Discussion Questions
1.) How did American perceptions of the Middle East change before and after the King Tut phenomenon?
2.) Do you agree that the Tut artifacts are “universal” art and therefore cannot belong to any one person or nation (or do they belong to the person that found them or the nation they were found in)?
3.) Of oil and art, which do you think is a more “universal” resource and why?
4.) How did the Tut tour change ideas about art, art collecting, and art appreciation both in the United States and around the world?
5.) Do you think the King Tut phenomenon was created by a United States government interested in Middle-Eastern art, Middle-Eastern oil, or a combination of the two?
(Things to consider: the Met, Exxon’s donation, the OPEC oil embargo)
6.) Why was Egypt so important to the African American Community? Why was King Tutankhamun? What was King Tut's importance to the black youth?
7.) Why was George Morton’s Crania Aegyptiaca so important to the idea of race and slavery? Also, how was this book relevant to thoughts about Egypt and its formation as a civilization?
8.) When McAllister described Steve Martin's Tut skit she said, "If Tut was white, he seemed to be approachable primarily through music and language coded as black. If he was black, he was not "naturally" so but had to be "blackened up." How does this quote speak on racial views of the time? How is being black seen at this time?
9.) Why did mainstream society gravitate so much to black culture during this time? What is a "White Negro"?
10.) Steve Martin gained peak success at this time due to his "race conscious" material. Do you think the King Tut song would have been received so well if a black comedian sung the song?
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