The Mediterranean at the Center the Medieval West, sessions at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, University of Pennsylvania, March 7–9, 2019

Papers are being sought for sessions on “The Mediterranean at the Center the Medieval West," to be proposed by the Mediterranean Seminar for the 94th annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America on the theme of "the Global Middle Ages," to be held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 7-9 March 2019.

“The West” can no longer regarded simply as the particular manifestation of western European Christian cultures and societies born of autochthonous influences, and in opposition to Islamic, Jewish and Christian societies of Europe, Africa and Western Asia. Rather it should be seen in the Middle Ages as broad cultural sphere extending from the Indus to the Atlantic and the Subsaharan to the European north — a region in which during the Middle Ages the Mediterranean was the locus of the most important processes of acculturation, innovation and exchange.

We are seeking papers in any appropriate discipline, including but not limited to art history, literary and cultural studies, musicology, and political, intellectual, social or economic history, relating to the role of the Mediterranean as a theater for the historical processes of the pre-Modern period that shaped western cultures and societies. Papers may discuss case studies, broader trends, or methodologies. Papers with comparative, theoretical and revisionary perspectives are particularly welcome.