The NEW MAES season kicks of this Monday with a fascinating lecture from Cannon Fairbairn! Everyone welcome!

Free to MAES members (via email link); guests may book through Eventbrite here:

The Role of Wet Nurses in the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom

Representations of and references to wet nurses appear often on the monuments and in the writings of the families they served and the children they nursed. Yet, little is known about the specific women depicted or their own experiences. Modern attempts to reconstruct their lives and roles often rely on comparisons with the Victorian and modern experiences of wet nurses and nannies. Nevertheless, when brought together, the evidence from this period reveals a unique and important role for these women, one that often places them in a role as kin and paid worker simultaneously. In this lecture, Cannon Fairbairn will present several depictions of wet nurses from the New Kingdom from differing contexts in order to explore what might be learned about these women and the roles they played in ancient Egyptian households and society.

Cannon Fairbairn recently completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham. Her research examined images of goddess’s nursing the ancient Egyptian king from the New Kingdom. She graduated with her Masters from the University of Memphis (USA). She has continued her research looking at images of nursing outside the royal sphere, focusing specifically on wet nurses.