Mediterranean Identities

International Conference:

Mediterranean Identities. Formation and Transformation

University of Leicester, Friday 26 – Sunday 28th March 2010

at John Foster Hall

Recent studies of the Mediterranean have been dominated by the construction, reinforcement, representation and renegotiation of identities. As a departure point, this conference will address theoretical approaches to the formation and transformation of these identities throughout time and space. Especially, the use of comparative methods in the history of communal identities in the Mediterranean Sea will highlight not only the course of their development but also will explain their extraordinarily long survival, e.g. Greek or Jewish Identity.

Questions to be addressed might include, but are certainly not limited to: 1) How are identities formed? 2) How are they represented? 3) How do communities and societies organize and express themselves spatially? How does their identity relate to that of surrounding spaces and surrounding communities? How permeable are the boundaries? 4) How is power distilled from heterogeneity? 5) To what extent is the formation of identities governed by economic considerations? 6) How do wars, revolutions and migrations affect collective identities? 7) How do identities develop and evolve over time? 8) To what extent can we identify a ‘Mediterranean identity’? 9) Can we recognize patterns of identity that cut across different Mediterranean communities and cultures? 10) How far did the elite centres of Greece and Rome inform the ways peripheral communities and later societies deployed and understood their populations, geography and environment? 11) How should we approach the archaeology of identity? 

This conference is part of a larger project that aims to assess the value of ‘identity’ as a tool of intellectual enquiry in the disciplines of archaeology, classics, history, literature and art history. It sets out to explore identities in the full range of spheres – social, political, cultural, religious and economic – and their value as a tool of historiographical enquiry into ancient and modern societies in the Mediterranean world. Furthermore, it seeks to depart from the ‘traditional’ social constructionist interpretations, who focus only on the impact of culture on the formation of identities.

Organisers

Leicester:        Dr Constantina Katsari           This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nottingham:   Dr Mark Bradley                    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

TOPOI          Dr. Kerstin Hofmann              This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          

Official Email:                                              This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it