The Spring 2023 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
Thursday & Friday, 27 & 28 April
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Diasporic Legacies of the Mediterranean”
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?
Program & Papers
All papers [click on the title to download] are copyright the author and are not to be copied, distributed or cited without express written permission by same.
Click on the participant name to see their bio.
Link to the program calender here.
Download a printable program here.
Thursday 27 April 2023
Location: Heller Hall Room 1210 (271 19th Avenue S)
9:15—9:45 Coffee and Registration
9:45–10:15 Opening Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder) and Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz), The Mediterranean Seminar
• Michelle Hamilton (Spanish and Portuguese: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) & Daniel Schroeter (History: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
10:15–11:30 Workshop Paper #1
“Mapping Migration: The Barcelona Haggadah (BL MS Add 14761) As A Material Witness to Sephardi Migration 1391-1459” [abstract]
• Laura Feigen (History of Art: The Courtauld Institute)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Noam Sienna (Religion: St. Olaf College)
11:30–11:45 Introductions
11:45–12:00 Coffee
12:00–1:15 Workshop Paper #2
“City of Caelestis: Encountering the Punic Past at the Tophet of Roman Carthage” [abstract]
• Chris Saladin (History: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
Respondent: Valerie Ramseyer (History: Wellesley College)
1:15–2:30 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:30–3:45 Workshop Paper #3
“Syro-Lebanese Translational Narratives around the Caribbean Basin” [abstract]
• Angela Haddad (Comparative Literature: New York University)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Andrea Pauw (Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures: Christopher Newport University)
4:00–5:00 Keynote Presentation:
“Madame Luna’s Mediterranean” [abstract]
• Julia Phillips Cohen (History and Jewish Studies: Vanderbilt University)
Moderator: Daniel Schroeter (History: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
5:00–6:00 Reception
light refreshments with participants, faculty, students, donors, and community.
6:30–8:30 Dinner (see below)
9:15— Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Friday 28 April 2023
Location: Heller Hall Room 1210 (271 19th Avenue S)
9:15–9:45 Coffee and Registration
9:45–10:00 Opening Remarks
10:00–11:00 Keynote Presentation:
“The Andalus of the Possible” [abstract]
• Eric Calderwood (Comparative Literature: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Moderator: Michelle Hamilton (Spanish and Portuguese: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
11:15–12:30 Round Table 1
Religion, Ethnicity, Nation & Race: How are notions about confessional, national or communal identity shaped by the diasporic experience or represented as diasporic in cultural production?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Kay Reyerson (History: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Fred Astren (Jewish Studies: San Francisco State) “Diaspora Temporalities and Imperial Time: Jews and the Muslim Era”
• Kathryn Hain (History: Northeast Community College) “How long does diaspora identity endure and who decides?”
• Susan Shoshan Abraham (Spanish, Italian & Portuguese: University of Virginia) “"Communal obligations‚" in and of the Morisco Mediterranean”
• Saber Qechai (Eötvös Loránd University) “Fragmented Mediterranean: Berber Diaspora”
• Sara Gardner (Spanish and Portuguese Studies: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) “(Un)savory Sepharad: The Spanish Tourism's Flavor of Sephardic Memory”
• David Williams (Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Saint Katherine) “Orthodox Identities in Lusignan Cyprus”
12:30–1:30 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
1:30–2:45 Visit to James Ford Bell Library
Location:15F Andersen Library 222 21st Ave South
Room number: Wallin Center—15 K (seminar room)
2:45–3:00 Coffee
Location: Anderson Library 120
3:00–4:15 Round Table 2
“African,” “European,” “Eastern,” or “Mediterranean” – How are sites (either origins or destinations) of Diaspora depicted and why?
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
Respondent: Andrea Sterk (History: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Heather Badamo (Art History: University of California Santa Barbara) “Africans in Medieval Egypt and Coptic Visions of the Ecumene”
• Josh Mugler (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library) “The Syriac Orthodox Diaspora and the Idea of Antioch”
• Alex Korte (Spanish & Portuguese Studies: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) “The Exiled Pirate: Double Agents, Revenge, and Finding Home in Cervantine Fiction”
• Taryn Marashi (Augsburg University) “Basra and Its Many Rebellions”
• Valerie Ramseyer (History: Wellesley College) “Integrating Religious Minorities into the Narratives of European Medieval History: the Example of Italy “
• Andrea Pauw (Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures: Christopher Newport University) “Morisco Martyrdom: Diaspora as Ironic Inversion”
4:30–4:45 Concluding Presentation & Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos, Sharon Kinoshita, Michelle Hamilton, Daniel Schroeter & participants
5:00–6:30 Reception
Location: Campus Club: 300 Washington Avenue Southeast Coffman Memorial Union, 4th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55455. You can take light rail green line one stop from West Bank to East Bank or the campus shuttle which leaves from the bottom of Blegen Hall.
7:00—9:00 Dinner (see below)
Participants:
• Anya Badaldavood: Music, University of Minnesota
• Rushika Hage: History, University of Minnesota
• Clare Harmon: Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota
• Brittany Landorf: Graduate Division of Religion, Emory University
• Michael Lower: History, University of Minnesota
• Jacob Henke: History, University of Minnesota
• Paige Milligan: Middle Eastern and North African Studies Program, Bowdoin College
• Elijah Wallace: History, University of Minnesota
Staff and Administration
• Sara Gardner (Spanish and Portuguese Studies: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Alex Korte (Spanish & Portuguese Studies: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Katherine Pierpont (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
Practica
Arrival: Transportation from airport to hotel: Rideshare, taxi, or light rail.
Wifi:
On campus, guests with eduroam can use the UMN wifi system. Guests can join the UofM-Guest network (instructions) at no charge.
Lunches:
Lunches are provided free to participants.
Dinners:
• Thursday: Surly Brewing Co., Malcolm Avenue Southeast (you can walk, Uber, take light rail green line or campus connector and walk from the stop across from the football stadium). All participants/attendees are welcome. Pizzas will be purchased for the group and served in the upstairs bar. Everyone purchases their own drinks.
• Friday: Jefe Urban Cocina 219 SE Main St (walk or bus, 30 mins; Uber 10mins). For workshop and round-table presenters and respondents. Shared plates will be purchased for the group. Everyone purchases their own drinks.
Post-workshop meeting:
• Participants & attendees welcome. Room 829 at the Courtyard Marriot Downtown, 1500 Washington Ave S.
Snacks provided; please bring the beverages of your choice.
Meeting supplies:
1010 Washington Wine & Spirits 1010 S Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55415
Accommodation:
Presenting participants are lodged at Courtyard Marriot Downtown, 1500 Washington Ave S. (rideshare from airport approx. $25; transit $2, 40mins)
*Please be prepared to give the hotel a credit card to secure the room. The University of Minnesota has already submitted payment to cover the cost of your room and taxes. However, the hotel requires a credit card for any additional charges.
Non-presenters should contact Lydia Garver to obtain the conference hotel rate.
Help
If you have any specific questions about your visit, please contact Sara Gardner or the Center for Premodern Studies by email or phone: 612-625-0768.
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Michelle Hamilton, Daniel Schroeter, Brian A. Catlos and Sharon Kinoshita.
The Spring 2023 workshop is hosted by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, with the sponsorship of Center for Premodern Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, and the Amos S. Deinard Memorial Chair in Jewish History of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, together with the CU Mediterranean Studies Group and the Mediterranean Seminar.