CFP: “From Mediterranean to Atlantic World,” Winter 2023 Mediterranean Workshop
Paper proposals and round-table participants are being sought for the Mediterranean Seminar’s two-day Winter 2023 Meeting, to be held at Florida International University/the University of Miami on 3 & 4 February on the subject “From Mediterranean to Atlantic World.”
Miami is a city famous for being a port to Latin America, and a port within the Americas—it is an Atlantic city. In this special coastal location, we hope to have a conversation about both an historical transition, and a scholarly method. The transition is what took place economically and politically in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the rise of the Portuguese and Spanish empires and a shift in economic activity. Fernand Braudel (whom many of us enjoy debating!) and Emmanuel Wallerstein and other economic historians have described the rise of entrepot cities, or even a Modern World System at this time, creating a global economy, and a shift from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic world. So, we wish to discuss this transition, from all angles. We are also interested in historiographic questions regarding the ways the Mediterranean Seminar and its associates use the Mediterranean as a frame or method, and whether or not Atlantic history has similar qualities or advantages as a non-national history (by including Europe, Africa, the Americas, etc., just as Jews, Christians, Muslims, and many others are included in Mediterranean studies).
For the workshop (to be held on Friday, 3 February), we invite abstracts of in-progress drafts of articles or book/dissertation chapters on any subject (historical, economic, cultural, literary, artistic, religious, or historiographical) relating to either the historical moment “From Mediterranean to Atlantic world” or to the historiographical advantages or disadvantages of either method—Mediterranean Studies/History or Atlantic Studies/History. Papers from across the humanities or social sciences, including disciplines such as history, literature, cultural studies, religious studies, art history, musicology, anthropology are welcome. Our Mediterranean is construed geographically as including southern Europe, the Near East and North Africa and into the Black Sea and Central Asia, and the Red Sea and the western Indian ocean: however, due to our specific topic at this workshop, scholars working on Europe, the Americas, and Africa are also encouraged to apply.