Zeinab Badawi

So I wouldn't say that people need to look to Sudan only, Northern Sudan, to get an idea of what an African dynasty looked like. I think we need to redefine what we mean by African. What does an African look like? There isn't a standard look. of an African. So we need to redefine that.

There isn't a kind of, you know, standard identikit, take it off the shelf and this is what an African looks like, like everybody, every other continent in the world. There's a huge variety in appearances. Where it gets difficult with Cleopatra is that the Ptolemies, who were the pharaohs who succeeded Alexander the Great,

There isn't a kind of, you know, standard identikit, take it off the shelf and this is what an African looks like, like everybody, every other continent in the world. There's a huge variety in appearances. Where it gets difficult with Cleopatra is that the Ptolemies, who were the pharaohs who succeeded Alexander the Great,

There isn't a kind of, you know, standard identikit, take it off the shelf and this is what an African looks like, like everybody, every other continent in the world. There's a huge variety in appearances. Where it gets difficult with Cleopatra is that the Ptolemies, who were the pharaohs who succeeded Alexander the Great,

who was from Macedonia, and the Ptolemies were Macedonian, and the last of the Ptolemies was Cleopatra, who died in 30 BCE when she killed herself, and the Romans conquered Egypt. She was of Macedonian ethnicity. They would have spoken ancient Greek amongst themselves, and that's where it gets a little bit difficult, and that's where people might start getting annoyed when you have

who was from Macedonia, and the Ptolemies were Macedonian, and the last of the Ptolemies was Cleopatra, who died in 30 BCE when she killed herself, and the Romans conquered Egypt. She was of Macedonian ethnicity. They would have spoken ancient Greek amongst themselves, and that's where it gets a little bit difficult, and that's where people might start getting annoyed when you have

who was from Macedonia, and the Ptolemies were Macedonian, and the last of the Ptolemies was Cleopatra, who died in 30 BCE when she killed herself, and the Romans conquered Egypt. She was of Macedonian ethnicity. They would have spoken ancient Greek amongst themselves, and that's where it gets a little bit difficult, and that's where people might start getting annoyed when you have

a woman of color like Adele James depicted as Cleopatra. And some Egyptians and others get a bit hot under the collar and say, no, Cleopatra was Macedonian. She was not white. But that does not mean that other pharaohs and other queens in ancient Egypt were similarly white. Hatshepsut is depicted, you know, with a terracotta color in all the reliefs we have of her and statues and busts and so on.

a woman of color like Adele James depicted as Cleopatra. And some Egyptians and others get a bit hot under the collar and say, no, Cleopatra was Macedonian. She was not white. But that does not mean that other pharaohs and other queens in ancient Egypt were similarly white. Hatshepsut is depicted, you know, with a terracotta color in all the reliefs we have of her and statues and busts and so on.

a woman of color like Adele James depicted as Cleopatra. And some Egyptians and others get a bit hot under the collar and say, no, Cleopatra was Macedonian. She was not white. But that does not mean that other pharaohs and other queens in ancient Egypt were similarly white. Hatshepsut is depicted, you know, with a terracotta color in all the reliefs we have of her and statues and busts and so on.

It's just the Cleopatra complicates matters. And also the Afrocentricity of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, African Americans you know, started saying, well, look, we, you know, want to look to our African roots in order to, you know, bolster our identity and so on. And so they look to ancient Egypt to do that. And that, again, is something which annoys some Egyptians.

It's just the Cleopatra complicates matters. And also the Afrocentricity of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, African Americans you know, started saying, well, look, we, you know, want to look to our African roots in order to, you know, bolster our identity and so on. And so they look to ancient Egypt to do that. And that, again, is something which annoys some Egyptians.

It's just the Cleopatra complicates matters. And also the Afrocentricity of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, African Americans you know, started saying, well, look, we, you know, want to look to our African roots in order to, you know, bolster our identity and so on. And so they look to ancient Egypt to do that. And that, again, is something which annoys some Egyptians.

as we've seen from the social media kind of exchanges. And that is for the reasons I've explained, but it is also because in 641 Common Era, the Arabs conquered Egypt and settled there, and obviously mixed with the Egyptians, and the Egyptians assumed the Arabic language,

as we've seen from the social media kind of exchanges. And that is for the reasons I've explained, but it is also because in 641 Common Era, the Arabs conquered Egypt and settled there, and obviously mixed with the Egyptians, and the Egyptians assumed the Arabic language,

as we've seen from the social media kind of exchanges. And that is for the reasons I've explained, but it is also because in 641 Common Era, the Arabs conquered Egypt and settled there, and obviously mixed with the Egyptians, and the Egyptians assumed the Arabic language,

And they also assumed Arab ideology, which made them feel that perhaps they were a bit separate from the rest of Africa because they became part of the Arabized north of Africa. So that's another reason why that sometimes there's a bit of a distance between Egyptians today and the rest of the continent.

And they also assumed Arab ideology, which made them feel that perhaps they were a bit separate from the rest of Africa because they became part of the Arabized north of Africa. So that's another reason why that sometimes there's a bit of a distance between Egyptians today and the rest of the continent.

And they also assumed Arab ideology, which made them feel that perhaps they were a bit separate from the rest of Africa because they became part of the Arabized north of Africa. So that's another reason why that sometimes there's a bit of a distance between Egyptians today and the rest of the continent.

But I firmly believe that the Arabized north of Africa is as much part of the continent's history and is as much part of Africa as any other part of the continent.