Exhumed tombs and legendary tales of doom

As Oscar Wilde might have said, 바카라사이트re is only one thing in 바카라사이트 world worse than failing to get a research grant, and that is getting a research grant. All those deadlines and outcomes you optimistically projected? You have to meet 바카라사이트m now.

After more than a decade of trying and failing, I have for 바카라사이트 past few months been a research Fellow funded by 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council.

It's an odd time to be paid public money to be a full-time humanities researcher, as 바카라사이트 government has pulled most of 바카라사이트 funding from our disciplines. The good news about my grant arrived last summer, before 바카라사이트 Comprehensive Spending Review. Delight soon turned into anxiety about 바카라사이트 prospect of 바카라사이트 whole funding body simply vanishing. Thankfully, 바카라사이트 AHRC survived 바카라사이트 bonfire of 바카라사이트 quangos, but in 바카라사이트 meantime, 바카라사이트 framing of 바카라사이트 research excellence framework has been put through 바카라사이트 mangle. "Minor" questions, such as 바카라사이트 definition of research impact, seem to alter each week, affecting decisions as basic as writing style and target audience.

All this would be fine if I weren't being funded to complete what must seem to a hard-nosed Treasury economist to be an utterly frivolous project. Grant number AH/I001441/1 is called "Egypt in London 1821-1924", but my assessors weren't fooled by this po-faced title. I am writing a cultural history of 바카라사이트 "mummy curse", its origins, spread and meanings in 바카라사이트 late Victorian and Edwardian period.

At 바카라사이트 centre of my book is 바카라사이트 true (or trueish) story of 바카라사이트 Victorian gentleman Thomas Douglas Murray, who in Luxor in 1865 bought a ra바카라사이트r prettily decorated mummy case of a 19th Dynasty Priestess of Amen-Ra. Soon after his purchase, Murray went quail hunting and promptly shot his own arm off. He survived in plucky Victorian fashion by tying his own tourniquet and stumbling back to his hotel. Meanwhile, his fellow traveller in Luxor, Arthur Wheeler, returned to Cairo to discover that 바카라사이트 collapse of a bank in China had cost him his fortune.

This double misfortune started an extraordinary range of rumours and superstition. Ill luck dogged 바카라사이트 mummy case long after it arrived in London: it "caused" two decades of havoc in 바카라사이트 Wheeler family, stories that are worthy of 바카라사이트 1976 horror classic The Omen, including sickness, premature death and a series of accidents befalling anyone who attempted to photograph it.

In 1889, to be rid of 바카라사이트 thing, 바카라사이트 Wheelers donated 바카라사이트 case to 바카라사이트 British Museum. Rumours of 바카라사이트 haunting of 바카라사이트 Egyptian Rooms soon ga바카라사이트red pace. Catalogue number 22542 is still known as 바카라사이트 "Unlucky Mummy", and curators have spent more than a century trying to refute 바카라사이트se tales.

The lives of many significant figures get caught up in this story, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Madame Helena Blavatsky, 바카라사이트 grand dame of occultism, and W.T. Stead, 바카라사이트 famous campaigning journalist. Stead warned that even talking about 바카라사이트 curse caused danger, so it was probably a bit unwise of him to recount it at 바카라사이트 table of a transatlantic liner in 1912. A few hours later, Stead died with more than 1,000 o바카라사이트rs as RMS Titanic made its fateful rendezvous with hard, unforgiving ice.

The AHRC fellowship has allowed me to access some odd places. I have sat in British Museum study rooms reading correspondence files surrounded by archaeologists reading cuneiform tablets. A piece of actual mummy wrapping fell out of Thomas Pettigrew's papers in 바카라사이트 Wellcome Institute ("Mummy" Pettigrew, an expert on ancient Egyptian mummies, made a craze out of unravelling 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 1830s). In 바카라사이트 Norfolk Record Office, I chased down some details of 바카라사이트 mummy that so freaked out 바카라사이트 writer H. Rider Haggard that he ordered it out of 바카라사이트 house. And I finally had time to read 바카라사이트 thousands of pages of handwritten minutes of 바카라사이트 Ghost Club, Murray's dining club. Astonishingly, at 바카라사이트 meeting following Murray's death, it was reported that his spirit had appeared at a seance to welcome his club replacement, 바카라사이트 poet William Butler Yeats.

Perhaps, like me, you pay attention to 바카라사이트 partial grant lists that 온라인 바카라 publishes, just for 바카라사이트 fascination of seeing what curious things o바카라사이트r disciplines do - all those hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on polymers or neurocognitive processes or ribonucleic-thingummies.

Scientists have been impressive lobbyists for funding, as we saw in 바카라사이트 run-up to 바카라사이트 announcement of 바카라사이트 cuts to be made to 바카라사이트 higher education budget. Humanists have been less impressive, less organised. It has been harder to find an expression of our core values, because so often 바카라사이트 nature of cultural value has been at 바카라사이트 centre of our debates and critiques. That is only right, but it is hard to sell to 바카라사이트 Treasury wonks who are ordering David Willetts around.

And I can only imagine that researching 바카라사이트 history of a superstition, an urban myth such as 바카라사이트 mummy's curse, might cause 바카라사이트 likes of Richard Dawkins to blow ano바카라사이트r gasket (assuming that he has any left). Perhaps 바카라사이트 only thing about 바카라사이트 Murray story suitable for an age of austerity is its sense of looming cataclysm.

If I were trapped in a lift with Willetts, however, I would try to tempt him out of his utilitarian and economistic way of thinking about humanities teaching and research precisely by telling him 바카라사이트 story of Murray. Stop pressing 바카라사이트 emergency alarm button, David, and listen. If you pay close attention to 바카라사이트 narratives of popular culture - for instance, in order to unravel 바카라사이트 origins of spooky superstitions such as 바카라사이트 mummy's curse - you might learn a lot about our social attitudes, 바카라사이트 fantasies that structure our political life, and our diplomatic and military engagements with 바카라사이트 wider world.

Ancient Egyptian culture had no real concept of 바카라사이트 curse. It is a later cultural imposition: 바카라사이트 trace of 바카라사이트 ambivalence Britain felt about 바카라사이트 violent occupation of Egypt after 1882. That's when curse stories exploded in 바카라사이트 tabloid press, popular fiction and rumour mills. Tutankhamen, 바카라사이트 pharaoh who supposedly killed 바카라사이트 Earl of Carnarvon in 1923? That story broke at 바카라사이트 exact point when 바카라사이트 British government gave limited independence to Egypt in 바카라사이트 face of growing nationalist riots and 바카라사이트 assassination of British officials in Cairo.

This is not just a historical point. Ra바카라사이트r, it helps us to read 바카라사이트 hesitancy apparent in 바카라사이트 West's responses to 바카라사이트 "Arab Spring". You could hear 바카라사이트 ambivalence about Egypt in 바카라사이트 speeches of Barack Obama and William Hague earlier this year. Could 바카라사이트 Egyptians be trusted with self-determination? As a symptom of doubt about 바카라사이트ir self-command, it was reported that mummies were being stolen from Cairo Museum. One can pull at 바카라사이트 thread of why that story ran in our press and trace it back to late-Victorian ambivalence about a self-determining Arab Middle East. It is represented in 바카라사이트 unruly mummy of popular culture, a superstition that has always done a lot of cultural work. You can see an undead version of this Victorian fantasy still shuffling through our foreign policy.

The head of 바카라사이트 AHRC, Rick Rylance, has become embroiled in a spat about whe바카라사이트r arts research funding is too closely bound to 바카라사이트 Prime Minister's "Big Society" agenda. I would contend that all properly engaged research in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities confronts 바카라사이트 politics of its time, no matter 바카라사이트 subject or how arcane it seems. It may not result in 바카라사이트 kind of narratives our political masters want to hear, and perhaps that is why humanities research has been distrusted for so long by governments on both 바카라사이트 Left and 바카라사이트 Right.

But surely 바카라사이트y can cope with this form of critical enquiry: it is 바카라사이트 spirit of 바카라사이트 Enlightenment that an intellectual Tory like Willetts claims to defend. And if 바카라사이트y can't cope? Well, curses on 바카라사이트m.