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Currently enzootic avian influenza H5N1, H9N2, and H5N8 viruses were introduced into poultry in Egypt in 2006, 2011, and 2016, respectively. Infections with H5N1 and H9N2 were reported among poultry-exposed humans. We followed 2,402 persons from households raising backyard poultry from 5 villages in Egypt during August 2015-March 2019. We collected demographic, exposure, and health condition data and annual serum samples from each participant and obtained swab samples from participants reporting influenza-like illness symptoms. We performed serologic and molecular analyses and detected 4 cases of infection with H5N1 and 3 cases with H9N2. We detected very low seroprevalence of H5N1 antibodies and no H5N8 antibodies among the cohort; up to 11% had H9 antibodies. None of the exposure, health status, or demographic variables were related to being seropositive. Our findings indicate that avian influenza remains a public health risk in Eqypt, but infections may go undetected because of their mild or asymptomatic nature.

This report announces the complete genome sequences of two severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) isolates detected in Egypt. The isolates were obtained from oropharyngeal swab specimens from two Egyptians in Upper and Lower Egypt. Sequence analysis showed mutations that differentiate Egyptian strains from the reference strain 2019-nCoV WHU01.

Small funerary statuettes shaped as mummiform figurines are among the most common ancient Egyptian artefacts to be found in museums of cultural history worldwide. The Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo (MCH) is no exception. The present article explores the biographies of material culture, materiality, objectification and shifts in meaning. It probes the many ways small artefacts, often categorized as ‘minor art objects’ of no importance, provide us with valuable insights into ancient Egyptian beliefs, society and culture. Selecting a few pieces from different periods, it delves into the multi-layered narratives and intersecting storylines where the objects’ biographies are tied to a web of relations across time and space as well as to the history of the ancient Egyptian collection at the MCH. The article discusses questions related to museological and heritage management, and addresses ethical issues concerning the provenance and ownership of archaeological artefacts in museums.

This article is about the work of museums in constructing the intangible cultural heritage of migration and diasporas. I address the cultural dimension of sustainability and examine what happens to living traditions in migratory contexts, in particular, in contexts of international migrations, and consider different participatory approaches used by museums. I propose that collaborative projects drawing upon the principles of ecomuseology and what I describe as participation by endowment may provide new ways of involving groups of immigrant background. I limit the discussion to questions tied to the intangible cultural heritage of migration to Europe and argue that by recording, documenting, safeguarding and keeping the intangible heritage of diasporas alive, museums contribute in promoting self-esteem among these populations and social cohesion in society.

Over the past three decades, a number of museums of cultural history in Europe have positioned themselves as arenas for debate and for addressing current social and political issues. One of these i...

This article investigates heritage in terms of different intertwined temporalities and polyphonic pasts in the Mediterranean. It posits that postcolonial theory has fallen short of perceiving the effects that movements of exchange, circularity and choice have had on Mediterranean societies in colonial times. Further, it explicates that the exploration of these avenues in matters of heritage and material culture would open the path for alternative understandings of the articulations of cultural encounters. Using a biographical approach I concentrate on an historical hotel, the Gezira Palace Hotel in Cairo, and explore the ways in which processes of change occur in intermediary spaces of cultural encounters, exchange and circularity that generate novel cultural expressions.

Other Times, Different Gazes. Representations of Otherness at the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo In 1897 the Norwegian Parliament passed a resolution approving to house three university museums under the same roof. These museums were the Museum of Norwegian Antiquities, the Museum of Numismatics and the Ethnographic Museum. The project was undertaken by the architect Henrik Bull (1864-1953) who built for this occasion one of Oslo’s rare Jugenstil buildings. The museum was inaugurated in 1904. The history of the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo is tied to the history of Norway, to the assertion of its independence and to the elaboration of a national identity. This article limits the discussion to the ethnographic section of the museum. The author follows the main lines of its development from its beginnings to the present and offer some reflections on the dialectics between the various social, political and cultural contexts and scientific research. Further, she explores the ways changes in ideology were articulated in the constitution, preservation and display of the museum’s collections, and how these changes are reflected in the representation of otherness., En 1897, le parlement norvégien décide de regrouper en un même lieu trois musées universitaires : le musée d’archéologie, le cabinet de Numismatique et le musée d’Ethnographie. L’architecte Henrik Bull réalise le projet et fait construire l’un des rares bâtiments Art nouveau de la capitale. Le musée ouvre ses portes en 1904. L’histoire du musée d’Histoire culturelle de l’université d’Oslo est profondément liée à celle de la Norvège, à l’affirmation de son indépendance et à l’élaboration d’une identité nationale. Cette étude se limite à la section ethnographique du musée et retrace les lignes de son développement depuis sa création à nos jours. L’auteur aborde la question des rapports entre les différents contextes sociaux, politiques et culturels et les courants de la recherche scientifique. Il examine comment les changements idéologiques sont articulés dans la constitution, la préservation et la mise en exposition des collections et comment ils se reflètent dans les modes de représentation de l’altérité., Naguib Saphinaz-Amal. Autres temps, autres regards. Représentations de l’altérité au musée d’Histoire culturelle de l’université d’Oslo. In: Histoire de l'art, N°60, 2007. Histoire de l’Art et anthropologie. pp. 149-160.

This article argues for a novel reading of Coptic and Copto-Arabic hagiographies. Relying on the analysis of Coptic and Copto-Arabic traditions belonging to the Passion of Victor son of Romanos, also known as Victor the General, the author investigates issues concerning the transmission of texts, intertextuality, the dialectics between history and memory and their implications in the articulation of Coptic religious memory. In the present article the body of the martyr is viewed as a text and the memory of bodily experiences transmitted through texts as pertaining to religious memory. The author posits that far from negating his body, the martyr made it the chart of his belief and placed it in the foreground for everybody to see, to hear about and to remember. She explicates that the practices to which the martyr subordinated his body and the experience of martyrdom placed him in a state of liminality.

L'A. affirme la necessite d'une nouvelle lecture de l'hagiographie et de la martyrologie copte et arabo-copte. Elle tendrait a clarifier les multiples niveaux de sens contenus dans ces documents. L'A. presente quelques reflexions sur un theme recurrent dans les recits de martyrs coptes et arabo-coptes: l'apostasie de Diocletien. Son interpretation se base essentiellement sur l'etude de documents coptes en rapport avec le martyr de Victor fils de Romanos

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