08 May Mediterranean Matrix: Memory, Movement, Migrant in Late Modernity
Thursday, May 8 / 9:30 AM
Mosher Alumni House
Friday, May 9, / 10:00 AM-1:00 PM
MultiCultural Center Theater
This symposium focuses on three central notions associated with the manifold transformations of the Mediterranean Sea in modern times: memory, movement, and migration. It is at the crossroads of these three axes that we speak of a “Mediterranean Matrix.” Mediterranean modernities—characterized by the rise of republicanism, the consolidation of the nation-state, the subsequent formation of supra-national global entities and the advent of rapid transportation technologies that bridged its opposing coastlines—deserve to be address separately and by redefining the Mediterranean as a “matrix of human movement,” instead of the narrower idea of “a space of exchange.”
The presenters will be paying attention to film, literature, political and philosophical thought, history and, of course, music. Since the circulation and transmission of melodies and harmonies is central to an understanding of the Mediterranean, the program also includes the participation of the UCSB Middle Eastern Ensemble on Thursday May 8, 2014 with a program of music from Andalusia, North Africa, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean to complement the presentations.
Sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of French and Italian, The Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor Diversity, Equity, & Academic Policy, The Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, Center for Portuguese Studies, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Comparative Literature Program, Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, Department of Black Studies, Department of Music.