2nd International Conference on Mediterranean Worlds

An international conference organized by the Department of History of the Eastern Mediterranean University, Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali e Storiche Università di Salerno & Department of History of Istanbul Sehir University. The idea, and the ideal, of 'Mediterranean' have always been hotly debated. From the Pirennian disruption of Mohammed (vis-à-vis Charlemagne), via the Braudelian concept of unity in the long durèe, to the more recent ecological and geographical approaches of Horden and Purcell, 'Mediterraneanism' (the peculiar characteristics that the cultures living around the Mediterranean had, and still have, in common), has stimulated and perplexed the scholarly mind. Historians in particular are often on the lookout for unity, distinctiveness and connectivity binding together peoples, cultures and imaginaries, inhabiting its coastlines. The 'Mediterranean world' therefore, traversing different historical periods, has given rise to an impressive volume of extraordinary interpretations, life-world strategies, and symbolic constructions. Such activity manifests itself in the remarkable literature, art, philosophies, religions, archaeological readings, political theories and economic practices, of the region.