What is Egyptian heritage? Depending on who you talk to, you’re probably going to get different answers. This conversation piece draws on the responses from some of Australia’s Egyptian diaspora community captured during a weekend of focus groups held at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney (Australia) last month. The focus groups sought to learn from Australia’s Egyptian community to see how we, at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, can be more receptive, inclusive and engaging with our collection of Egyptian heritage, and incorporate Egyptian voices and narratives. As we have introduced in our previous article, the focus groups included 13 participants from the Egyptian-Australian community in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. They were mostly first-generation Egyptian-born migrants —some of whom have lived in Australia for decades—, as well as more recent arrivals, including students, and Australians born to one or more Egyptian parents. While reflecting on these discussions it is essential to note that our focus groups were not representative of the broader Egyptian diaspora community in Australia, or indeed the experience of Egyptians living in Egypt, but was a first step towards bringing more voices into the Museum –…
Initiating an Egyptian-Australian dialogue at the Chau Chak Wing Museum
November 11, 2022
