Jennifer Babcock

Jennifer Miyuki Babcock specializes in ancient Egyptian and Nubian art and archaeology though also has a strong interest in contemporary art and how artists interpret and engage with ancient cultures. In her teaching and research she investigates ancient processes and practices of art and design and is invested in decentering Euro-centric perspectives in Egyptology, Nubiology, and art history, in general.

Dr. Babcock is interested in the representation of the animal world and the divine in ancient Egypt and Nubia. She also examines how artistic skill was valued in ancient Egyptian material and visual culture and how it may have dictated the organization of artistic labor within royal workshops. In doing this, she explores cross-cultural parallels with other ancient and modern African cultures that create material and visual culture in service of divine kingship.

Before coming to Pratt, Dr. Babcock was a Curatorial Postdoctoral Associate in the Exhibitions Department at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. She has also held fellowships and positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Dr. Babcock was the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching in 2024.

Ph.D. Art History and Archaeology, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

M.A. Art History and Archaeology, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

B.A. History and Art History, University of California, Los Angeles

Monographs:

Animal Fables in Ancient Egypt: Tree Climbing Hippos and Ennobled Mice. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 128, Brill, 2022

Edited volumes:

Rethinking Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Ann Macy Roth. Harvard Egyptological Series 22, Brill 2025.

Selected articles/catalogue entries:

“‘Building Bridges to Afrocentricism:’ Nearly Thirty Years Later.”Rethinking Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Ann Macy Roth.Harvard Egyptological Series 22, Brill 2025: 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004708402_008

“Exploring Artistic Hierarchies among Painters in Ramesside Deir el-Medina.” Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion,  a Social Tool of Power and Resistance, Arts 13, no. 5: 141 (2024): https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050141

“The Representation of ‘Humans’ and Gods in the So-Called Satirical Ostraca and Papyri from Deir el-Medina,” Proceedings of the International Conference Gods and Humans in Ancient Egypt: Current Research and Multidisciplinary Approaches, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, Vols. 38-39. (2023): 21–28.

“Head of Merymose,” Making and Meaning: The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center of Vassar College. Vassar College, 2023: 42–43.

“Curated Desertscapes: Animal Control by Artistic Design in Ancient Egyptian Tombs,” Animals in Ancient Material Cultures. Arts, Vol. 3. (2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11030059