Power and the Mediterranean, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, November 13–15, 2015

Paper proposals are being accepted for the conference Power and the Mediterranean will be held on 13–15 November 2015 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The keynote speaker will be Julia Clancy-Smith (University of Arizona).

In the 2014 Blackwell Companion to Mediterranean History, Sharon Kinoshita notes, “As we approach the present, the Mediterranean, in the view of some historians, loses its power as a category of historical analysis.” In the same volume, Brian Catlos writes, “The ethno-religious diversity of the Mediterranean cannot be considered in isolation from the relationships of power that characterized the region.” What then, are these power relationships? What kinds of power - colonial, imperial, ethnic, religious, gendered, racial, symbolic - have been relevant to the Mediterranean area?

The conference is aimed at graduate students and junior faculty. We encourage submissions from a range of disciplines including, but not limited to, literary studies, anthropology, sociology, history, political science and international relations, art history, women’s studies, classical and ancient studies, as well as other area studies.

Submission may address questions including: How have power relations in the Mediterranean been figured across history? When and how is power exchanged between states, communities, and individuals? How is power relevant to discussions of politics, culture, and the future of the Mediterranean? How are power relations affected by migration and movement within the Mediterranean region and beyond?