Is it true that the British museums refused to use the word "mummy" for considerations of political correctness?

At the end of January 2023, many media reported about the refusal of several museums in the UK from the word “mummy”, which supposedly offends the memory of the deceased people. We decided to check if such a decision was true.

The news about the mummy appeared in many large Russian media: for example, they wrote about this "RIA Novosti","Moscow Komsomolets" And "Komsomolskaya Truth". According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, the ban on the word “mummy” was introduced out of respect for the Egyptians who died thousands of years ago. Instead, it is proposed to say a “mummified person”. Even the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to the news. Official representative of the department Maria Zakharova in her Telegram channel Commented Media publications as follows: “Firstly, without the opinion of the mummy, tolerance cannot be counted. Secondly, it would be better to think about respect for the living. ”

Almost all Russian media referred to an article in Daily Mail. January 21, the newspaper really Published A note under the heading “Do not use the word“ mummy ”: the British museum stops using an outdated expression out of respect for the dead 3000 years ago.” Judging by the archival copies, on January 24, the headline has changed somewhat: now, instead of the “British Museum”, the word “museums” is in it.

The article mentioned three museums: British Museum In London, Museum of the Great North (Hankok Museum) in Newcastle and National Museum of Scotland In Edinburgh. January 26 Agency Reuters It released a detailed analysis of the information outlined and came to the conclusion that there are no such prohibitions in the British Museum. Journalists talked with representatives of the museum, and they explained that the word "mummy" is used as before, during excursions, and on tablets to exhibits. You can make sure this by going to the museum’s website. In the halls of 62 and 63 British Museum, an exposition is represented "Death and afterlife in Egypt: Mummy". Moreover, you can "walk" through the halls virtual, and there are clearly visible explanations with the word "mummy" to the sarcophagus exhibited.

However, by the time the Daily Mail, the Daily Mail newspaper has already changed not only the headline, but also itself The text of the article. A commentary on the British Museum appeared in it: “The museum did not prohibit the use of the term“ mummy ”, it is still used in our halls. Recently, the term "mummified remains" with the addition of the name (if known) of the one who was mummified has been used on new explanatory signs. "

But the newspaper was not mistaken with the other two museums. In the Museum of the Great North in Newcastle, the words "mummy" began to avoid. New York Post gives the opinion of the keeper of the archaeological department of the Museum Joe Anderson, who back in 2021 He wrote about the changing attitude to antiquities. “Many of us grew up on legends about the“ curse of the mummy ”and on films, where they show supernatural monsters. Such ideas, imposed by popular culture, distort our idea of ​​mummified people and dehumanize them. ”

In the same entry on his blog, Joe Anderson refers to the experience of colleagues from Edinburgh. The National Museum of Scotland, according to him, has already abandoned the use of the word “mummy” on explanations to exhibits and on the site.

Indeed, the Museum of the Great North is now being held excursion under the name "who were mummified people presented in the museum?" Obviously, her task is to expand knowledge about mummies and defeat the long -standing stereotypes. At the same time, there is no prohibition on the use of the word "mummy" - it is, for example, in sectiondedicated to the description of the treasures of the museum, and in catalog Exhibits on the site. That is, as the museum’s employee said, the old inscriptions and names are preserved, the new ones are compiled taking into account the comments made. There is the word "mummy" on the website of the National Museum of Scotland, where represented A rich collection of posthumous masks and sarcophagi.

Thus, the tendency to refuse the word “mummy”, denoting the embalmed body of a resident of Ancient Egypt, really exists. Egyptologists of the two British museums (in Newcastle and Edinburgh) two years ago decided to focus on the fact that each mummy was once a living person with his own name and his own history. At the same time, the prohibition of the term “mummy” did not come in, but it is used less and less. And in the British Museum in London, colleagues reacted favorably to the initiative of colleagues, but have not yet gone to radical changes. The Daily Mail newspaper, which came out with a headline, made a mistake in several facts and formulations and then hastened to fix them.

Photo on the cover: Egyptian mummies in the British Museum / British Museum

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Read on the topic:

1. Do not go: fake news about museums
2. Reuters. Fact Check-The British Museum Has Not Banned the Word "Mummy"