ABSTRACT
In studies of the history of Egyptology, the discipline can often appear to have been created and developed in a hermetic compartment, separated cleanly from its surroundings and isolated in purely disciplinary space. Text without context, it seems to require theorizing only in its own terms, amenable to explanation only through its internal dynamics irrespective of the complex relations between Egyptology and society. Any such appearances are obviously illusory: Egyptology (like so many things) is first and foremost a socially constructed enterprise. Its agendas, theories, and practices are always historically specific, and the range of historical themes and processes with which it intersects are far wider than any individual will ever be capable of grasping.
