The Mediterranean Seminar/University of California Mediterranean Studies Research Project (UCMRP) & the University of Colorado Mediterranean Studies Group (CUB Med Group) present:
“Can We Talk Mediterranean?”
Friday & Saturday April 6 & 7, 2012
on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder
Friday, April 6, 9am-5pm
A workshop featuring three pre-distributed papers:
- Eric Dursteler (History, Brigham Young University) ”Language and Identity in the Early Modern Mediterranean”
- Neil Doshi (French, University of Pittsburgh) ”Materiality, Modernity, and the Dialectics of Reading in the Modern Mediterranean”
- Jeffrey Miner (History, Stanford University) ”Law, Identity and Membership in the Genoese Mediterranean”
With a presentation by featured scholar, Perergine Horden (Royal Holloway):
“Mediterranean Connectivities: A Comparative Approach”
Saturday, April 7, 9am–1pm
“Mediterranean Studies at CU Boulder”
A panel featuring:
- Noel Lenski (Classics, CU Boulder) “Slave Raiding and Slave Trading among Pre-Islamic Arabs”
- Claire Farago (Art & Art History, CU Boulder) “Desiderata for the Study of Early Modern Art of the Mediterranean”
- Celine Dauverd (History, CU Boulder) “Cultivating differences: The Genoese Office of the Sea in the Constantinople of Sultan Mehmed II, 1453-1481”
“Can We Talk Mediterranean?”
The attraction of the Mediterranean to scholars in the arts, humanities and social sciences is a recent, but undeniable phenomenon. After languishing conceptually in the wake of Braudel’s monumental The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II, the last decade has seen a revival and elaboration of the idea of the Mediterranean in history and the emergence of the proto-discipline of Mediterranean Studies. Mediterranean Studies eschews the broadly accepted categories of “Europe,” “Africa” and the “Middle East,” “East-West,” and “Christianity,” “Islam,” and “Judaism” as essentially fundamental to the analysis of the development of Western culture and society in the pre-Modern era. It emphasizes interaction (both peaceful and bellicose), exchange, translation, and acculturation, and the integration and interdependence of Mediterranean regions and peoples as engines of development and innovation. In doing so, this consciously interdisciplinary endeavor avoids the anachronistic application of national, cultural and ethnic categories that developed as a consequence of the domination of post-Enlightenment of northwestern Europe over the academy.
This round table will bring together five scholars working on diverse aspects of pre-Modern Mediterranean History and Culture to discuss and debate with each other and the audience the nature of this emerging field, its possibilities and its limitations, in an effort to respond to the question “Can We Talk Mediterranean?” and, if so, how and to what end.
A round-table, featuring:
- Brian Catlos (Religious Studies, CU Boulder/ History, UC Santa Cruz), author of Muslims of Latin Christendom 1050–1625 (forthcoming), co-Director of The Mediterranean Seminar and of the CU Mediterranean Studies Group.
- Sharon Kinoshita (Literature, UC Santa Cruz), author of Medieval Boundaries: Rethinking Difference in Old French Literature, co-Director of The Mediterranean Seminar.
- Cecily Hilsdale (Art History, McGill U), author of The Ends of Empire: Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline (forthcoming).
- Peregrine Horden, co-author of The Corrupting Sea: a Study of Mediterranean History
Moderated by: Claire Farago (Art & Art History, CU Boulder), co-author of Art Is Not What You Think It Is, Co-Director of the CU Mediterranean Studies Group
Space is limited for the Friday workshop, please register to receive materials and ensure your space.
For the Friday workshop registration in open now for UC and CU scholars, and will open March 6 for all others.
Please register for the Saturday event to ensure adequate catering.
Limited reimbursement for travel is available for UC scholars and graduate students; some funds may be available (but are not guaranteed) to non-UC scholars who file for travel reimbursement upon attending.
To register, or for further information, please contact cmahaney@ucsc.edu.
Funded by a CU Innovative Seed Grant, and the UC Office of the President & various CU Departments and Centers. Administrative support provided by UCSC Institute for Humanities Research and the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
