The Medieval Mediterranean & the Emergence of the West

NEH Summer Institute for College and University Professors

June 30–July 25, 2008 ¥ Barcelona (Spain)

 

 

Program

Location & Facilities

Course Structure

Faculty

Schedule

Bibliography and Course Materials

Projects

 

 

Location & Facilities:

The Palau del Lloctinent is located in the heart of BarcelonaÕs Old City, between the Cathedral and the royal palace. Constructed in the 16th century, it was originally the residence of the Catalan viceroys. Until the 1990s it housed the Archive of the Crown of Aragon. Completely renovated in 2005, the palace now serves as a conference and exhibition space.  The Summer Institute will be held on the second floor of the Palau, accessed via the elevator to the left of the security kiosk in the patio. We will have use of a conference room, a seminar room, and reading room, all air-conditioned and fully accessible.

The Palau is less than a 10-minute walk from the Residencia de Investigadors [directions] and about 15 minutes by foot from the Campus del Mar [directions].

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Course Structure:

The Institute combines colloquia, lectures, workshops and independent study.  Each participant will be expected to attend the formal study sessions, and work on a project of his or her own proposing (see below, for more information).

The course is divided into four broad thematic units (see Schedule, below). There will be two instructors for each unit; each of whom will present one formal colloquium and moderate two workshop sections. Prior to the commencement of the Institute the participants will be divided into two groups of 12: A and B; each group will have a separate workshop section which each instructor.

In addition, guest faculty from Barcelona will give presentations on the Archive of the Crown of Aragon, and on Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon in the Medieval Mediterranean.

Two Òfield tripsÓ are planned: a walking tour in Barcelona and a trip to Girona.  At the moment these are tentative, contingent on budgetary factors.  The Institute may not be able to cover the full cost of these activities.

The work of the Institute will be divided into four one-week thematic units, each featuring two Faculty Members/Visiting Scholars:

¥ Mediterranean Spaces considers the nature of the Mediterranean as a geographical and environmental entity, asking how these conditions may have shaped social, commercial, political, and cultural developments.

¥ Contact and Diffusion addresses themes as diverse as military encounters, commercial relations, and the diffusion of institutions, technologies, and ideas. Why did some of these ÒtravelÓ widely and others not? What were the processes of acculturation and adaptation involved?

¥ Relations and Transmission continues the inquiry launched in the previous unit, with a focus on forms of expression (languages, literary genres, and other cultural manifestations). What is the relationship between social and cultural histories of the Mediterranean? What varied roles do religious minorities play within dominant cultures around the Mediterranean? 

¥ Image and Substance turns to visual modes of expression and material technologies of culture. Under what circumstances could artistic and architectural styles and forms cross religious ÒdividesÓ? What do patterns of distribution and acculturation reveal about ethno-religious interaction?

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Faculty & Organizers:

For detailed information regarding faculty and organizers, click here.

Brian A. Catlos (History, University of California Santa Cruz)
Sharon Kinoshita (Literature, University of California Santa Cruz)
Jonathan Bloom (Islamic and Asian Art, Boston College)
Anthony Cutler (Art History, Penn State)
Ross Brann (Near East Studies, Cornell University)
Richard Bulliet (Middle East Institute, Columbia University)
Peregrine Horden (Medieval History, Royal Holloway, London)
Maria Rosa Menocal (Spanish and Portuguese, Yale)
David Nirenberg (Committee on Social Thought/ History, U. Chicago)
Julio Samsó (Philology, Universidad de Barcelona).

 

Schedule:

The language of the workshops and colloquia will be English. Occasional presentations will be made in Catalan or Spanish, in which case  simultaneous translation will be provided.

 

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Bibliography and Course Materials:

Course material will be made available to participants prior to commencement of the Institute; we strongly suggest that you print this material and bring it with you to Barcelona. (This can be done in Barcelona as well).

A list of background readings, which Participants may find it helpful to read prior to the course, will be available here beginning in January 2008.

A full bibliography, of works pertaining to each unit can be downloaded here beginning in March 2008.

Course readings will be available to down load here in June 2008.

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Projects:

Each participant will be expected to develop a project over the course of our four week Institute, some or all of which may be published in whole or part in print form or on the Mediterranean Seminar web page. Projects may take a number of forms depending on participantsÕ technical and linguistic skills and interests. This might include a synthetic, historiographical or theoretical essay based on secondary sources, a work of original research based on documents available online or at local archives, or a curricular project, such as a syllabus and lesson plans for an interdisciplinary Mediterranean Studies course. We suggest you familiarize yourself with the materials available in Barcelona as you develop your project proposal.  For online catalogs see, Facilities.

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DOWNLOAD APPLICATION MATERIAL

 

 

Disclaimer: Information provided on this site and the documents linked to it is provisional and subject to change without notice at the organizersÕ discretion.  Neither the NEH, UCSC, nor the Mediterranean Seminar take responsibility for the content of external internet sites.