The Winter 2024 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
Friday & Saturday, 9 & 10 February
University of California Los Angeles
“Intermediaries, Middle Grounds, Middle Sea”
As the theater of engagement and integration of communities originating on the shores or from the hinterlands of Africa, Asia, and Europe, the Mediterranean region served as a dynamic center of interaction and exchange from Antiquity through early modernity. Even as it began to lose political and economic centrality, it has remained a zone of engagement of diverse peoples and cultures into the Modern era. This engagement is both the product and the catalyst of continuous dialectical processes of translation, transculturation, colonization, and syncretism across the gamut of human experience and expression: in art, literature, language, music, religion, media, material culture, and folk practices, as well as in social, economic, political, and institutional dynamics.
The Winter 2024 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop focuses on the agents (the “go-betweens”) and the currents (the “in-betweens”) of such dialectics. Typically invisible or, at best, marginalized in traditional historiographies and disciplines, intermediaries and middle grounds (synthetic texts, translations, objects, institutions and strategies, and the individuals and communities who were their agents and products) are crucial to the understanding of the history and culture of the Mediterranean, and of the historical processes which gave rise to many aspects of the modern world.
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.
Friday 9 February 2024
Location: Royce Hall, Room 314
9:45—10:10 Coffee and Registration
10:10—10:30 Opening Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder), Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz), and Zrinka Stahuljak (Director, Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA)
10:30–11:40 Workshop Paper #1
“Theater of Conquest: Sovereignty and Territorial Expansion into Africa (1492-1530)” [abstract]
• Marta Albalá-Pelegrín (Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Cal Poly Pomona)
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
Respondent: Toby Yuen-Gen Liang (History & Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
11:40–12:00 Introductions
12:00–1:00 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
1:00-2:10 Workshop Paper #2
“Treasonous Translations: Resisting Roman Hegemony in Medieval Armenia” [abstract]
• Sergio LaPorta (Associate Dean of Arts & Humanities, CSU Fresno)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Christine Chism (English, UCLA)
2:10–2:30 Break
2:30–3:40 Workshop Paper #3
“Antiquity and Embassies in Late-Ottoman Arabic” [abstract]
• Samuel England (Associate Professor of Arabic, University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
Respondent: Oumelbanine (Nina) Zhiri (Literature, UC San Diego)
3:40–4:00 Coffee Break
4:00–5:15 Keynote Presentation:
“Middle Grounds of Cultural Interaction in Comparative Perspective: The Case of Byzantium and Muslim Anatolia” [abstract]
• Rustam Shukurov (University of St Andrews)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
5:15-6:00 Reception
light refreshments for participants, faculty, students, donors, and community.
6:30–8:30 Dinner (see below) for workshop presenters, moderators, and round-table presenters, as well as non-presenting participants who have reserved in advance.
9:00— Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Saturday 10 February 2024
Location: Royce Hall, Room 314
9:30–10:00 Coffee and Registration
10:00–11:15 Keynote Presentation:
“The Fiduciary Mediterranean: Navigating Dynamics of Trust and Power across Language Communities” [abstract]
• Claire Gilbert (Saint Louis University)
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
11:30–12:45 Round Table 1
To what extent did the individual character of intermediaries (go-betweens, diplomats, translators, fixers, exiles, refugees, enslaved people) shape cultural, political and/or economic developments in the Mediterranean? To what extent does this differ or resemble dynamics and apparatuses outside the region?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Nicole Archambeau (History, Colorado State Fort Collins) “A Mediterranean Understanding of Nature in a Fourteenth-Century Agricultural Manual” [abstract]
• John Curry (History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas) “How China’s Ming Dynasty Came to the Mediterranean: Discoveries from the Surviving Manuscripts of `Ali Akbar Khatayi (fl. 1505-1520)” [abstract]
• Matthew Harpster (Archaeology/Art History, Koç University) “Studying the Muted Maritime Community of the Ancient Mediterranean” [abstract]
• Richard Ibarra (History: University of Southern California “Identity Claims from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic” [abstract]
• Toby Yuen-Gen Liang (History & Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan) “European notions of northwest Africa and its centrality in-between time and space in the early modern globalizing world“ [abstract]
• Hossein Nakhaei (Art History, Pittsburgh University) “A Political Stage for Personal Interests: Antoine Kitabgi Khan and the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900” [abstract]
• Oumelbanine (Nina) Zhiri (Literature, UC San Diego) “The Malian and the Morisco” [abstract]
12:45–1:45 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
1:45–3:00 Round Table 2
What do transmitted, borrowed, gifted or re-configured objects, styles, cultural forms or texts reveal about processes of cultural dialectic in the Mediterranean? To what extent are these dynamics particularly Mediterranean?
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
• Omar Artal (School of Historical Science, Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest) “Uncovering Mediterranean Cultural Dialectics: An Exploration of Transmitted Artefacts and Texts from Morocco to Sicily” [abstract]
• Thomas Barton (History, University of San Diego) “Western-Mediterranean Musicians as Cultural Intermediaries” [abstract]
• Joëlle Rollo-Koster (History, University of Rhode Island) “Smelling authority and the sacred, musk at the medieval papal court” [abstract]
• Irina Variash (History, University of St Andrews) “The Mediterranean Legal Culture: Islamic and Christian Strategies in the Crown of Aragon in the Fourteenth Century” [abstract]
• David Wacks (Romance Languages, Oregon) “Christian/Jewish entanglement in Converso spirituality” [abstract]
• David Williams (Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Saint Katherine) “The Monastery of Saint Catherine and its Latin Cult” [abstract]
3:00–3:15 Coffee Break
3:15—4:30 Round Table 3
How did the geographical character and/or institutional infrastructure that developed in the Mediterranean contribute to particular outcomes in terms of regional engagement and/or cultural, political and/or social evolution?
Moderator: Zrinka Stahuljak (Director, Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA)
• Christine Chism (English, UCLA) “Corruption at the Crossing Places: Let's Do It!” [abstract]
• Anne Le (Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame) “The Cost of Selling Culture: Smeg, Dolce & Gabbana, and Sicilian Folk Art” [abstract]
• Patrick Morgan (History, UCLA) “The Legal Kaleidoscope” [abstract]
• Roberta Morosini (Italian, Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale) “En/compassing islands: Maps, Connectivity and mobile Borders” [abstract]
• Aaron Stamper (History, Princeton University) “Connectivity and Continuity in Mediterranean Mountains” [abstract]
• Marcus Ziemann (Classics, Princeton University) “Contact Without Contact” [abstract]
4:30–5:00 Concluding Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder), Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz), and Zrinka Stahuljak (Director, Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA)
8:30— Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Participants:
• Harry Anderson (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Erith Jaffe-Berg (Theatre, Film and Digital Production, University of California, Riverside)
• Koh Choon Hwee (History, UCLA)
• Claudio Fogu (French and Italian, University of California Santa Barbara)
• Barbara Fuchs (Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA)
• Zohrab Gevorgyan (CHSS, American University of Armenia)
• Maureen McGuire (History of Art and Visual Culture, University of California, Santa Cruz)
• Javier Patiño Loira (Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA)
• Alison Locke Perchuk (Art History, California State University Channel Islands)
• Nir Shafir (History, University of California San Diego)
• Manolis Ulbricht (Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame)
Staff and Administration
• Karen Burgess (Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA)
• Thi Nguyen (Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA)
Practica
Meeting location: Royce Hall is a short walk from the UCLA Guest House. Those driving in should contact Thi Nguyen for a parking pass. If you are taking a ride-share to the workshop, please see these two pages: UCLA ride-hailing & pick-up/drop-off points. The conference will be in Royce 314. You can provide your driver with this address: Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90095. You’ll be dropped off at the flag and from there, you can walk to Royce Hall. There is also a pickup spot right by the UCLA Guest House (#12).
Arrival: For those arriving at by air Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is located about 10 miles from UCLA. A taxi or shuttle from the airport to the hotel will cost about $50-60. If you are planning to take a taxi/Uber/Lyft to leave the airport, you will need to look for the green LAX-it signs at each terminal outside of baggage claim on the first level. There, a LAX-it shuttle will take you to the taxi/Uber/Lyft pick up point. Shuttles arrive approximately every 7 minutes.
Wifi:
You can connect to the internet via Eduroam, or local open networks UCLA_WEB and UCLA_WIFI.
Lunches:
Lunches are provided free to participants.
Dinners:
• Friday: Plateia, UCLA Luskin Conference Center, 425 Westwood Plaza [7 minutes walking from Royce Hall]
• Saturday: TBA
Accommodation:
Conference presenters will be lodged at the UCLA Guest House at 330 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles.
Help
If you have any specific questions regarding practica and logistics, Thi Nguyen (tnguyen@humnet.ucla.edu).
Also of interest (while you are in LA): Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting - an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art - This is the first exhibition to explore Islamic art in the context of its associated culinary traditions. Featuring some 250 works from 30 public and private collections across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, the exhibition celebrates how gustatory discernment was a fundamental activity at the great Islamic courts. We are also unveiling for the first time in the United States our 18th-century reception room from Damascus. The exhibition features as well a newly commissioned multimedia installation by Sadik Kwaish Alfraji recalling his mother's homemade bread.
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Brian A. Catlos, Sharon Kinoshita and Zrinka Stahuljak.
The Winter 2024 workshop is hosted and sponsored by the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies at the University of California Los Angeles, with the additional support of the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA Departments of Art History, European Languages & Transcultural Studies (ELTS), History (Wellman Chair in Medieval History), Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC), and Spanish & Portuguese, together with the CU Mediterranean Studies Group and the Mediterranean Seminar.