order), with the justice upholding African goddess Ma’at …
Our online exhibit isn’t all complete yet, but you should nevertheless go check it:
