The CU Mediterranean Studies Group with the support of Benson Center for Western Civiilzation will host the Mediterranean Seminar’s Fall 2022 Workshop on the topic “The Mediterranean Origins of the West”  which will take place in person in Boulder, Colorado on Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct. 22.

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.

We seek to explore, inter alia, questions relating to the role of the Islamicate world and of peoples of Africa and West Asia in the evolution of modern science, theology, art and literature; the nature and significance of political and commercial engagement between the Islamic and Christian spheres; the role of gender, class and social affiliations; and the status and role of ethnic and religious minorities in pre-Modern and Modern Mediterranean societies. We are interested in discussing the development of phenomena typically associated with modernity, including slavery, racism, colonialism, and the emergence of nationalisms and national cultures. Historiographical and methodological questions are also important: how has this history been misinterpreted or distorted, what approaches can we use to better understand it, and how can we effectively disseminate it, whether within academia, to the public, or through our teaching?

This two-day meeting includes three workshop papers, keynote presentations by Emily Wilbourne (Musicology at Queens College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York) and Konstantina Zanou (Italian: Columbia University), three round-tables, a panel session relating to the new textbook and sourcebook The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650-1650 and Texts from the Middle: Documents from the Mediterranean World, 650–1650 and many opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Lunches are provided.

Numbers are limited. Prior registration is required.

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.