The Winter 2023 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
Friday & Saturday, 3 & 4 February
University of Miami/ Florida International University
“From Mediterranean to Atlantic”
Miami is a city famous for being a port to Latin America, and a port within the Americas—it is an Atlantic city. In this special coastal location, we hope to have a conversation about both an historical transition, and a scholarly method. The transition is what took place economically and politically in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the rise of the Portuguese and Spanish empires and a shift in economic activity. Fernand Braudel (whom many of us enjoy debating!) and Emmanuel Wallerstein and other economic historians have described the rise of entrepôt cities, or even a Modern World System at this time, creating a global economy, and a shift from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic world. So, we wish to discuss this transition, from all angles. We are also interested in historiographic questions regarding the ways the Mediterranean Seminar and its associates use the Mediterranean as a frame or method, and whether or not Atlantic history has similar qualities or advantages as a non-national history (by including Europe, Africa, the Americas, etc., just as Jews, Christians, Muslims, and many others are included in Mediterranean studies).
Program & Papers
All papers [click on the title to download] are copyright the author and are not to be copied, distributed or cited without express written permission by same.
Click on the participant name to see their bio.
Friday 3 February 2023
Location: Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Dr., Coral Gables (parking & official website)
9:00 Rendezvous in hotel lobby for ride-share
9:15—9:45 Coffee and Registration
9:45–10:15 Opening Remarks
• Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder) and Sharon Kinoshita (Literature: UC Santa Cruz), The Mediterranean Seminar
• Elizabeth Terry-Roisin (History, Florida International University) and Hugh Thomas (Director, Center for the Humanities, University of Miami)
10:15–11:30 Workshop Paper #1
“The American Promised Land, a Sephardic New Haven” [abstract]
• Shai Cohen (Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Miami)
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: David Wacks (Romance Languages, University of Oregon)
11:30–11:45 Introductions
11:45–12:00 Coffee
12:00–1:15 Workshop Paper #2
“Grave-Robbing as Philanthropy: How Tombs Became Taxable Treasure in Colonial Latin America” [abstract]
• Jeffrey Baron (History, University of Rochester)
Moderator: Yuen-Gen (Toby) Liang (Institute of History and Philology: Academia Sinica)
Respondent: Bianca Premo (History, Florida International University)
1:15–2:20 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
2:20–3:35 Workshop Paper #3
“Making Friends and Enemies in Spain and the New World” [abstract]
• Shai Zamir (History, University of Michigan)
Moderator: Hugh Thomas (Director, Center for the Humanities, Miami University)
Respondent: Mayte Green-Mercado (History, Rutgers University-Newark)
3:45 Rendezvous and depart to Graham Center 355 at Florida International University’s Modesto Maidique Campus [instructions] [there is metered parking at the Graham Center]
4:30–5:30 Keynote Presentation:
“Creating Conversos: The Carvajal-Santa María Family from the Mediterranean to Atlantic World”
• Roger L. Martínez-Dávila (History, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs)
Introduced by: Elizabeth Terry-Roisin (History, Florida International University)
5:30 Reception
7:00— Dinner (see below)
9:30— Post-workshop meeting (see below)
Saturday 4 February 2023
Location: Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Dr., Coral Gables (parking & official website)
9:30 Rendezvous in hotel lobby for ride-share
9:45 Coffee and Registration
10:15 Opening Remarks
10:30—11:45 Round Table 1
How did the beginning of the Atlantic world transform geographies of trade and exchange in both the Atlantic world and the greater Mediterranean?
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies: CU Boulder)
Respondent: Karen Rose Mathews (Art History: University of Miami)
• Gwyn Davies (History: Florida International University) “The Proto-Atlantic World”
• John Galante (History: Worcester Polytechnic Institute) “Italic Communities and the Making of an Italic Atlantic”
• Yuen-Gen (Toby) Liang (Institute of History and Philology: Academia Sinica) “Northern Africa as Interlocutor between Old and New Worlds in the Atlantic Age”
• Lisa Lillie (History: Maryville University) “England, Tuscany, and Braudel: the Northern Invasion Reconsidered”
• Medardo Gabriel Rosario (Modern Languages: Florida international University) “Piracy, Trade, and the Emergence of Creole Societies in the Atlantic World”
• Justine Walden (History: University of Wisconsin-Madison) “Justifications for Enslavement from the Mediterranean to the Atlatnic: From Religion to Race”
11:45–1:15 Lunch (for speakers and registered participants)
1:15–2:30 Round Table 2
How can Mediterranean studies enrich Atlantic studies and vice versa? In what ways are the methods similar or different?
Moderator: Yuen-Gen (Toby) Liang (Institute of History and Philology: Academia Sinica)
Respondent: Susanna Allés-Torrent (Modern Languages and Literatures: University of Miami)
• Olatunde Taiwo (History: University of Ghana) [position paper]
• Dominque Reill (History: University of Miami) “Why integrating Atlantic and Mediterranean studies is necessary for Modern European History?”
• Sofyan Essarraoui (Sociology: Eotvos Lorand University) [position paper]
• Brian Murphy (History: Rutgers University-Newark) “How Mediterranean Frameworks Might Connect the Atlantic World”
• Hamid Ait-el-Caid (International Relations and Political Science: Corvinus University of Budapest) “Mediterranean legacies in the Atlantic: the case of American Moors”
• Roberta Morosini (Literature: Università degli Studi L'Orientale) “Mediterranocentric Atlantic. The case of Bordone's island book (1528)”
2:45–3:30 Concluding Presentation & Remarks
• Elizabeth Terry-Roisin “Mediterranean and Atlantic History”
• Brian A. Catlos, Sharon Kinoshita, Hugh Thomas & participants
Participants:
• Henry Anderson (Religious Studies: University of Colorado Boulder)
• Linde M. Brocato (University Libraries: University of Miami)
• Charles Bartlett (History: University of Miami)
• Tim Martin (History: University of Miami)
• Dabney Park (Modern Languages: University of Miami)
Staff and Administration
• Ony Dunnam de Gonzalez (Center for the Humanities, University of Miami)
• Craig Scully-Clemmons (University of Miami)
• Deborah Munecas (Florida International University)
Sponsors, Organization & Support:
This workshop is organized by Elizabeth Terry-Roisin (Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz) and Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder).
The Winter 2023 workshop is hosted by Miami University and Florida University, with the sponsorship of The College of Arts & Sciences; The Center for the Humanities; The Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies/FELDENKREIS Program; the English Department; the History Department; The Michele Bowman Underwood Department of Modern Languages and Literatures; and the Religious Studies Department at the University of Miami and the University Graduate School, the Green School of International and Public Affairs, the Ruth K. and Shepard Broad Distinguished Lecture Series, the Departments of History, English, Religious Studies, Politics & International Relations, and Modern Languages, as well as the History graduate student organization at Florida International University, the CU Mediterranean Studies Group & the Mediterranean Seminar.