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Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney

Chair, Professor

E-mail: cooney@g.ucla.edu Office: 384 Kaplan Hall

Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Cooney’s research in coffin reuse, primarily focusing on the 21st Dynasty, is ongoing. Her research investigates the socioeconomic and political turmoil that have plagued the period, ultimately affecting funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt. This project has taken her around the world over the span of five to six years to study and document more than 300 coffins in collections around the world, including Cairo, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vatican City. Her most recent trade book, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World, appeared in 2021 with National Geographic Books. Her latest book, Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches, will be published in 2024 by The American University in Cairo Press.

Education

Ph.D., Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Johns Hopkins University (2002)
B.A., German and Humanities, University of Texas at Austin (1994)

Research

21^st Dynasty funerary practice – reuse, robbery, innovation in a time of crisis, and the 21^st Dynasty Egyptian Coffins Database.
Craft specialization, socioeconomic value, reception history and taste change in funerary arts; anthropology of funerary rituals and belief; transformative funerary rituals.
Gender studies of rule (Hatshepsut) and gender studies of funerary belief (coffins).
New Kingdom socioeconomic texts in western Thebes.
Sketching, figured ostraca, and communities of practice.
Contextual architectural studies, particularly focusing on Theban region.
Afro-centrism and Egyptological agendas; the socioeconomics of the Egyptian blockbuster exhibition.
Material culture studies: coffins and funerary objects of the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate Periods; Late Period bronze votive statuettes; scarabs, sealings, molds and faience amulets.

Publications

Books

Recycling for Death

Coffin Reuse and the Theban Royal Caches

The American University in Cairo Press, 2024
Ancient Egyptian Society

Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches

Routledge, 2022
Coffin Commerce

Cambridge University Press, 2021
The Good Kings

Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World

Disney Publishing Group, 2021
When Women Ruled the World

Six Queens of Egypt

National Geographic, 2018
The Woman Who Would be King

Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt

Crown Publishing Group, October 2014
The Cost of Death

The Social and Economic Value of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Ramesside Period

Egyptologische Uitgaven, 2007

Courses

Undergraduate

Women and Power in Ancient World (Ancient Near East 15)
Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, Predynastic Period to New Kingdom (Ancient Near East/Art History CM101A)
Ancient Egyptian Civilization (Ancient Near East/History M103A)

Graduate

Late Egyptian (Ancient Near East 210)
Seminar: Ancient Egypt (Ancient Near East 220)
Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, Predynastic Period to New Kingdom (Ancient Near East C267A)
Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom to Greco-Roman Period (Ancient Near East C267B)