The Fall 2022 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
Friday & Saturday, 21 & 22 October 2022
University of Colorado Boulder
“The Mediterranean Origins of the West”
The origins of the modern West remain controversial. Some continue to see what we refer to as “Western Civilization” narrowly –evolving out of specifically Classical and Christian precursors: the legacy of Greek and Roman Antiquity and “Judeo-Christian” culture – as a “European” phenomenon. Others see the pre-Modern West more broadly, as that zone under the domination of Abrahamic cultures, stretching from the Indus to the Atlantic with the Mediterranean at its center, in which peoples of various European, African and West Asian societies and cultural orientations, including Christians, Muslims and Jews, all contributed to the economic, social, cultural, intellectual and political processes that led to the emergence of Western modernity. This workshop will bring together scholars from various disciplines, periods and areas to discuss the nature of these processes and the interaction of peoples of various ethnicities, religions, cultures and ideological perspectives in the Pre- and Early Modern Mediterranean, how these contributed to the evolution of Western Modernity, and how historians and educators have, or can interpret and present this history.
Program & Papers
All sessions will take place at the “Skybox” on the top floor of the Duane Physics Building at CU Boulder
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. Links will be live by October 15.
Click on the participant name to see their bio.
Link to the program calender here.
Download a printable program here.
Friday 21 October 2022
8:45 Walk from Chautauqua Dining Hall to Duane Physics.
For those interested, Augusto Rocha will meet you outside the dining hall to walk to the workshop.
9:15—9:45 Coffee and Registration
10:00–10:15 Opening Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder) and Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz), The Mediterranean Seminar
10:15–11:30 Workshop Paper #1
“Violence, Identity, and Connection: the Taifa of Denia and the Medieval Mediterranean” [abstract]
• Travis Bruce (History: McGill University)
Respondent: Joshua White (History: University of Virginia)
11:30–11:45 Introductions
11:45–12:00 Coffee
12:00–1:15 Workshop Paper #2
“Mediterranean Vessels: Fibonacci, Copernicus, and the Role of Arabic Manuscripts in the Transmission of Scientific Knowledge” [abstract]
• Erica Ferg (Religious Studies: Regis University)
Respondent: Robert Pasnau (Philosophy: CU Boulder)
1:15–2:30 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:30–3:45 Workshop Paper #3
“Saladin: War and Peace, or the Mediterranean?” [abstract]
• Chris Chism (English: UCLA)
Respondent: William Granara (Near Eastern Studies: Harvard)
3:45–4:00 Coffee
4:00–5:00 Keynote Presentation:
“Musica turchesca: Italian Ears and Mediterranean Sounds in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany”
• Emily Wilbourne (Musicology at Queens College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York)
Introduced by: Suzanne Magnanini (French and Italian: CU Boulder)
6:30— Dinner/ reception (see below)
Saturday 22 October 2022
9:15—9:45 Coffee and Registration
9:45—10:00 Opening Remarks
10:00—11:00 Keynote Presentation
“Soldiers of Fortune: Two Brothers and the Adventures of Antiquities from the Mediterranean to Gilded Age New York”
• Konstantina Zanou (Italian Studies: Columbia)
Introduced by: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
11:15–12:30 Round Table 1
Religion, Ethnicity, Nation & Race: How did modes of identity evolve from Late Antiquity to Modernity?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Celine Dauverd (History: CU Boulder)
• Sam Cohen (History: Sonoma State)
• Andrew Devereux (History: CU Boulder)
• Matthew Lynch (History, Religion, and Philosophy: Oregon State University)
• Aaron Stamper (History: Princeton)
• Joshua White (History: University of Virginia)
• Nina Zhiri (Literature: UC San Diego)
12:30–1:30 Lunch
1:30—2:45 Round Table 2
“European” or “Mediterranean” – How best to describe the intellectual and cultural genealogy of Modernity in the wider West?
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
Respondent: Aun Hasan Ali (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Suzanne Magnanini (French and Italian: CU Boulder)
• Karen Pinto (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Nuria Silleras-Fernandez (Spanish and Portuguese: CU Boulder)
• Rebecca Wartell (Jewish Studies: CU Boulder)
• Jill Heydt-Stevenson (English: CU Boulder)
• Filippo Gianferrari (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
2:45—3:00 Coffee
3:00-4:15 Teaching the Pre-Modern as Mediterranean: The Sea in the Middle & Texts from the Middle
• Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
• Sergio La Porta (Armenian Studies: Fresno State)
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Thomas Burman (Medieval Studies: Notre Dame)
4:30–5:45 Round Table 3
What was the Mediterranean role in the evolution of Western politics and the economy?
Moderator: Amy Remensnyder (History: Brown)
Respondent: Toby Yuen-Gen Liang (History: Academia Sinica)
• Nicole Archambeau (History: Colorado State University)
• Fred Astren (Jewish Studies: San Francisco State)
• Claudio Fogu (Italian Studies: UC Santa Barbara)
• Camilo Gomez-Rivas (Literature: UC Santa Cruz)
• Kathryn Hain (History: Northeast Community College)
• Stefan Stantchev (Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies: Arizona State)
5:45—6:00 Concluding Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos, Sharon Kinoshita & participants
7:00— Dinner (see below)
Participants:
• Allison Kanner-Botan (Divinity/ Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations: University of Chicago)
• Chelsea Kennedy (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
• Roger Martínez-Dávila (History: University of Colorado Colorado Springs)
• Catherine Otachime (History: CU Boulder)
• George F. Taylor II (Center for Asian Studies Advisory Council: CU Boulder)
Staff and Administration
• Allie Besant, Religious Studies department manager
• Barbara Middlebrook, Graduate student coordinator
• Katlyn Blaksten, event coordinator
• Matthew Greenlee, grad student volunteer
• Augusto Rocha, grad student volunteer
Practica
Arrival:
From the Denver International Airport, you can catch a pre-paid shuttle, an RTD bus or (usually the best deal): Lyft or Uber.
Wifi
Use Eduroam (account required) or CU Guest Wifi (follow the prompts)
Lunches
Lunches are provided free to participants.
Accommodation:
Presenting participants are lodged at the Chautauqua Historical Park (900 Baseline Rd, Boulder, CO 80302-7547 Boulder, tel.: 303 442 3282, which is a 25-minute walk from the workshop location.
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz) and Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder).
The Fall 2022 workshop is hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder and organized by the CU Mediterranean Studies Group with the sponsorship of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization. This event is made possible by the generous support of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Humanities, Classics, History, French & Italian, Asian Languages and Civilizations, Spanish and Portuguese, Philosophy, Art and Art History, the Center of African and African American Studies, the Center for Asian Studies, and the Department of Ethnic Studies. Administrative support provided by Religious Studies