The University of Minnesota is hosting the Spring 2023 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop "Diasporic Legacies of the Mediterranean." Proposals are sought for papers and round-table discussions. 

Keynote Speakers

Eric Calderwood
Associate Professor of Comp Lit & Spanish, U of Illinois, Urbana
Thursday, April 27

Julia Cohen
Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University
Friday, April 28

Call for Proposals

Mediterranean studies has shown that the Mediterranean has been a site of travel, trade, and the movement of peoples for millennia. Various religious, ethnic, and linguistic communities claim the Mediterranean as part of their identity—even if only a distant chapter from the past. This seminar aims to bring together scholars interested in diasporas in the Mediterranean context and their impact on and representation in history, historiography, political writing, literature, and the arts.

We will explore how diaspora and diasporic communities and their cultural production can be read from the perspective of Mediterranean Studies, addressing questions such as: How does the Mediterranean past—real and imagined—shed light on contemporary concerns around immigration, citizenship, and the allocation of natural resources? How are diasporas such as those caused, for example, by the expulsion of the Jews from Castile in 1492 or of the Moriscos in 1609 remembered? What impact do they continue to have in the modern era? What other diasporas, coerced or voluntary, have roots in or implications for the Mediterranean and scholars of Mediterranean Studies?  

Papers from across the humanities or social sciences, including disciplines such as history, literature, cultural studies, religious studies, art history, musicology, and anthropology are welcome. Scholars who work on any historical period are welcome. Our Mediterranean is construed geographically as including southern Europe, the Near East and North Africa and stretching into the Black Sea and Central Asia, and the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean; however, due to our specific topic at this workshop, scholars working on Europe, the Americas, and Africa are also encouraged to apply.

Sponsorship

This workshop is sponsored by the  Center for Premodern Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies and Amos S. Deinard Memorial Chair in Jewish History of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the CU Mediterranean Studies Group, and the Mediterranean Seminar.