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Although "contact," "circulation," and "exchange" have been central tropes
in Mediterranean historiography ever since Braudel's classical study, The
Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1949),
until recently scholars of the early modern Mediterranean focused
overwhelmingly on economic, military, and political encounters. It is only
in the past decade that the multifaceted and multidirectional nature of
interaction across political, linguistic, and religious boundaries has
re-assumed centre stage in the study of the early modern Mediterranean.
Renewed interest and shifting analytical focus have resulted in much greate
recognition of the centrality of the Ottoman Empire to cultural processes
(including Renaissance and Humanism, the religious reform movements of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the Scientific Revolution), once
thought of as uniquely "European." Indeed, scholars in the emerging field of
early modern Mediterranean studies increasingly challenge the very notion of
"East" and "West" as discrete civilizations and seek to develop alternative
models for understanding interaction and convergence at particular
conjunctures. Yet, despite the optimism of recent publications, the study of
such interactions in the Mediterranean is still at its nascent stages, owing
especially to limited scholarly dialogue across disciplinary and linguistic
boundaries. |
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The workshop on Networks of Interaction in the Early Modern Mediterranean
(University of Toronto, 12-13 Oct., 2007) aims to address this problem by convening
an international, multi-disciplinary and multi-generational group of scholars, whose
current research agendas promise to break new ground in the field of early modern
Mediterranean studies. Participants represent an array of geographical foci, from
France, Spain, and North Africa to the Ottoman and Venetian empires, and a range of
disciplinary traditions, including history, literature, religious studies, history
of science, art history, and architectural history. It is our hope that this
workshop will help build an international, interdisciplinary network of scholars
engaged in collaborative teaching and research in this field. |
Acknowledgements |
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The organizers gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions of the
following U-T programs that made the workshop and website possible: The Jackman
Humanities Institute, the Department of Humanities (UTSC), the Office of the
Vice-Principal for Research (UTSC), the Office of the Dean of Students--the
School of Graduate Studies, the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies,
and the Jewish Studies Program.
Special thanks also go to the following individuals for their support and
advice: Jane Abray, Dan Bender, Bill Bowen, Leslie Chan, Tom Cohen, Libby
Cohen, John Coleman, Natalie Zemon Davis, Konrad Eisenbichler, Bob Gibbs,
John Harper, Monica Hretsina, Nick Terpstra, Laurel Wheeler, and Kim Yates. |
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