Teens, manga and replica shabtis

Abstract

The Teens, Manga and Digitally Produced Replicas Project, which brings together archaeologically charged replicas, members of the ‘youth generation community’ and manga cartoons, forms part of PhD research at the Institute of Archaeology. The research broadly aims to address a need for increased access and investment in understandings of heritage for teens with the use of 3D print replicas through archaeologically driven and active engagement with object-based learning, underpinned by a constructivist learning approach. This research update focuses on one part of the research, which investigates the narratives told through manga cartoons as a demonstration of the access that teen participants developed through engagement with replicas to real ancient objects and the entangled object biographies of both. Manga narratives offer an innovative way for teens to communicate about the Nile Valley funerary figurines from the Kushite kingdom of ancient Sudan which are the subject of the study.

Keywords

• object-based learning
• Kushite shabtis
• teen engagement
• digitally produced replicas
• 3D print replicas
• manga