The Winter 2025/26 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
8 & 9 December: Abu Dhabi
Oceanic Crossroads:
Bringing the Indian Ocean into Conversation with the Mediterranean
Over the past seventy years, following most notably the work of Braudel (1949), Horden and Purcell (2000), and Burman, Catlos, and Meyerson (2016), Mediterranean Studies has become a dynamic field of study, with the Mediterranean itself ably serving as a lens through which geographic, religious, and political borders could be interrogated and longer connectivities emphasized. Much of this work focused on the medieval and early modern periods, but with implicit and explicit influence on how we have come to understand the complexities of topics such as migration and intellectual exchange across the Mediterranean during later periods—for example, in the context of the nineteenth-century intensification of European colonialism with Clancy-Smith’s study of European economic migration to North Africa (2012), or with Khuri-Makdisi’s investigation of the networks that facilitated the spread of socialism and anarchism between urban metropoles in the Eastern Mediterranean in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (2010).
The field of Indian Ocean Studies has a younger genealogy, beginning in the late 1970s and 1980s with the foundational work of Chaudhuri (1978) and Abu-Lughod (1989) that stressed the economic and political connections across this considerably larger body of water. These initial works have been followed by an increasingly diverse and rich body of material that has focused on a variety of arenas of connection, including Arabia and East Africa, the Persian Gulf and the Indian sub-continent, or Arabia and Indonesia. In many of these connections, the Monsoon has played a key role, both as a structuring natural phenomenon and as a metaphor. As noted recently by Nile Green (2021), the studies of the two bodies of water, their histories, societies, and interconnections have during the past decades largely continued in parallel, seldom directly interacting. There are good reasons for this: however defined, the Indian Ocean framing addresses a much larger geography, encompassing greater linguistic, religious, and cultural diversity; it is not self-evident that parallels between the two would be productive.
With this caveat in mind, this edition of the Mediterranean Seminar takes “Oceanic Studies” as a means to explore possible connections, productive parallels, or critical rejections—the ways that Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Studies can be brought together (or should be kept apart). In so doing, we remain cognizant of criticisms of both fields, to the extent that they risk marginalizing land-based networks and spheres of influence. However, we assume that these fields, as with other framings like the burgeoning Silk Road Studies, are heuristics that can advance our understanding if we keep their contingencies in mind.
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
Monday 8 December 2025
Location: C2 Campus East Forum
7:00 – 10:00 Breakfast (Jannah Burj Al Sarab Hotel)
10:15 Rendezvous in lobby for bus transfer (Pick up outside hotel lobby)
10:45-11:00 Coffee and Registration
11:00-11:15 Opening Remarks
• Maurice Pomerantz, Executive Director NYUAD Institute
• Justin Stearns (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Heather Badamo (History of Art: University of California Santa Barbara)
11:15-12:30 Workshop Paper #1
“A Sea on the Way to Somewhere Else? Amphorae and Arabian Centrality in Hellenistic–Late Republican Maritime Trade (3rd–1st c. BCE)” [abstract]
• Mateo González Vázquez (Classical archaeology & Ancient History: Universität Trier)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
Respondent: Eric Staples (Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism)
12:30-12:45 Introductions
1:00–2:15 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:15-3:25 Workshop Paper #2
”Traveling Textiles: Indian Ocean & Red Sea - Mediterranean” [Images] [abstract]
• Michael Gervers (History: University of Toronto)
Moderator:Justin Stearns (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
Respondent: Erin Pettigrew (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
3:25-3:40 Coffee Break
3:40-4:50 Workshop Paper #3
“Sounding Indian Ocean: Marfa and the Siddi-Hadrami Lifeworlds in Hyderabad, India” [abstract]
• Khadeeja Amenda Chundanveetil Puthiya Nalakath (Cultural Studies in Asia, National University of Singapore)
Moderator: Heather Badamo (History of Art: University of California Santa Barbara)
Respondent: Andrew Jarad Eisenberg (Music: New York University Abu Dhabi)
4:50-6:00pm Recess
6:00-7:15 Keynote Presentation
“Thinking with Shipwrecks: Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of the Indian Ocean” [abstract]
• Nancy Um (Research and Knowledge Creation: Getty Research Institute)
Moderator: Justin Stearns (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
7:45–8:30 Reception/Dinner (see below) for workshop presenters, moderators, and round-table presenters
8:30 Bus transfer to hotel
9:00—11:00 Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Tuesday 9 December 2025
Location: C2 Campus East Forum
7:00 – 9:00 Breakfast (Jannah Burj Al Sarab Hotel)
9:15 Rendezvous in lobby for bus transfer (Pick up outside hotel lobby)
9:30–10:00 Coffee and Registration
10:00–11:15 Round Table 1
- Environments
How did the environments of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean shape dynamics of trade and exchange? Did these environments differ or complement each other; if so, how and with what effect?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Heather Badamo (History of Art: University of California Santa Barbara) “Hazardous Geographies: Writing Global Art Histories from the Wreckage“ [abstract]
• James Beresford (Lifelong Learning: Aberystwyth University) “The Competing and/or Complementary Seasonality of Long-Distance Maritime Trade in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean During the Hellenistic and Roman Periods“ [abstract]
• Mohamed Enab (Islamic Archaeology: Fayoum University) “Indian Echoes in Yemeni Coastal Architecture: Artistic and Cultural Intersections across the Indian Ocean“ [abstract]
• Maria Gajeswska (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World: New York University) “Indian Ocean Worlds? The Monsoon Dichotomy in Indian Ocean History“ [abstract]
11:15—11:30 Break
11:30–12:30 Round Table 2
- Ethno-religious diversity
The Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions were both characterized by a high level of ethno-religious diversity. How did strategies for approaching this differ or resemble each other? How did this effect outcomes?
Moderator: Heather Badamo (History of Art: University of California Santa Barbara)
• Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi (Tourism and Heritage: United Arab Emirates University) “Witch Hunting, Law, and Managing Difference from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean“ [abstract]
• Leonardo Gregoratti (Cultural Heritage: University of Udine) “Connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean: the Palmyrene-Characenian Trade Alliance“ [abstract]
• Edward “Ed” Holt (History: Grambling State University)“Marian Kingship in the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans“ [abstract]
12:30–2:00 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:00—3:00 Round Table 3 - Imagination & Representation
How were the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions imagined or represented in art literature, geography or sciences? To what extent were the seen as connected or as distinct? How were they related culturally?
Moderator: Justin Stearns (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Marcella Simoni (Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Forscari University) “Ink, Identity, and Exchange: Jewish Presses Bridging the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean 1880s–1940s“ [abstract]
• Felipe E. Rojas (English and Modern Languages: West Liberty University) “From the Mediterranean to the Indian Sea: Imperial Continuities in Andrés de Claramonte’s El nuevo rey Gallinato” [abstract]
• GS Sahota (Literature: University of California Santa Cruz) “Inter-Oceanic Studies as Cosmopolitan Horizon: A Critique of Dalrymple’s The Golden Road“ [abstract]
3:00—3:30 Concluding Remarks
• Justin Stearns (History: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Heather Badamo (History of Art: University of California Santa Barbara)
7:30—9:00 Dinner (see below) for workshop presenters, moderators, and round-table presenters
9:15 Bus transfer to hotel
9:30—11:30 Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Participants
• Munther Alsabagh (College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Zayed University)
• Atef Alshehri (independent)
• Charlie Fong (Arab Crossroads Studies: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Marina Giotti (Center for Genomics and Systems Biology: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Salila Kulshreshtha (History and Art and Art History, Arts and Humanities: New York University Abu Dhabi)
• Ayesha Mualla (Mass Communication: University of Technology and Applied Science Nizwa)
• Mahnaz Yousefzadeh (Liberal Studies : New York University)
Practica
Arrival:
Transfers for presenters will be arranged by Nirvana travel.
Accommodation:
Presenters stay at Jannah Burj Al Sarab Hotel, Al Meena St - Al Zahiyah - E13 - Abu Dhabi.
Transfers will be provided (see Program, above).
Wifi:
Log in via eduroam or on the NYUAD guest netork (credentials provided at meeting)
Lunches:
Lunches are provided free to participants.
Dinners:
Monday - A reception will be held on site following the keynote presentation.
Tuesday - al-Mayass Restaurant in The Galleria Mall on Maryah Island - arrive by Uber or taxi (self-organize)
Post-workshop meetings:
For those not overwhelmed by jet-lag, we might meet for a drink at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi, which is across the street from the Jannah Burg Hotel (a 15-minute walk).
• Participants & attendees welcome.
Local contacts
• Nirvana Travel and Tourism LLC – New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) branch,
UAE Local Number: 02-628 7250 • From outside the UAE: +971-2-628 7250 • Duty Mobile: +971 508006771
nyuad@ntravel.ae - www.ntravel.ae
• Gila Bessarat-Waels, Director of Academic Programs •gila.waels@nyu.edu • tel.: +971 2 6284025
• Omar Hindawi, Assistant Manager, Academic Programs • oh554@nyu.edu • tel.: : +971 2 6285242
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado, Boulder), Sharon Kinoshita (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Justin Stearns (New York University, Abu Dhabi). It is sponsored by the NYUAD Institute together with the Mediterranean Seminar and the CU Mediterranean Studies Group