News & Events
Oxford UP plans new Mediterranean Series
In the last generation the study of the Mediterranean region has been
transformed. Far more people write about its documentary history; what
we can say about its archaeology has multiplied tenfold. The sorts of
questions asked about the material have changed radically, too, with
far more sophisticated analyses of political process and cultural
change now being offered than ever existed before. Crucially, this
exponential expansion now presents much greater scope for comparison
and synthesis: where once regions were considered only as isolated
fragments of a post-Roman or a Crusading/post-Crusading world, or
where, on the other hand, generalizations were made about a vast area
without adequate evidence, all parts of the Mediterranean world can now
truly begin to be understood in relation to one another. Several
large-scale syntheses have recently taken up that challenge; a further
challenge is to build on those or, indeed, to critique them.
Oxford Studies in Mediterranean History seizes this scholarly moment. It will present original works that contribute not only to the study of a specific place, period, or theme, but also to a larger, integrated picture of the medieval Mediterranean. The emphasis will be on serious but engaging books for a broad academic audience, marketable both as discrete works of scholarship and as part of a wider initiative to highlight threads of commonality and compare points of difference across a large area.
Chronologically, the parameters of the series will be c.300 to c.1600; our remit is to look at the entire span of the middle ages in its specific Mediterranean environment. Geographically, the region will be generously construed: a southward-looking France (or, earlier, Gaul) will come within the purview of the series, as will the Balkans, and its boundaries will of course extend beyond the sea’s northern shores to showcase exciting developments in the histories of the Middle East and North Africa.
In terms of topics and themes, the series will be open to the most interesting and innovative work, whatever its character. The series will be a platform for new discovery, but will look for studies with a substantial degree of analysis rather than presentations of raw data. From archaeology to archive, all types of empirical evidence are welcome, provided that authors engage with the wider implications of their research.
It is expected that the length of each submission will normally be within the range of 80,000-120,000 words. Each book will be published in hardback initially, and consideration will be given to a subsequent paperback edition. Titles will be published worldwide, with all the benefits of OUP’s global marketing and distribution expertise.
Series Editors:
Oxford Studies in Mediterranean History seizes this scholarly moment. It will present original works that contribute not only to the study of a specific place, period, or theme, but also to a larger, integrated picture of the medieval Mediterranean. The emphasis will be on serious but engaging books for a broad academic audience, marketable both as discrete works of scholarship and as part of a wider initiative to highlight threads of commonality and compare points of difference across a large area.
Chronologically, the parameters of the series will be c.300 to c.1600; our remit is to look at the entire span of the middle ages in its specific Mediterranean environment. Geographically, the region will be generously construed: a southward-looking France (or, earlier, Gaul) will come within the purview of the series, as will the Balkans, and its boundaries will of course extend beyond the sea’s northern shores to showcase exciting developments in the histories of the Middle East and North Africa.
In terms of topics and themes, the series will be open to the most interesting and innovative work, whatever its character. The series will be a platform for new discovery, but will look for studies with a substantial degree of analysis rather than presentations of raw data. From archaeology to archive, all types of empirical evidence are welcome, provided that authors engage with the wider implications of their research.
It is expected that the length of each submission will normally be within the range of 80,000-120,000 words. Each book will be published in hardback initially, and consideration will be given to a subsequent paperback edition. Titles will be published worldwide, with all the benefits of OUP’s global marketing and distribution expertise.
Series Editors:
- Carol Lansing, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Daniel Smail, Professor of History, Harvard University
- Chris Wickham, Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford