Beginning July 1, 2010 and funded through June 30, 2015, the University of California Multicampus Research Project (MRP) in Mediterranean Studies will bring together faculty and graduate students from eight University of California campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz) and outside institutions to collaborate on research and pedagogy across periods and disciplines as part of a larger initiative, The Mediterranean Seminar.
The aims of this project include:
• fostering innovative interdisciplinary research in the emerging field of Mediterranean Studies,
• developing Mediterranean-centered courses and curricula,
• contributing to graduate and undergraduate education at the University of California, and
• encouraging scholarly collaboration among individuals and institutions across North America and the World.
The project’s mandate is not merely to discuss various historical and cultural developments which took place in the Mediterranean, but to analyze the region on its own terms, as a coherent entity and useful heuristic tool, through a series of specific questions. Taken on these terms, the multivalent and contextual Mediterranean provides not only a means of understanding regional developments, but a counterpoint to a range of established paradigms relating to, for example, Europe, the Islamic World, Africa, and Modernity, as well as the nature of ethnicity, acculturation, trade & exchange, conflict, religious identity, gender and cultural/national identity to name a few.
Call for Presenters & Participants
A call for presenters and participants will be sent out approximately 8 weeks prior to each workshop (early applications and inquiries are welcome).
The Mediterranean Studies MRP will subsidize the travel expenses of up to 30 attendees per seminar (in addition to the paper presenters). We hope in this way to encourage the ongoing participation of as many UC faculty and graduate students as possible. Depending on the location of each quarter’s seminar, eligible attendees may, upon submission of receipts, be reimbursed up to $350 for transportation and lodging. Non-UC scholars are welcome to attend, but we cannot guarantee they will be eligible for reimbursement.
Each year, selected papers from the seminars will be published as part of the Mediterranean Seminar series published by the University of Valencia Press (Spain).
MRP Program 2010-2011
The core activity of the Mediterranean Studies MRP will consist of quarterly workshops (normally held on Fridays, with the venue rotating among various participating northern and southern California UC campuses). Each meeting will include discussion of (1) a common article-length reading related to the special topic of that quarter’s seminar or to Mediterranean Studies more generally and (2) four pre-circulated works-in-progress (each approx. 25-40 typescript pages, double-spaced). Of these, three will normally be by UC faculty or affiliated members of the MRP; where appropriate, these papers should in some manner address that seminar’s special topic with a view towards the Mediterranean as a region. One slot will normally be reserved for an advanced graduate student, whose paper may but need not address that seminar’s special topic.
The quarterly workshops will often be coordinated with related events such as lectures by visiting scholars and one-day conferences scheduled on adjacent days to encourage workshop participants to attend.
MRP associates are encouraged to propose Mediterranean Studies events. The MRP may be able to provide limited support for activities that support the mandate of the project.
Grants & Awards
The Mediterranean Studies MRP plans to sponsor a series of grants and awards, including:
• an annual UC undergraduate essay prize,
• an annual graduate student essay prize,
• bursaries for graduate studies to present Mediterranean Studies papers at major conferences,
• a biennial book prize,
• grants for course and curricular development.
Details will follow in subsequent newsletters.
Key Dates: 2010-2011
Fall Workshop – 8 October 2010
Why the Mediterranean? – UC Santa Cruz
Guest Scholars: David Ablulafia (Cambridge)
Anna Sapir Abulafia (Cambridge)
1 September – Paper Proposals Due
24 September – Participant registration
Winter Workshop – 25 February 2011
Court Cultures & the Mediterranean – UC Santa Barbara
with a one-day conference on Court Culture on 26 February
Guest Scholars: TBA
20 January – Paper Proposals Due
11 February – Participant registration
Spring Workshop – 8 April 2011
Mediterranean Empires – UC Davis
with a one-day conference on Empires on 9 April
Guest Scholar: Peregrine Horden (Royal Holloway)
1 March- Paper Proposals Due
24 March- Participant registration
Future Workshops
Topics under consideration for future workshops include:
• Periodizing the Mediterranean
• Movement, migration, and diaspora
• Oceanic Studies: the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and Indian Ocean
• Economics, trade, and interfaith interactions
• Cultural hybridities
Proposed future locations include:
• Fall 2011 – UCLA
• Winter 2012 – UC San Diego
• Spring 2012 – TBA
The Mediterranean Studies MRP welcomes suggestions for workshops and proposals for guest scholars and complementary conferences and events (please contact your campus liaison).