The Fall 2026 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
18 & 19 September: American University of the Mediterranean (Barcelona)
The Urban Environment
Roman and Helleno-Persian antiquity endowed the Mediterranean with a highly-developed urban character which survived the crises of Late Antiquity and flourished during the medieval revival (characterized by the expansion of Islam, the stabilization of Byzantium, and the emergence of Frankish power). Throughout, cities served as centers of administration, of religious and secular culture, of patronage and production, of growth and innovation. The cities of the premodern Mediterranean constituted nodes of defense and bases for expansion. As gateways and ports (whether maritime or terrestrial), they were centers of production, distribution, and consumption. Some held great symbolic significance. As urban environments, they tended to be ethno-religiously diverse and sometimes impressively cosmopolitan. To some, they represented the prospect of liberty and prosperity; to others, contamination and moral compromise. They were not static: over time, and especially with changes of political or religious regime, cities varied in size, function, and lay-out. New cities were founded and others abandoned or repurposed. In an overwhelmingly agrarian premodern world, the urban character of the Mediterranean set it apart from its hinterlands and was an essential element driving the historical and cultural processes that defined the region and helped lay the foundations of modernity.
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.
Friday, 18 September 2026
Location: Universitat de Barcelona, Room 102A [detailed directions]
10:00-10:15 Opening Remarks
• Ignasi Pérez (American College of the Mediterranean)
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Sharon Kinoshita (Literature Emerita: University of California, Santa Cruz)
10:30—11:45 Workshop Paper #1
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
“Small Worlds in a Late Medieval Megalopolis: Patronal, Economic, and Charitable Networks in Constantinople, c. 1261-1341” [abstract]
• James Cogbill (History: University of Oxford)
Respondent: Karen Mathews (Art & Art History: University of Miami)
11:45-12:00 Coffee break
12:00-1:15 Workshop Paper #2
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature Emerita: University of California, Santa Cruz)
“Migration, Urban Space, and Phatic Force in Sixteenth-Century Neapolitan Song” [abstract]
• Nathan Reeves (Global Studies: University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
Respondent: William Granara (Middle Eastern Studies: Harvard)
1:15-2:45 Lunch (for registered participants) Introduction to ACM Programs
3:00-4:15 Workshop Paper #3
Moderator: Andrew Devereux (History: University of California, San Diego)
“The City as Bride: The Erotics of Conquest in Medieval Iberia” [abstract]
• Wiktoria Bryzys (Romance Studies: Boston University)
Respondent: Tom Barton (History: University of San Diego)
4:30-6:00 Keynote Presentation & walking tour
”Climate-proof Urbanism in Barcelona: Pilot Areas for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” [abstract]
• Francesc Muñoz (American College of the Mediterranean)
Introduction: Ignasi Pérez (American College of the Mediterranean)
[download the presentation slides and self-guided tour]
8:00-10:00 Dinner (see below) for workshop presenters, moderators, and round-table presenters
10:00— Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Saturday, 19 September 2026
Location: American College of the Mediterranean • Carrer d'Ausiàs Marc, 27 “Cartago” room [detailed directions]
9:30–10:00 Coffee and Registration
10:00–11:15 Round Table 1: Centers of Power
How did the physical and administrative structure of cities contribute to the articulation of power and the establishment of social relations? How did elites use the urban environment, and how did subalterns? How did the urban environment contribute to dynamics of engagement, innovation, subversion or control?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Ante Becir (Croatian Institute of History) “The Urban Environment as Political Arena: Power, Conflict, and Social Relations in Late Medieval Dalmatian Towns“ [abstract]
• Edward Holt (History: Grambling) “Simulating Medieval Urban Environments with Digital Twins: A Case Study of Córdoba“ [abstract]
• Karen R. Mathews (Art & Art History: University of Miami) “Signs of Connectivity and Competition: Constructing a New Visual Vocabulary of Port Cities in Mediterranean Nautical Cartography (11th to 14th c)” [abstract]
• Núria Silleras-Fernández (Spanish and Portuguese: University of Colorado Boulder) “Centers of Power: Cultural Capitals/Cities as Capitals “ [abstract]
• Pavla Tichá (History of Art: Masaryk University) “Jerusalem in the Palace: Holy City and Imperial Self-Representation in Late Antiquity” [abstract]
11:15-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30–12:45 Keynote Presentation
”Cities and the Political Order of the Medieval Mediterranean World” [abstract]
• Patrick Lantschner (History: University College London)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
12: 45—2:15 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:15—3:30 Round Table 2
- The Shape of the City
Were there particular the physical and social structures and lay-outs of Mediterranean cities. How were these shaped by Mediterranean dynamics and how did they contribute to them. How did individuals, collectives and communities of diverse social, ethnic, confessional and cultural orientations interact with the urban environment and with each other?
Moderator: Sergio La Porta (Arts and Humanities: California State University, Fresno)
• Houssem Chachia “Urbanizing Exile: Morisco Refugee Towns in Early Seventeenth-Century Tunisia” (History: University of Tunis) [abstract]
• Cristina de la Rosa-Garcia (History: University of Barcelona) “Layers of Power: Oran/s Urban Spaces as Palimpsest, 16th & 17th Centuries” [abstract]
• Erica Ferg (Religious Studies: Regis University) “From Citadel to Harbor: The Transformation of Urban Malta in the Early Modern Mediterranean” [abstract]
• Dana Katz (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study: Uppsala University) “City of Water: Urban Expansion and Environmental Adaptation in Medieval Palermo“ [abstract]
• Fotini Kondyli (Art: University of Virginia) “Negotiating the Ancient City: Monuments, Social Practices, and Urban Life in Byzantine Athens“ [abstract]
3:30-3:45 Coffee Break
3:45—5:00 Round Table 3 - Perceptions and Representation
How was food viewed and depicted in art and across the various genres of literature (including fiction and non-fiction, prose, poetry, and scientific, moral or religious texts)? What particular dynamics and tensions did this produce?
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (Literature Emerita: University of California, Santa Cruz)
• Fred Astren (Jewish Studies: San Francisco State University) “Seizing the Center: Reimagining Space and Time in Tenth-Century Karaite Jerusalem“ [abstract]
• Nicola Carpentieri (Linguistics & Literary Studies: University of Padua) “Palermo imagined, Palermo encountered: the Accounts of Ibn Hawqal and Ibn Jubayr“[abstract]
• John Dagenais (Spanish and Portuguese: UCLA) “The Des-regiment de la Cosa Pública According to Frances Eiximenis and Jaume Roig“ [abstract]
• Andrew Devereux (History: University of California, San Diego) “Imagined Cities of the Torrid Zone” [abstract]
• Dallin Evans (Art History: Rice University) “The Elegaic City, Cordoba and Mainat al-Zahra from the Nostalgic Poets' Perspective” [abstract]
• Sergio La Porta (Arts and Humanities: California State University, Fresno) ”A City Divided: The narrative role of urban topography in a medieval Armenian text” [abstract]
• Mauricio Molina (American College of the Mediterranean) “O Roma nobilis: Song and City as Locus Communis and Locus Insignis” [abstract]
5:00—5:15 Concluding Remarks
• Sharon Kinoshita (Literature Emerita: University of California, Santa Cruz)
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
Participants
• Karen Bassi (Literature/Ancient Studies: University of California Santa Cruz)
• Kyle Farmbry (Leadership Programs: The American Association of Colleges and Universities)
• Mayte Green-Mercado (History: Rutgers University-Newark)
• Anna Gutgarts (History/ Haifa Center for Mediterranean History: University of Haifa)
• Rachel Scott (English and Modern Languages: Royal Holloway, University of London)
• Jessie Stoolman-Bakhat (Literatura Espanyola, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
• Carmel Vassallo (Faculty of Arts: University of Malta)
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder), Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz) and Ignasi Perez (American College of the Mediterranean). It is sponsored and organized by the American College of the Mediterranean, together with the Mediterranean Seminar and the CU Mediterranean Studies Group, and hosted by the American College of the Mediterranean.