ASCAC Midwest Region 2025 Conference

The Kemetic text commonly referred to as the Prophecies of Neferti describes a society in the throes of upheaval. Due to a confluence of foreign invasion and internal corruption, this text reveals a portrait of a society where Isfet has supplanted Maat and injustice reigns.

However, it also speaks of a redeemer, one who will restore order in the land:

But then there shall come a king from the south.His name will be Ameny, justified.He will be the son of a woman of Ta-SetyAn offspring of the royal house of Nekhen.He shall receive the White Crown,He shall wear the Red Crown.He shall unite the Two Powers,…The people of his time will rejoice…

The text foretells that Ameny will expel the invaders, reunify the land, and reestablish Maat in Tawi (the Two Lands).

This text aptly captures the Kemetic concept of time, wherein time was seen as cyclical, and periods of national distress necessarily evoked symbols of restoration. Herein, Ameny was hailed as a force of redemption – that is, a means through which order is restored and disorder negated.

As a symbolic figure, Ameny represents both the process and potential of restoration. He signifies the capacity of African people, after the dislocations of varying forms of oppression, to throw off the yoke of tyranny and transform the world in the image of Maat.This year, we invite presentations that explore this theme of redemption and vindication. We invite presenters to share concepts and practices which will equip us, as Jacob H. Carruthers has written, “to fulfill the optimistic prophesy of our project” – that is, the restoration of an African worldview.

This year’s conference will be in a hybrid format. In-person attendees will convene in Dayton, OH at Central State University-Dayton. Others can participate remotely via Zoom.

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Host or Publisher The Midwest Region of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization