Abstracts
10:00 – 1:00
Walking-tour of Salamanca (pre-registration required)
Universidad de Salamanca. Edificio Histórico. Patio de Escuelas, 1
6:30 Opening Session
7:30 Reception hosted by the University
of Salamanca
Universidad de Salamanca. Edificio Histórico. Patio de Escuelas, 1
1A. Myth in the Mediterranean: A Diachronic
Approach
Chair: Vaios Vaiopoulos, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece
Athena Hadji, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, “Et in Arcadia ego: Flight or Return? The Mythological Dimensions of the Reception of the Greek Landscape”
The myths associated with Arcadia are among the oldest in Greek mythology. Arcadia, an evocative place, became the setting of wild myths such as Lycaon and mystery religions with a strong chthonic element, such as Despina and the daughter in Likosoura. Later, during the reception of Greek antiquity in the Western world, Arcadia was not conceived as an actual space, but rather as an imaginary landscape, a perfect destination for people with romantic moods. From poetry to depictions of landscape of the period, the myth of Arcadia did not only survive, but was transformed into a new idea concerning space: a utopia in the concept of utopia and eutopia of Thomas More, but also a reminder of the perishable in human life: et in Arcadia ego, a stereotypical expression, an expression which aroused the interest and captured the imagination of artists and researchers, and continues to inspire art at both a local and international level. Arcadia promises a return to lost innocence, but is loss the price one has to pay for this return? The paper aims to consider the site of Arcadia and the function of the myth from its obscure origins. It also attempts to answer the question, why is myth still alive today?
Ioanna L. Hadjicosti, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, “The Weighing of Souls: The Motif of “Psychostasia” from Homer to Byzantium”
One of the biggest questions of humanity concerning the existence and role of the soul was touched upon by Aeschylus in his now lost work Psychostasia. The “kērostasia” (weighing of gloomy fates) of the epic cycle, a process by which the death of one of the heroes in a duel was decided upon on Mount Olympus, was replaced for the first time with “psychostasia” (weighing of souls) by Aeschylus. Thereafter the term psychostasia enjoyed a continual presence in the literature and iconography of antiquity. As a term, psychostasia is also found in Byzantine texts, and as a subject, it survived in Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting. Modern research has focused on issues such as the origin of the motif and its various transformations in antiquity, its major redefinition in the Christian era and its subsequent widespread usage. Emphasis has also been placed on the usage of the motif and its connotation in different contexts. To this end, we will examine ancient and Byzantine texts as well as the iconography of the period.
Stella Souvatzi, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, “Before and Behind Greek Myths or the Past in the Past: Symbolism, Ideology and Tradition in Greek Prehistory and Its Role in the Making of Memory and Continuity”
This paper follows different chronological guidelines from those suggested by the title of this conference since it does not examine the use of myths from antiquity onwards but rather their possible origins in prehistory and redefinition thereafter. The basic tenet of this paper is that ancient myths, with all their tangible and intangible dimensions (space and time, symbols, ideas, ritual practices), can be better understood if we approach them as a continuum, that is, not only taking into account what came after but also what came before, pay attention to the role of oral history, collective memory and materialism of civilization and, ultimately, examining how the ancients themselves viewed their past. After all, prehistory constitutes the lengthiest section of human history and civilization. The same, of course, applies to Greek prehistory whose characteristics include the wealth of its material remains and the significance and continued presence of civilizations that inhabited the region over the centuries. Whereas allegations regarding the “Hellenic” identity of our prehistoric past are neither correct nor appropriate (and certainly do not feature my argument), it is equally inappropriate to ignore the dynamics of prehistoric times as the spatial and ideological substratum of subsequent symbolic concepts and practices, many of which survive to this day. This paper presents examples of such concepts and practices through architecture, art and iconography, with particular emphasis on the Bronze Age. For example, the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur takes place in Minoan palaces and the eruption of Thera and the sinking of the prehistoric town of Akrotiri are (wrongly) connected to the myth of Atlantis and The Republic of Plato. The Great Mother or Goddess of Fertility, common in Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, with possible origins in the beginnings of human history, the deities of the Young Goddess and the Young God, and generally all the symbolism of the circle of life and nature, survive in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Prehistoric Lemnos, which was a pioneer in the field of pyrotechnics and metallurgy, was considered by the ancient Greeks as the island of Hephaestus and the Cabiri, while references to Lemnos in the myth of the Argonauts is connected to the sea trips undertaken for the purpose of obtaining valuable raw materials for metallurgy.
1B. Identity and Culture in the Western Mediterranean: Four Cases
from the Middle Ages
Chair: Carla Rahn Phillips, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Michelle Hamilton, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Identity and Death in a Hebrew aljamiado Version of the Danza de la muerte”
In this paper I examine how a fourteenth-century copy of the Spanish cancionero text, the Danza general de la muerte, reflects not only aspects of Jewish and converso culture in the Crown of Aragón, but also how the Danza itself reveals a familiarity with pan-Mediterranean traditions. In this Hebrew aljamiado text, the figure of Death shares more similarities with Mediterranean Muslim traditions concerning the Angel of Death than with the skeleton figure portrayed in Northern European dances of death from the same period. Such a reading of the Hebrew aljamiado Dance of Death, with its origins in Aragón, should be read in the context of the Crown of Aragón as a maritime power and center of Mediterranean trade during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
François Menant, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, “Identity and Emigration, 12th-14th Centuries: Shepherds, Ironworkers and Dockers from Bergamo throughout Italy and the Mediterranean”
This paper intends to present a symmetrical point of view to Kay Reyerson’s “Maritime Identity and Culture in Aigues-Mortes”: Bergamo, a medium-sized city lying at the foot of the Alps, east of Milan, takes in few foreigners and has little importance in the large-scale European and Mediterranean trade. On the other hand, from the 12th century on, thousands of men from Bergamo and from the surrounding contado, especially the alpine valleys, go to work abroad, throughout northern and central Italy and sometimes much further afield. Their main skills are in ironmining, blast furnaces, and cattle breeding; we also find many Bergamasks abroad as teachers, ironmongers, weavers, soldiers, or longshoremen, especially in the harbor of Genoa. Like most Italian cities, Bergamo also sends abroad every year some podestà, professional civil servants who govern foreign cities, and their aids, judges and notaries. We have a good deal of information about the strong identity that all these men, most of whom are skilled workers and self-conscious citizens, maintain in their new dwelling places scattered through Italy, and on the very peculiar image of the Bergamasks that other Italians project throughout the centuries.
Kathryn Reyerson, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Maritime Identity and Culture in Aigues-Mortes ca. 1300”
It comes as no surprise that a Mediterranean port such as Aigues-Mortes on the Languedocian coast of France would have a diverse population of inhabitants and transients tied, in one way or another, to the sea. But how did these individuals interact with royal and port authorities, what flexibility was there in the maritime environment regarding off-loading of ships, how did perceptions of regulations differ among people of different origins, and what maritime memory was there? An inquest procedure, ordered by Philip IV of France in regard to the taxation of imports at Aigues-Mortes and the obligation of ships to put in there, generated eighty-four pages of testimony by over fifty men of diverse origins, sailors, former sailors, merchants, fishermen, immigrants from Genoa, men from Catalonia, Roussillon, Provence, Majorca, central France, and small maritime places nearby. Many of the witnesses were fifty years or older, with memories extending back thirty or more years. They reveal their occupational history as well as their experience of trading along this stretch of Mediterranean coast. This paper will examine these testimonies for evidence of maritime and cultural identities in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Aigues-Mortes.
Mary Quinn, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, “Morisco Identity in Late Medieval Iberian Cultural Production”
Drawing on contemporary theoretical discourses of genre studies and postcolonial theories of identity, in this paper I will explore how the modern novel was created first in Spain because of the cultural vacuum produced by the expulsion of the Muslim population. Late medieval and early modern notions of the self, particularly those generated by mass expulsions and inquisitional trials, created a space for new narrative strategies. Cervantes’s Don Quijote represents the culmination of these narrative strategies, I argue, as the absent Muslim population created a physical, historical, and artistic aperture in Early Modern Spain, one that ultimately could only be addressed by a new form, the novel. I will also discuss the themes of identity and genre in the context of a new national phenomenon in Spain—the ballad song repertoire as published in vihuela books of the late medieval period.
1C. Transnational
Identities I
Chair: Faith Harden, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Richard Bonanno, Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts, “Boston’s Italian-American Death Memorials”
Boston’s Italian-American community has
a storied past, and its unique history has left its mark. The city’s North End
neighborhood, once the bustling center of Italian life, now boasts a greater
cultural diversity, but even the casual visitor readily notices the distinct
imprint and influence of the Italian immigrants who settled there over a decade
ago. The neighborhood includes numerous nostalgic tributes to the lives and
works of some of the community’s most influential members. These memorials are
palpable, but what of the many deceased men, women, and children who made this
and other Boston neighborhoods their home? Situated approximately 8 miles from
the North End neighborhood is St. Michael’s Cemetery, which now markets itself
as “Boston’s affordable private cemetery.” It is home to hundreds of stately
headstones and granite mausoleums that offer great insight into the city’s
Italian-American community. I intend to share my findings concerning the
historical, cultural, and artistic importance of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an
overlooked gem in the city of Boston and an impressive Italian-American
landmark.
Daniel Enrique Perez, University of Nevada, Reno, “Migrants and Empires: Love, Hate, and Economic (Co)Dependency”
In this interdisciplinary study, Daniel
Enrique Pérez conducts a comparative analysis of the relationship between
migrants and empires in several countries: Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, and
the United States. He argues that the relationship between migrants, especially
undocumented immigrants, and the empires to which they migrate is one that is
based on similar factors despite particular experiences: 1) these countries
depend on immigrants economically and socially, 2) immigrants are racialized in
a way that limits their acceptance and participation in the social fabric of
their adopted countries, and 3) dominant discourses in the media are designed
to portray undocumented immigrants as undesirables by overwhelmingly
transmitting anti-immigrant rhetoric. This study examines a combination of
current research related to immigration and immigrant populations as well as
cultural texts that reflect the immigrant experience in each of these
countries. By doing so, he demonstrates how the lives, identities and
experiences of migrants are shaped by the dominant culture in their adopted
countries in a similar fashion. This study aims to lead to a better
understanding of global migrant experiences by examining the relationship
between migrants and empires in various Mediterranean communities and abroad.
Jaione Markaida, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, “Spain: From ‘Immigrants Welcome’ to a Diplomatic Offensive to Regulate the Influx of Immigration”
In January 1st, 2010 Spain has assumed
the rotary presidency of the European Unity. Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero has announced new policies which support a competitive
economy and the growth of social programs. Many political analysts showed
skepticism about Spain´s six month rule. Even though in the 1990s Spain
experienced an economic growth and wanted to join the Group of Eight, presently
its economy is weaker than predicted. Currently the unemployment rate in Spain
is 19%, the second largest in the EU after Lithonia. In addition, despite the
advice from other member countries, Spain lacks a policy to regulate
immigration. Spain´s economy is mainly based on construction and tourism. In
the last decade illegal immigrants were welcomed but in recent years the
construction industry has decreased greatly resulting in high rates of
unemployment. This has left many illegal immigrants out of work and unable to
collect any unemployment compensation. As a consequence of the economic crisis
tension are arising among immigrants and nationals, many incidents have
occurred that have been unpublished by the national press. But in early
January, the major of Vic, a small town in Catalonia, declared the town did not
have the budget to support all the immigrants and denied them the right to
register, “empadronarse” in the City Hall. Therefore, denying them the right to
attend school and to have access to medical services. Vic´s policies spread to
other towns rising tensions between the autonomous governments and Madrid.
Spain´s 1990´s economic success has attracted thousands of immigrants from
other continents and this has transformed it from a country that exported
immigrants to a country suffering an immigration flow. In 2005, despite the
opposition of other European Union members, the central government announced a
general amnesty for illegal immigrants and supported an open border policy.
This research will analyze how the collapse of the Spanish economy and the
influx of unregulated immigration have become obstacles for Zapatero
credibillty and consequently other members of the European Unity as well as
autonomous governments are strongly criticizing his policies.
1D. An Example of Cultural Adaptation / Cultural
Transformation: Settled Europeans in Alanya, Turkey
Chair:
Yesim Ocak, Maltepe University, Turkey
Filiz Susar-Özdıl, Maltepe University, Turkey, “An
Applied Example, Used by Local Government, as a Means of Communication while
Searching for Solutions: The Assembly of Foreigners”
Alanya is a town that is situated in the
Mediterranean region of Turkey, and is preferred to be settled in by people
from Germany, England, Holland and some other European countries, in the last
15-20 years. Today the population of settled Europeans in Alanya, is thought to
have reached more than 10 thousand. The Assembly of Foreigners was founded by
the Municipality of Alanya in 2004, in order to find solutions for the problems
of the settled foreigners, and to define their demands. This assembly aims to
help the settled foriegners to adapt themselves to social and cultural life, to
strengthen international ties, and make people from different countries be
familiar with Turkish culture, to find out their everyday life problems and to
present solutions for them. In this paper, the services and the facilities that
this assembly has provided for these foreign residents, in order to make them
adapted to social and cultural life, will be discussed by depending on the
datum that have been gathered through depth interviews made with the members of
this assembly.
Mine
Saran, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey, “Intercultural Communication
Barriers and the Role of the Social Capital and the Social Network while
Overcoming Them: An Example: The Settled Europeans in Alanya”
After World War II, while the direction
of the migration was from south countries to north countries, has now changed
to Mediterranean countries; Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Especially
foreigners who have come to Turkey have not only economic reasons but also many
others. Antalya and its districts like Alanya, Manavgat and Kaş are
very important centers of tourism and are preferable by settled foreigners.
This paper aims to find out the main reasons of the migration of the foreign
residents of Alanya, and to introduce the barries of communication they have
confronted with during their cultural adaptation process. In addition to this,
the role of the social capital and the social network while overcoming these
barriers, will be discussed by depending on the datum collected during the
field researches.
Mustafa
Kara, Maltepe University, Turkey, “An Example of Time and Space Variation in
the Interaction of Different Cultures: Foreign Immigrants in Alanya: SNOW BIRDS”
The differences between the local
culture of Alanya and the perception of foreign immigrants in everyday life
have been discussed in this documentary film in which the transformation of
time and place for both cultures has been witnessed. Most foreign immigrants
are retired or elderly people. Foreign immigrants having the traces of European
culture, encounter with local culture in many areas of everyday life. This
intersection of two different cultures cause an interaction of these two
unfamiliar cultures. When the appointments are made in German Time or Turkish
Time, planning and perception of time varies in all areas of life. Using
bicycle and bicycle parks, park and garden designs, pedestrian traffic
arrangements, the content and the designs of businesses like hotels, cafés -
restaurants, bakeries, butchers, supermarkets, furniture shops, etc. are
organized in a way which cannot be seen in the local culture. Different
perceptions between the two cultures arise particularly in language,
bureaucracy, uncertainty and traffic. Both of the cultures have varied during
the cultural adaptation process as they interact each other in many areas of
life. For example, while at Ramadan -an important element of local culture-
Müfti of the county prepares banners written in English and organizes iftar -
the breaking of Ramadan fast- meals for foreign immigrants, they celebrate
their own national special days with the local culture in the public sphere in
Alanya. The effect of the reasons for the migration of the foreigners and the
developments after migration on social and individual relationships, concrete
developments that have been reflected on everyday life, has been presented by
using oral history method and technical facilities of the language of film.
Yesim
Ocak, “The Effect of the Foreign Immigrant and the Companies with Foreign
Investment on the Local Economy of Alanya”
Antalya is a city that is widely
preferred to be settled and lived in by the foreigners. Among the other cities,
Antalya is the city where the population of the foreigners is the highest.
Alanya which is a town of Antalya, is the second prefered among the other
towns. According to the Trade and Industry Chamber of Alanya, there are more
than 500 companies with foreign investment. They compose 8% of the members of
the chamber. Various jobs in many sectors such as marble cutting, shoemaking,
being a baker or a butcher, can be seen in the town. In the recent years real
estate or food sector is more common. The high percentage of possessing
property in Alanya and the variety of countries is remarkable. It is known that
13 thousand people from 33 countries possess property in Alanya. Germany is at
the top of the list of these countries. The mobility of the real estate sector
is an important source for the local economy. According to the limited researches
done in Antalya, the settled foreigners live in here, are from low or middle
income classes. However, especially their food, clothing and transportation
expenses provide an important mobility within the local economy. In this paper,
both the effect of the consumption expenditure of the settled foreigners on the
local economy and the contributions of the companies with foreign capital to it
will be discussed.
1E. Early Modern Drama Part I: Cultural
Encounters
Chair: Gaywyn Moore, University of
Kansas, Lawrence,
Susan O. Shapiro, University of
Kansas, Lawrence, “Global Shakespeare: Black Tents and Trade Routes in
16th-century Africa”
Gaywyn Moore, “Stranger Merchants and
the Stranger Monarch in James’ Royal Entry”
David Bergeron, University of Kansas, Lawrence, “Hamlet’s Letters”
Richard Raspa, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, “Petruchio’s Paradoxical Intervention in The Taming of the Shrew: Inducing Change by Discouraging It”
2A. Transnational Identities II
Chair: M. Rebecca Leuchak, Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island
Elizabeth A. Kuznesof, University of Kansas, Lawrence, “The Brazilian Family in the Atlantic World: A Transnational Nineteenth-Century Perspective”
An Atlantic World perspective implies a
focus on how Brazil and in this case the Brazilian family was intimately and
overwhelming influenced by the broader political, economic and cultural
realities of Europe and Africa, at a minimum. The characteristics of the Portuguese
family and household definitely had resonance in Brazil, as did family
traditions and practices from Central Africa. What influence did the fact of
being in a different land with a substantial frontier have on family
definitions? Since race mixture essentially transformed Brazilian demography by
the eighteenth century it is important to ask how hybrid families dealt with
diverse family backgrounds? As I worked with these research questions I became
aware of an important aspect of the issue which I think has been insufficiently
emphasized in the literature. That is the amazing reality of continual
migration as a common experience of male adults in the Atlantic World of
Portugal and Brazil. Such migration patterns in the colonial period and the
nineteenth century suggest an Atlantic World reality that was enormously
immediate for many male Brazilians and Portuguese. In this paper I will argue
1) that the family traditions and values developed in European and African
cultures were significant in Brazil from 1500 to the present; 2) that migration
was an intrinsic aspect of family and household strategies and the life-course
model for Portuguese, Brazilians and Africans in the colonial period and the
nineteenth century; 3) that many Brazilians and Portuguese had a kind of double
or triple consciousness of Portugal, Europe, Brazil and often Africa because of
their migratory patterns. Furthermore (4) many Portuguese had kinship links
through marriage with Brazilians and thus had family clusters on both sides of
the Atlantic. This colonial transnationalism undoubtedly had an impact on
family patterns in Portugal, Africa and Brazil.
Pedro de Brito, Porto, Portugal, “British and Portuguese at the Battle of Salamanca, or the Arapiles (1812)”
In the major Peninsular War orders of
battle the ratio stood mostly by ca. 40% Portuguese infantry to 60% British
foot (which included 10% Germans of the King s German Legion). Notwithstanding,
in the battle that took place on the Arapiles Hills, just outside Salamanca, on
July 22, 1812, the Portuguese suffered 506 killed to the British 388.
Furthermore, since the Portuguese second estate was unwilling to accept the
radically new form of combat that came in the sixteenth century with the so
called Military Revolution, as shown in a previous M.S.A. conference, they were
unable in the long run to assume with efficiency the role of bellatores that
was traditionally theirs - two thirds of the key brigade and battalion
commanding posts in this hard fighting Portuguese army were thus filled by the
British. The purpose of this paper is to show how this integration of foreign
officers was achieved and perfected through Bussaco (1810), Albuera (1811) and
the sieges of early 1812. But if the field officers were mostly British, all
other soldiers, from captains down to the rank and file, were Portuguese born,
and made up the greater part of the casualties theirs is thus the greater
glory.
Martine Antle, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, “Mediterranean Travelers and Intercultural Gazes on the Other in Nerval’s Era”
What do narratives of Western travelers and their gaze upon the Other in Nerval’s age offer us? Might there be discourses and readings on the Orient and the harem different from those of Nerval? In turn, might Oriental travelers have also initiated new modes of reading the Other? These crossed gazes of the Occident on the Orient, of the Orient on the Occident, the gaze upon the Other, and cross-cultural in-betweeness are the focus of this talk. Specifically, I will demonstrate that what emerges from the writings of Oriental travelers in Nerval’s era is that they are hardly ever engaged in the process Westernization, a phenomenon linked to nineteenth-century colonial expansion which went against universalist and civilizing French thought. These travelers do not moralize. Nor do they judge, except perhaps, regarding the theater, which might incite women to be unfaithful or, according to Zaki, which might simply furnish them with the opportunity to parade about in their finery. I will establish, then, that if their writings bear no traces of questioning Orientalism and colonization, it is because their primary objective was to acquire knowledge and to return home with quasi scientific and beneficial teachings of western culture, particularly concerning its methods of government.
Anita
Herzfeld, University of Kansas, Lawrence, “Catchers of identities: ‘Lunfardismos’ of the 21st Century”
The popular speech of Buenos Aires,
Argentina, is a regional dialect that has become the common dialect of a larger
area. It has spread from the capital to the interior of the country and has
even reached other neighboring nations, such as Uruguay and Paraguay.
Additionally, not only is the lunfardo
of the XXI century made up of the historical lunfardo terminology based on Italian contributions, but at present
it is constantly being enriched by loans brought by immigrant speakers of other
languages, as well as by urban tribes, narco-traffickers, punks, gamblers,
myths, legends and others. This paper will attempt to classify some of these
recent additions to the lunfardo dialect
of Buenos Aires to show the different identities they represent.
2B. Roundtable Discussion. Up for Debate: The Usefulness of a
Mediterranean and Northern European Model in Addressing the Practice of
Clerical Concubinage in the Middle Ages
Chair: Michelle Armstrong-Partida, University of California, Los Angeles
Recent studies addressing the practice of clerical concubinage are frequently asked to address the perception that clerical concubinage and perhaps even clerical violence was more common place in the Mediterranean than in Northern Europe. This session seeks to engage scholars who study clergy in other parts of Europe to address the following: Is there a Mediterranean and Northern European model of clerical sexuality and violence? What overarching trends, such as clerical culture, customs, and education, can we identify that might help explain the prevalence of clerical unions in some regions and not in others? Are the constructs of a Mediterranean model and Northern European model even helpful to us? If local and regional culture/politics is the key, how do we situate our work in the broader theme of clerics lives and experiences? Considering the popular trend of comparative history, how do we make these comparisons in our scholarship useful, not only to each other, but also to the field of medieval history in general?
P. H. Cullum, University of Huddersfield, UK, “Patterns of Marriage and Household Formation in North-West Europe and Mediterranean Europe: Possible Effects on Patterns of Clerical Concubinage in Late Medieval Europe”
Demographers posit a distinct difference in patterns of marriage and household formation between North-Western Europe and the Mediterranean. North-West Europe is argued to exhibit a pattern of late companionate marriage i.e. one on which marriage takes place between partners who are close in age with marriage typically taking place in the mid twenties or later, where marriage is associated with household formation, and where a significant part of the population, both male and female never marries. By contrast Mediterranean marriage patterns are characterised by difference in age at marriage with men typically in their later twenties or even thirties and women in their teens, the married couple joining the husband’s household, and more or less universal marriage at least for women. Traditionally, clerical concubinage has been argued to be a feature of southern Europe but not of northern Europe and the paper will explore to what extent patterns of concubinage may correlate with patterns of marriage and household formation, and offer some explanations, but will also consider some problematics of this association.
Michelle Armstrong-Partida, “The Evidence from Two Spanish Kingdoms: Why a ‘Mediterranean’ Model of Clerical Concubinage is Problematic”
Throughout the kingdom of Castille-León and the Crown of Aragon, the practice of clerical concubinage or de facto marriage was a custom entrenched in clerical society. While the prevalence of clerical concubinage can also be found in Italy, the reasons why clerical unions flourished in Spain and Italy can be attributed to different factors, like clerical culture, ecclesiastical reforms, royal interference, and the Christian reconquest of al-Andalus. In Spain, the reforms of the eleventh century arrived late to the region and the campaign for celibacy was not embraced by native-born ecclesiastical elites. The sheer pervasiveness of clerical unions and the clergy’s resistance to celibacy resulted in the papacy making an exception for Spanish clerics: it allowed the penalty of excommunication or suspension from office to be replaced with a system of fines. The status quo, therefore, remained intact. However, the reasons why the practice of clerical concubinage continued unabated into the late medieval period varies for both Spanish kingdoms. Despite its prohibition in canon law, clerical concubinage was legal in the kingdom of Castille-León until the thirteenth century. Royal policy even disregarded church law and allowed clerics the privilege of naming their legitimate heirs. This was certainly not the case in the Crown of Aragon where royal policies neither supported nor condemned the practice of clerical concubinage. Church officials in the Crown of Aragon, on the other hand developed a policy of tolerance, and worked not to eradicate clerical concubinage, but to prevent clerics from flagrantly displaying their families in public. The circumstances that allowed the clergy in Spain to continue to marry and live in domestic partnerships do not correspond to the situation in Italy. While the prevalence of clerical unions may be greater in the Mediterranean than in Northern Europe, no uniform reason explains this trend. Rather, regional politics and local clerical culture may be the key to explaining why clerical concubinage was more common and socially accepted in some areas and not in others.
Anthony Perron, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, “Arma non sumant/Armis, non precibus, deo libamenta daturus: Clerical Reform and the Ambiguity of Violence in Scandinavia, 1150-1250”
Clerical celibacy was a principal demand of the “reformation” of the twelfth century. This was true no less in Scandinavia than elsewhere in the Latin church. Celibacy was, however, not an isolated demand. In the Nordic countries, rigor ecclesiasticus implied a renunciation of violence along with a renunciation of sex. Cardinal-legate Nicholas Breakspear (the future Pope Hadrian IV), for instance, in issuing a program of reform for the Norwegian church, demanded that priests not only eliminate the practice of concubinage, but also cease bearing arms. In neither case were reformers entirely successful in implementing the changes they desired, partly because both sex and violence were closely tied to cherished notions of masculinity in Scandinavia. What is more, while church leaders might be willing to tolerate clerical concubinage if it was kept private, clerical violence was often openly forgiven and under certain circumstances even sanctioned and praised. Even the reform-minded Archbishop Absalon of Lund, an advocate for sacerdotal celibacy, was said by Saxo Grammaticus to “serve God more with weapons than with prayers.” This paper will discuss the relationship between clerical concubinage and clerical violence in the Nordic lands from the mid-twelfth to the mid-thirteenth century. It will address the link between arms and sex as envisioned by church leaders in Scandinavia, but also delve into the ways in which actual instances of priestly violence were treated in practice. Finally, the paper will ask why and under what conditions clerical violence was accepted.
2C. Multiculturalism in the Eastern Mediterranean
Chair:
Veloudia Papadopoulou-Sideri, University of Athens, Greece
Christos
G. Karagiannis, University of Athens, Greece, “The Expansion of Mediterranean
Judaism and the Synagogue of Delos: An Historical and Archaeological Approach”
Delos is a small
island in the center of Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. During the 2nd century
B.C.E. there were Jewish and Samaritan communities on the island. The first
mention of an Israelite community comes in A’ Macc. 15:16-23. The passage
refers to a letter, from the Roman proconsul Lucius Calpunirnius Piso (140-139
BCE), which proves that the Jews were friends of Rome and the various kings
should protect them. According to Flavius Josephus during the reign of Julius
Caesar (49-44 BCE) two edicts were given that protected the right of the Jews
on Delos. Furthermore, two funerary stela of Jewish women who were murdered on
Delos were found on the island of Rheneia. Each stela contained a prayer for
vengeance against the murderers. On both the inscriptions of the two stela is
written the Greek form of “God, Most High”. Excavations on Delos revealed a
synagogue that was in use after the 2nd century BC. Two Samaritan inscriptions
were found close to the synagogue building, mentioning the Israelites of Delos
and the Greek form of mountain Garizin. This paper deals with the historical
elements of the Jewish communities on the island of Delos and focuses on the
archaeological finds of the Synagogue. Furthermore it discusses issues as the
question of the synagogue building and if it is the ancient one of the Diaspora.
Dimitrios
Panagiotopoulos, University of Athens, Greece, “John Chrysostom contra Judaism:
The Development of St. Paul’s Theology”
John Chrysostom in his writings against
Judaism had used St. Paul’s Theology. This paper is a mention in the fundamental
Christian Theology about the position of Judaism.
Marina
Kolovopoulou, University of Athens, Greece, “Alexandria: A City of Culture,
Major Representatives and Issues of its Spiritual Thought”
Ioannis
Panagiotopoulos, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, “The Christianization of
the Southeastern Mediterranean Judean Communities: Tolerance and Ferocity”
Judean communities have a crucial role
for the Christianization of Mediterranean. The paper opens a window to this
historical evolution.
2D. Second Language
Acquisition: Grammatical Tradition of Portuguese Grammars to Learn Portuguese
as a Second Language
Chair: Maria João Marçalo, University of Évora, Portugal
Ana Alexandra Silva,
University of Évora, Portugal, “A Portuguese and
English Grammar”
The growing interest of the Portuguese Language can be traced to the 17th Century.
In this session we are dealing with some grammars specifically designed for foreigners. We will focus our study on A Portuguese and English Grammar: Comp. from Those of Lobato, Durham, Sane and Vieyra (1820) by P. Babad, professor of Portuguese and Spanish languages in St. Mary’s College at Baltimore. This is will give us a comparative perspective on how Portuguese and English Grammar was seen by 19th century grammarians. We will be also be looking at A New Portuguese Grammar in Four Parts (1881) by Anthony Vieyra, an important source to P. Babad’s grammar.
Maria João Marçalo, University of Évora, Portugal, “A comparative view of the Spanish and
Portuguese Languages”
We aim to compare how two different grammars deal with the teaching of Portuguese as a Foreign Language in the 19th century. We will be focusing on A comparative view of the Spanish and Portuguese languages; or, An easy method of learning the Portuguese tongue for those who are already acquainted with the Spanish (1831) by Pietro Bachi and A brief grammar of the Portuguese language with exercises and vocabularies by John Casper Branne (1850).
Maria do Céu Fonseca, University of Évora, Portugal, “La enseñanza del portugués como lengua extranjera en gramáticas antiguas”
La historia de la gramática del portugués como lengua extranjera está por conocer. En 1672, el jesuita portugués Bento Pereira escribió en latín una Ars grammatica pro lingva lvsitana addiscenda (Leão, 1672), que será, muy probablemente, la primera gramática del portugués como lengua extranjera. No se pretende en este momento hacer tal historia, sino, junto con algunas actualizaciones bibliográficas, analizar aspectos de la contribución de autores diversos para el estudio de la historiografía del portugués como lengua extranjera.
1:15 – 3:00 Lunch (on your
own)
Thursday 3:00 – 5:00
3A. Poets of the Italian Diaspora
Organizer: Luigi Bonaffini, Brooklyn College, New York
Chair: Joseph Perricone, Fordham University, New York
Elis Deghenghi Olujić, Universitŕ di Pola Juraj Dobrila, Croatia, “La letteratura della Comunitŕ Nazionale Italiana (CNI) di Croazia e Slovenia”
Riassunto: In Croazia e Slovenia vive un’esigua comunitŕ di italiani, inseriti in un contesto plurietnico e multiculturale. Rimasti a vivere nello spazio del loro insediamento storico dopo l’esodo massiccio della popolazione di lingua e cultura italiana che durň, con momenti di maggiore o minore intensitŕ, dal 1943 al 1956, gli italiani di Croazia e Slovenia sono riusciti e ripristinare il filo della continuitŕ con la secolare civiltŕ italica di cui sono i legittimi eredi, conservando la propria identitŕ nazionale e culturale innanzi tutto attraverso la parola scritta. Alla fine degli anni Quaranta e l’inizio degli anni Cinquanta dello scorso secolo, nel triangolo istro-quarnerino prese l’avvio la letteratura istro-quarnerina o istro-fiumana, espressa in lingua italiana e nei dialetti locali, l’istroveneto, nella variante polesana e fiumana, e l’istrioto o istroromanzo. La letteratura istro-quarnerina, costituita da un bagaglio di opere legate indissolubilmente all’ambiente in cui nascono, arricchisce tanto la cultura croata e slovena quanto quella italiana, fungendo “da ponte” tra mondi diversi, il cui destino č di conoscersi, di capirsi, di dialogare con reciproco vantaggio. Questa letteratura č il prodotto originale dell’unica minoranza italiana autoctona nel mondo, mentre il territorio istro-quarnerino č la sola realtŕ culturologica italiana fuori dai confini di stato con un vincolo coerente di storia e costumi e con un patrimonio artistico di matrice latina e veneziana, prorompente anche nel panorama regionale.
Immacolata Amodeo, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, “Literature of Authors of Italian Origin in Germany: Representation, Institutionalization, Aesthetics”
This presentation focuses on the literature of authors of Italian origin in Germany from the 1960ies to the present situation. It aims at pointing out some general problems and some overall questions which might be important, from a comparative point of view, vis-à-vis the planned session. I will argue that this literature can (and should be) be contextualized by situating it against current official policies and ideologies of immigration in Germany. I will give a brief report on how the literary institutions have represented and institutionalized the subject. In view of the long persistence in literary studies (particularly in the German context) of approaches based on the notion of the ‘national’ (national identity, national literature, national culture etc.), a re-phrasing of the conceptual framework in this research area seems to be necessary. Finally, I will try to make some synthetic remarks on some aesthetic aspects of this very heterogeneous literary field, with special attention to the aesthetics of language. The literary languages, the choice of language, the change of language and language politics shall be characterized. One of the aims will be to highlight the topicality of lingual-aesthetic decisions.
Giose Rimanelli, State University of New York, Albany, “Rethinking Poetry”
3B. Medieval History I
Chair:
Renan Frighetto, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba,
Brazil
Renan Frighetto, “Gens fortis et potentissima: la idea de
identidad en el reino hispanovisigodo de Toledo, según el pensamiento politico
de Isidoro de Servilla (siglo VII)”
El desarrollo de las investigaciones y estudios relativos a la
caracterización del término gens/gentes en la Antigüedad Tardía ganó volumen en
los últimos años. A partir del concepto de transformación , tales estudios se
preocuparon en presentar los primeros síntomas de una identidad propia que
tendrá repercusiones en las actividades políticas, sociales y culturales de los
regni tardo antiguos. Si, por un lado, tenemos la tentativa de emulación de una
identidad más amplia basada sobretodo en una ideología regia y unitaria, de
otro encontramos la construcción de una identidad nobiliaria que defendía las
prerrogativas fundamentales de la nobilitas ante las perspectivas unitarias
pregonadas por la realeza. De las varias entidades políticas existentes en el
occidente tardo antiguo, herederas de la tradición cultural y política del
mundo clásico grecolatino, destacamos el reino hispanovisigodo de Toledo,
particularmente después de la conversión al Cristianismo católico ocurrida en
el año del 589. Hasta
entonces, integrados en el ambiente de la herejía arriana, los visigodos se
presentaban, desde el punto de vista ideológico, como pertenecientes a una gens
que se caracterizaba por poseer un pasado común y distinto de los
hispanorromanos. Todavía, con la conversión efectiva ocurrida en el reinado de
Recaredo (587-601) y el apoyo ideológico de pensadores cristianos de la talla
de Leandro de Sevilla y, posteriormente, Isidoro de Sevilla, se buscó
reelaborar la noción de identidad integrando elementos comunes de la gens
gothorum con otros de la gens romanorum que reforzaron, de manera
significativa, las bases ideológicas y políticas de la nobilitas hispanovisigoda
en el siglo VII.
Ieva Reklaityte, University of Zaragoza, “‘The Saracens are very skilled in constructing aqueducts’: The Importance and Uses of Water in the Medieval Islamic World”
The importance of water in the
Mediterranean area can be observed from the ancient times to nowadays. This
paper analyzes the importance of water and its uses during the medieval period
in the urban environment of the Islamic Medieval world, with special attention
to al-Andalus. Written sources as well as archaeological data reveal the
abundance of hydraulic works (cisterns, aqueducts, wells) that were concluded
in order to provide the city with water, besides several of the Roman aqueducts
and canals were reutilized during the Islamic period. The quality and purity of
potable water was one of the concerns of Islamic medical treatises.
Nevertheless, theoretical considerations related to water and its qualities
most surely were proper for high social classes. Meanwhile, the lack of
hydraulic resources sometimes made difficult the possibility of election. Only
the most well-to-do citizens afforded to have current water in their houses
while the major part of the population used water of private or public wells,
cisterns or river sources. Public water sources were normally frequented by
women who provided their houses of water and spent some agreeable moments in
the company of other females. A vast number of words for a water seller allow
assuring that they were very numerous in the medieval Islamic cities. The
presence of wells, small water ponds and tiny gardens in inner courtyards
helped to create an oasis within the house and also reflected the idea of a
Coranic paradise. At the same time, in the residences of the most prosperous
citizens, the faucets, pipes and decorative figures of the fountains were made
of lead and sometimes of precious metals in order to increment the beauty of
current water. Some of the most important and costly hydraulic works were
ordered directly by the sovereign who expected the gratitude of the citizens
and the comfort of himself. Therefore the arrangement of water adduction as a
construction of an aqueduct, as a rule, first of all provisioned with water
royal residences and after that such significant places as a Great Mosque or
public baths.
Barbara
Boloix-Gallardo, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, “Nasrid Naval
Power in the Mediterranean Area (XIII-XV Centuries)”
The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, which was
created in 1232, lasted for two and a half centuries and resulted in the
improbable perseverance of al-Andalus. Among the pillars that made its survival
possible (other than the existence of an institutional infrastructure, the
maintenance of diplomatic relations with both the Christian and other Muslims
states, the stability of the economy, etc.), was the development of a
considerable naval power, which was complementary to its army. Even though the
Nasrid fleet arose late (at the end of the XIII century), it reached a
remarkable level of strength in the later centuries of its existence. From the
end of the XIII century, we have documental evidence of several of the Nasrid
fleet’s activities designed to increase its influence in the Mediterranean area
in diverse aspects: in the military stage (in which we have several examples of
attacks undertaken by the Nasrids against Ceuta and the capture of some
Christians boats); the commercial and economic field (related to the mercantile
relations and treaties that the Nasrid kingdom developed with other economic
powers, such as the Italian Republics); and the social aspect (as we know that
the Andalusian population often travelled to the rest of the “Dar al-Islam” to
make the pilgrimage to Mecca), among others. It is also important to analyze
other elements that made the development of the Nasrid fleet possible, like the
existence of an important maritime architecture of ports and defensive “ribats”,
inherited from past decades, or the different type of ships and boats that were
used for these purposes.
3C. Aspects of the Past in the Eastern Mediterranean:
History, Strategies, and Perceptions
Chair:
Aristea Sideri-Tolia, University of Peloponnese, Kalamata, Greece
Kalomira
Mataranga, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece, “Ruses of War and Stratagems in
the Classical Greek World”
Military deception-in all its forms-is
as old as warfare itself. The aim of this paper is to examine the subject
principally from historical and military sources, such as Herodotus,
Thucydides, Aineias the Tactician. Some of the most illustrious and indicative
stratagems in classical times will be discussed from the viewpoint of efficacy
as well as on the level of morale. This paper will also try to demonstrate the
role and the importance of military deception in the art of war, as well as in
Greek consciousness.
Ilias
Giarenis, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece, “Cyprus between Byzantium and the
Arabs (7th-10th Centuries): A Condominium?”
Cyprus has long stood between
Byzantium and the Arabs as far as its political status is concerned. In the
paper certain aspects of the situation in Cyprus from the 7th century (688) to
the 10th century (963) are re-examined. Primary sources, among which the
letters of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas I Mysticus and the Life of
Saint Demetrianus, give us the opportunity for an in-depth analysis. Political,
military, cultural and religious aspects are clarified, and an attempt is made
so that the 20th century notion of “condominium” (especially expressed by
Romilly Jenkins) be given a historical dimension--and revised.
Georgios
Papaioannou, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece, “Viewing the Past Digitally:
Digitizing and Promoting Multiculturalism in the Museum of Margariti,
North-Western Greece”
Margariti is a town in north-western
Greece just a few kilometers from the Ionian Sea. It is well-known for its
traditional architecture. People of different religions and origins have lived
together in Margariti for centuries: Christians and Muslims, Greeks, Venetians,
Jews, Turks and Cham Albanians flourished there until the end of World War II.
Margariti was first built in the 14th century and rebuilt in 1438 by the
Venetians. In 1449 the Ottoman Turks conquered it. One hundred years later (in
1549) the Ottomans built a castle. That castle was successfully occupied by the
Venetians in 1571, a month after the battle of Lepanto. The capture of the
castle made a huge impact in Europe. Venetian military forces stayed there
until the Ottoman-Venetian treaty in 1573. In 1811 Margariti fell to the forces
of Ali Pasha, ruler of Ioannina. In 1913 the Greek army liberated the village.
In 1978 Margariti was officially registered as traditional settlement, due to
the abundance of large traditional mansion houses. In 2009 a traditional house,
after conservation and restoration works, became a museum and cultural centre.
Digital images representing noteworthy Margariti aspects were collected and/or
created, in order to exhibit and promote its multicultural past in a
specifically designed space in the Museum of Margariti. Their presentation,
interpretation and significance comprise the aim of this paper.
3D. Mediterranean
Historicity and Diversity I. Sponsored by the Institute for Mediterranean
Studies, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea
Chair: Mohammed Selim, Kuwait University
Youn Yong Su, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “Arabic Neologism in the Medieval Ages”
Before the appearance of Islam, Arabic was a minor member of the southern branch of the Semitic language family, used by a small number of nomadic tribes in the Arabian peninsula. But with the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE as the language of the Qur’an, the Arabic language became the lingua franca of the wider Mediterranean region, and Arabic language and culture were widely disseminated as a result of early Islamic expansion. As the representative language in medieval ages and the great empire language, the Arabic language needed the many words to express their thought, philosophy, culture and their lives. To meet the linguistic need especially new word the Arab didn’t know, the Arab borrowed many words from the advanced Mediterranean countries as Greek, Rome, Persia and Egypt etc and made the new words for himself. This article is to research a methodical processes for the Arabic neologism in medieval ages. Also I will try to analysis the Arabic philological and linguistic efforts to develop the Arabic language. To reach my academic goal, I will study the traditional neological devices in the Arabic language such as qiyās (analogy), ʔishtiqāq (derivation), naht (compound words), taʕrīb (Arabization). Especially my attention will be located in the Greek influences (language, philosophy etc.) on Arabic language.
Heejung Kim, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “The Melting Pot, Trieste: The Jews in Trieste”
Trieste is the capital of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia: the character of this city is not entirely representative for the whole region, which is composed of two distinct parts to morphology, environment, history; the name indicates the region that combines two specificities of Friuli and Venezia Giulia. Trieste and Friuli, however, have one common trait: they are territories situated in the north-east Italy, between the Alps and the sea in the middle of major roads among Central Europe, the Adriatic Sea, the regions of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Asia. Trieste and Friuli were therefore crossed over the centuries by many people, subjected to different domains, enriched by multiple cultures. For this reason, there are some interesting examples of multi-ethnic and multilingual territories. So, Trieste is often called multinational city, Mitteleuropea (Central European), “melting pot” or “crossroads” of cultures ... Its multicultural character and its really full of different components, including contrasts are the results by its geographical location (port of the Adriatic Sea), its morphology (developed from the plateau to the sea but around), and its history; about primarily Italian culture and language, Trieste was subject to Austria for many centuries from the Middle Ages and was ruled by the Hapsburgs from 1700 because it was attributed to a major international port ; and it was conquered by Italy in 1918, after the First World War; Trieste went go dramatic events during the years of fascism and after the Second World War. What makes Trieste into particularly rich city is diversity of cultures, languages, art forms that have combined. Especially, it should be noted the Jews in Trieste. Discovering history through events and vicissitudes of the Jewish community in Trieste, we know that Trieste’s history was influenced by many renowned members of the community, giving life to economical and entrepreneurial development by founding or heading banks, insurance companies, industries and shipping companies. For example, at the beginning of the nineteenth century Trieste gave birth to Samuel David Luzzatto, called Shadal, important translator from Hebrew to Italian, author of a grammar of the Hebrew language, as well as literary and philosophical writer. It should be noted also the contribution by Jews in the cultural development of Trieste. We can remember some names, including painters Arthur Nathan, Vittorio Bolaffio, Gino Parin. The famous aura miteleuropea(it means Central Europe) Trieste owes much to his Jewish intellectuals. We recall in this context Central Europe, such as attendance of Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Roth and the lively cultural clubs of cities such as Prague, Vienna, Paris. A dense network of relationships had been woven by Jews. To introduce psychoanalysis in Italy, there is the student of Sigmund Freud, Edward Weiss from Trieste. “Trieste Gateway to Zion”: Trieste port of salvation for those escaping from Europe during the period of racial persecution, leaving by sea to Palestine and South America. It is very difficult for a minority to defend its identity. It is difficult to escape assimilation, if you do not have a solid knowledge of Jewish culture and defend the values which have greatly contributed to the cultures of other peoples. In Trieste the community has good relations with other religious minorities and the city authorities, and is fully inserted into the fabric of the city with whom he lives in harmonious coexistence.
Seoung-Yun Shin, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “A Study in Linguistic Interactions between Classical Hebrew and Aramaic in Ancient Israel”
Ancient Israel, which served one of the cultural
bridges between the West and the East in different periods, seems to have been
influenced by both the East and the West. The political and cultural influences
from the West, i.e., the Mediterranean side, are widely attested by literary
and archaeological sources. Those were mainly by the marine people, designated
as “Pilishtim” in the Old Testament. The ancient Israelite culture had been also
heavily affected by the East, more precisely, North-East. This may be one of case
studies on cultural interchanges between indigenous and foreign people in the
Mediterranean Area. An interesting phenomenon may be observed in linguistic
interactions among neighboring cultures. A prominent one in the ancient
Israelite context is about the Aramaic-influenced Hebrew language some 2,500
years ago. The diachronic development of Classical Hebrew is demonstrated
largely by two aspects. One is the internal development in the course of time
and the other is the external influence on it. The representative external
influence on Classical Hebrew was Aramaic. Scholars know that it was around BC
6 when the Hebrew and the Aramaic began their intensive confrontations. Aramaic
influences on Classical Hebrew, called Aramaisms, or Hebrew influences on
Aramaic, called Hebraisms, should have certain meanings and functions. The
biblical Hebrew scholarship discusses about ‘late Aramaism’ in particular. I
would like to present some cases of the late Aramaism which is found in a late
stratum of Classical Hebrew (i.e., Late Biblical Hebrew). The study relates to Standard Biblical Hebrew sources, written during the First Temple period
and Late Biblical Hebrew sources, written during the Second Temple period. The
latter includes also non-biblical sources such as Qumran and Mishnaic texts.
Hwang Eui-Gab, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “A Study of the Pilgrimage”
The final pillar and one of the finest institutions
of Islam is the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. The performance of the Hajj is
obligatory, at least once in a lifetime, upon every Muslim, male or female, who
is mentally, financially and physically fit. The Muslim who is of responsible
age, in fairly good health, and is financially capable and secure must make the
Hajj at least once in his or her lifetime. The financial security here means that
he should have enough to cover his own expenses and those of his dependents and
to pay his debts, if he is in debt, until he completes the course of Hajj. The
course of Hajj is another unique characteristic of Islam. It is enjoined by God
to serve many purposes among which are the following. 1. It is the largest
annual convention of Faith where Muslims meet to know one another, study their
common affairs and promote their general welfare. It is also the greatest
regular conference of peace known in the history of mankind. In the course of
Hajj is the dominant theme; peace with God and one’s soul, peace with one
another and with animals, peace with birds and even with insects. To disturb
the peace of anyone or any creatures in any shape or form is strictly
prohibited. 2. It is wholesome demonstration of the universality of Islam and
brotherhood and equality of the Muslims. From all walks of life, from all
trades and classes, and from every corner of the globe the Muslims assemble at
Mecca in response to the call of God. They dress in the same simple way,
observe the same regulations, utter the same supplications at the same time in
the same way, for the same end. There is no royalty, but loyalty of all to God.
There is no aristocracy, but humility and devotion. 3. It is to confirm the
commitment of the Muslims to God and their readiness to forsake the material
interests in His service. 4. It is to acquaint the pilgrims with the spiritual
and historical environment of Prophet Muhammad, so that they may derive warm
inspirations and strengthen their Faith. 5. It is to commemorate the Divine
rituals observed by Abraham and Ismael, who are known to have been the first
pilgrims to the first house of God on earth, I.e.the Ka’bah at Mecca. 6. It is
a reminder of the Grand Assembly on the Day of Judgment when people will stand
equal before God, waiting for their Final Destiny, and where no superiority of
race or stock can be claimed. It is also a reminder of the fact that Mecca
alone, in the whole existing world, was honored by God in being the center of
monotheism since the time of Abraham, and that it will continue to be the
center of Islam, the religion of pure monotheism, till the end of time.
3E. Mediterranean
Cultural Studies I
Chair: Ana Clara Birrento, University of Évora, Portugal
Rengina Kasimati, Academy of Athens, Greece, “San Leo: A Questionable Tradition: An Ethnographic Approach to the Rhetorical Battles between two Villages of South Italy (Bova and Africo) about the Fathership of the Saint”
Bova is a typical rural city of Southern
Italy surrounded by a number of hamlets, locally called campagna of Bova. Bova
and Campagna are symbolically unified with San Leo, but at the same time, the
same Saint separates Bovesi from the residents of the next community Africo.
The dispute between the two villages is related to the fathership of the Saint
(which community it belongs to) and is connected to the territorial claims.
Jennifer
Roberson, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, “Building
Authenticity: King Hassan II of Morocco”
The Hassan II Mosque (1986-93) in
Casablanca, Morocco, built by King Hassan II (r. 1961-99) is well known for its
immense size, stunning location, cutting edge technology, and elaborate
decoration. Clad in traditional Moroccan decoration, the building was designed
to visually proclaim Moroccan identity within the country and abroad.
Highlighting both Moroccan tradition and technology, the mosque was the
culmination of a decades-long architectural program supported by King Hassan
II. From as early as the 1960s, in structures such as the mausoleum for his
father, Mohamed V, Hassan II sought to revive traditional Moroccan
craftsmanship, which he claimed was being lost to imported styles. Through his
efforts, Moroccan craftsmen gained notoriety even outside of Morocco and were
hired to add a touch of authenticity to newly constructed mosques around the
globe. This paper examines the king’s program, exploring his notions of
tradition and authenticity, his success at promoting these ideas, and the
impact of his program even after his death in 1999.
Rocío Llamas Sánchez and Belén Senés García, Universidad de Granada, “Sustainable Development in Andalusian Cities through the City 21 Program”
The City 21 Program in Andalusia (Spain)
is a program that provides support and advice to cities and towns in Andalusia
which demonstrate their commitment to create a local plan for sustainability by
adopting a Local Agenda 21 (LA21). LA21 is a program of action through which
town councils make a diagnosis of their municipalities and, following a citizen
participation plan, define and implement a series of lines of action to achieve
economic, social and environmental performance of their municipalities. In this
paper, we analyze the fulfilled process during the implementation of this
program in the Andalusia municipalities. The findings show a series of
recommendations to improve these processes that can be generalized to other
regions facing similar challenges to the sustainable development of villages
and towns of the world.
Friday, May 28
Universidad de Salamanca. Edificio Histórico. Patio de Escuelas, 1
Friday 9:00 – 11:00
4A. Mediterranean Perspectives
Chair: Ana del Campo Gutiérrez, Universidad de Zaragoza
Ana Clara Birrento, University of Évora, Portugal, “Victorian Perspectives on the Mediterranean”
The paper aims to analyze the ways a
Victorian prolific woman writer, Margaret Oliphant, represented the
Mediterranean. Based on her critical essays published throughout her life time
professional career in the well known Blackwood’s
Magazine, on what she wrote in her Autobiography and on three books - The Makers of Venice, The Makers of Florence, and The Makers of Modern Rome, I will travel
through her words to show a perspective of southern Europe. She represents and
critically dialogues with various cultural and literary figures and themes
which show how a Victorian conservative woman understood the South, to where
she travelled when her husband fell ill and where her daughter died. Ranging
from a professional woman of letters style to a more intimate and emotional
sphere, we get in the above referred works a double image of the places she
travelled and of the authors she criticizes. This double articulation of
private and professional remarks and concerns is constitutive of Oliphant’s
career and enables us to have a wider perspective on the making of the
Mediterranean.
Sheryl Lynn Postman,
University of Massachusetts Lowell, “La guerra: no vale nada para nadie y sólo
destruye la inocencia”
The novel, Las guerras de nuestros antepasados by Miguel Delibes, is an
anti-war narrative written during the restrictive and harsh Franco era.
Although the author traces, through his tale, the negative effects of war on
the (then) present younger generation, those born after the Civil War, his tale
actually transcends the contemporary period transporting the reader in illo
tempore. My study, in Spanish, will be interdisciplinary in its scope
illustrating the impact of Italian Medieval literature (principally Dante) and
the Italian postwar Neorealist movement in this novel by the Spanish writer.
Frank Runcie, Université de Montréal, Canada, “Midnight in Sicily: On the Possibilities of History-Writing”
Peter Robb’s Midnight in Sicily is an almost unclassifiable document, so much so
that the grab-bag post-modern travel writing seems the safest bet. At the same
time, it is literary, gastronomic, and vulgarization of political (or
politico-juridical) history, covering a wide swath of contemporary Sicilian and
Italian culture. Although combining such far-flung disciplines, it is
nonetheless a first-person account comprised of interviews, walking tours, and
chance encounters. This was undertaken by an Australian journalist, also noted
for M, his novelistic biography of
Caravaggio, who had spent more than a decade in the country at the time of
writing. I propose to discuss his reflections on the potential of
historiography in light of his own historical project; relating it to other
late 20th century theorizations (White, Kracauer) and their implications. At
issue are such concerns as the possibility of adequacy of coverage, fact versus
fiction, of selectivity, and creativity. Ultimately, focusing on just one
chapter, “A Market,” I propose to show that against all expectations of
anything associated with the qualifier “post-modern,” there is much to
recommend Robb’s work as a significant historical record of this region and
country.
4B. Medieval History II
Chair:
Lorraine Attreed, Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts
James F. Powers, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, “Interrupted Combat and the Gender of Interference: The Salamanca Example”
This paper discusses the use of a
database for the storing of exempla of military and combat activity in
Romanesque sculpture, c. 1000-1230 CE. The examples derive especially from
Spain and France, but also include examples from Portugal, England and Italy.
It further describes the use of GIS mapping programs to convert database
queries into maps of the responses. Working from this data allows the
researcher to follow the diffusion of themes and iconography, indicating the
movement of workshops and the spread of ideas. One exemplary theme will be
examined in detail to demonstrate the possibilities of such information in
illuminating a variety of historical issues regarding the possible
militarization of Christian art. This theme concerns two confronted knights
with an intervening person between them, an early Spanish example of which is
located in the Catedral Vieja of Salamanca. This enigmatic figure has been much
discussed among Spanish art historians, and my database suggests that it might
have French origins. I will be discussing this possibility in a power point
presentation with particular attention to the Saintonge region, developing a
theory that deals both with the origins and the potential meaning of this work.
Jaime Leaños, University of Nevada, Reno, “Opportunism or Self Awareness: The Misunderstood Persona of Pope Pius II”
Scholarship has yet to portray
accurately the motivations of humanist, diplomat, rhetorician and prelate Eneas
Silvio Piccolomini (1405-64), known also as Pope Pius II. The few studies that
do exist on Piccolomini s life focus exclusively on his activities as they
relate to the Council of Basel (1431-1449), where he first distinguished
himself as a church authority, and cast him as an opportunist who exercised his
newfound power solely as a means to advance his own aims. However, a full
consideration of Piccolomini s life reveals that the man who rose to power as
Pius II in 1458 was successful in adapting himself to meet the numerous
challenges that he and his contemporaries faced in the complex and corrupt
environment of the fifteenth-century Catholic Church. Although he at times
changed his opinions about political and religious issues throughout his long
career as a prelate, he did not do so capriciously. This talk deconstructs the
notion of opportunism and presents the reasons as to why Eneas deviated from
his initial stances on conciliarism to the point he felt compel to convoke
European princes to wage a crusade against Mohammed II who recently had conquered
Constantinople.
David D. Terry, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, “Jewish Life and Death in the Medieval Mediterranean: Latinate Wills from Venetian Crete”
Jewish wills found in the notarial registers of Venetian Crete give us valuable insight into this prominent but under-studied medieval Jewish community. On Crete, poor and rich Jews alike drew up wills, and in them we can discern a complex interplay between tradition and practicality. This paper examines a corpus of Jewish wills and finds a multicultural Jewish community with international connections, one that had strong ties to their community, their synagogue, and their poor. These wills also show us that Jewish women they could readily steward the fortunes of their families and express their own prerogatives with their own property at the same time. Jewish women could possess substantial amounts of money and goods, and while men were socially and legally obligated to take care of their wives after their deaths, the wills of Jewish women show that bequests to their husbands were by no means customary. Instead, women gave priority to their children and their side of the family; husbands could come as the very last priority. Overall, the wills from women reveal a complex interplay between maternal, conjugal, and sororal relationships, while providing a more detailed social picture of this ancient community in the Middle Ages.
Glenn W. Olsen, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, “Reflections on a Giotto Exhibit: Does Joseph Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy Satisfactorily Draw the Liturgical Differences between East and West in the Late Middle Ages?”
From March 6 through June 29, 2009, an
exhibit on Giotto (c.1267-1337), ‘‘Giotto and the Fourteenth Century: The
Sovereign Master of Painting,” was held at the Vittoriano in Rome. I was able
to visit it in early June, after our Conference last year in Cagliari, and
would like to propose the following paper, occasioned by this visit. Giotto,
like Dante, is, following Erich Auerbach, often portrayed as “the painter [in
Dante’s case poet] of the secular world.” There is truth in this, since both
represent a kind of awakening to the natural world around them. But this truth
also needs much qualification, and they could as well be described as men in
whose art the Christian realities were conjoined to those of the secular world.
Before Benedict XVI became pope, he wrote a book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, in
which he posed the question of how significant were the differences between the
paths taken by the (Greek) Eastern and (Latin) Western churches beginning in
the middle ages. Written in ecumenical spirit, one goal of this book was to
show that things usually taken today to be opposed, the icon in the East vs.
the emphasis on narrative in the West, for instance, arguably in their day
pursued similar goals. I have explored this, but not in regard to Giotto, in a
chapter of my The Turn to Transcendence: The Role of Religion in the
Twenty-First Century, which will have appeared by the time of the meeting in Salamanca
(Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010, about 500
pages). Looking at the parallels between the traditions results in an
appreciation of the reasons much of Eastern Christianity views negatively what
the westerners call the Renaissance. In Giotto the two Christian traditions
seem to me relatively united, and in this paper I wish to explore the justice
and limitations of what the Greeks have been saying. This implies a
reconsideration of how the history of art has been pursued in the West.
4C. Literature I
Chair: Susan Rosenstreich, Dowling College, Oakdale, New York
Kathryn Klingebiel, University of Hawaii, Manoa, “Stando, sedendo: Formal and Semantic expression of permanence in the poetry of the troubadours”
From their lexical arsenal, the medieval
troubadours drew on several copulae (verbs of being), with complementary but
sometimes contrasting semantics, based on Latin sedēre and stāre (‘to
sit’, ‘to stand’), as well as essere ‘to be’ and even iacēre ‘to lie’.
Among these, there are clear contrasts between impermanent and permanent states
of being, between state and essence. Standing would seem to imply less
permanence than sitting, e.g., a sitting president is a president in office,
but, conversely, a standing committee by definition is a ‘permanent’ committee.
In the Romance languages the distribution of forms from these verbs appears to
be less than systematic, with no necessary correspondence between semantics and
the etymology of the forms. For example, in French the single verb of being,
être, developed from five different Latin verb stems, via the process called
syncretism. Like Spanish ser and estar (denoting essence and state), the
troubadours’ medieval Occitan literary dialect (Old Provençal) and the
modern-day dialects of the south of France maintain two distinct verbs of
being: OPr. ẹser (mod. èsser) and estar. These verbs mix and match forms
from Lat. stāre and sedēre, even as the vocabulary continues to
maintain semantic distinctions between standing and sitting (OPr. sezer ‘to be
seated’, mod. asetar ‘to seat’, etc.), between impermanence and permanence.
Overlaps in lexical form and in semantic structures can now be documented using
the Concordance de l’occitan médiéval, which provides lexical forms from all of
Old Provençal lyric and narrative poetry. This paper will analyze the extent to
which medieval Occitan usage conforms to the semantics of standing and sitting
in the expression of permanence: [esser] …qui la fai esser tan humana ‘which
makes her [be] so human’ (Flamenca v.4659) [estar] No•m fassa ta trista estar. ‘don’t
make me [feel] so sad’ (Passion provençale, MS Didot v. 2030)
Filippo Naitana, Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, “Beyond the Mediterranean: Dante, Pulci and the Cosmography of Salvation”
About a decade before Columbus s first
transoceanic journey, the Florentine poet Luigi Pulci, with his epic Morgante, challenged Aristotle s theory
of the Zones, claiming that the ocean could, in fact, be crossed. In moving
beyond the ancient confines of the world by virtue of poetry, Pulci also
proposed his own solution to a millenary theological impasse: he prophesized a
possible evangelization and redemption of the Antipodes. In cantare XXV of the Morgante, the devil Astarotte engages
Rinaldo, one of Charlemagne s paladins, in a lengthy cosmographical-theological
discussion. The exchange is conveniently staged on the Strait of Gibraltar, a
locus rich in both literary echoes and geographical poignancy. Pulci s
dialectic between tradition and transgression juxtaposes two geographical
topoi: the Mediterranean as mare nostrum, and the Ocean as locus par excellence
of the unknown. In weaving together old and new ideas of geography, knowledge
and faith, Pulci chooses as his privileged interlocutor the most visionary of
the Western poets: Dante. This paper discusses the issue of intertextuality
between the Morgante and the Divine Comedy, in order to highlight how
their understanding of the relationship between poetry, cosmography and
theology is one and the same with a meditation on the nature of both authorship
and cultural authority.
Abdulla Al-Dabbagh, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, “The Components of Shakespeare’s Humanism”
In spite of the anti-humanist streak of
certain currents in contemporary Shakespeare criticism, humanism remains the
most adequate definition of Shakespeare’s outlook, just as it covers the works
of other major figures of the European Renaissance, like Thomas More, Erasmus,
and Cervantes. This paper will attempt to identify the key components of
Shakespeare’s humanism as embodied in his major works. It will elaborate upon
such elements, expressed in his best-known plays, as: the dialectic of fate and
human will (Romeo and Juliet, Julius
Caesar, Hamlet), the power of love that overcomes differences of class,
race, and culture (Romeo and Juliet,
Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra), the indictment of racism (Othello, The Merchant of Venice), the
complex duality of the blighted human condition (Hamlet, King Lear), the humanist utopia (The Tempest), the human, the subhuman and the magical (The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The
Merchant of Venice), feminism as an expression of humanism (Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Taming
of the Shrew, Anthony and Cleopatra), the humanist/populist indictment of
the crimes and corruption of political power (King Lear, Hamlet, Coriolanus), pacifism, uprising, and the
rejection of war and imperialism (2 Henry
VI, Henry V, 1 and 2 Henry IV, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus).
4D. Bonaparte’s Retreat
Regina
Mezei, Mercer County Community College, West Windsor,
New Jersey
A 1/2 hour documentary film describes
Joseph Bonaparte’s sojourn in America after Waterloo. He spent 18 years in
Bordentown NJ, while also owning property in and participating in the cultural
life of Philadelphia. The film focuses on his estate, his life in the town, and
his cultural contributions to the region. This film will be of particular
interest to those who may not be aware of the details of Joseph Bonaparte’s
exile in America. A discussion will follow.
4E. Mediterranean
Cultural Studies II
Chair: Ieva Reklaityte, University of Zaragoza
Onur Yildirim and Seven Agir, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, “The Politics of Food in the Mediterranean: The Battle for Bread in the Eighteenth-Century Madrid and Istanbul”
In the second half of the eighteenth
century, most European governments introduced organizational changes in the
policies designed to ensure sufficient supply of grain in their urban centers.
This study examines the shared and distinct institutional elements that shaped
these policy changes in the Mediterranean Basin. To this end, we focus on the
provision and distribution of grain products, primarily bread, in two capital
cities—Istanbul and Madrid. A more flexible attitude toward price-setting process
in the grain markets was accompanied by an attempt to ensure a more centralized
control of the market in both cases. Establishment of a central institution in
order to administer grain trade (Zahire Nezareti in the Ottoman case, Junta de
Abastos in the Castilian case) created new ways to deal with the tension
between consumer pricing and producer pricing (i.e. subsidization policies).
However, presence of these new institutions also affected the ways that market
agents and the central administrations interacted. In our research, we examine
the official correspondence between Ottoman policy-makers and bakers, in
addition to material changes in the commodity chain and demonstrate how they
were interwoven with reform processes, with a comparative focus on the Spanish
case. The parallel changes within seemingly different institutional contexts
provide us with a better understanding of the transformation of provisioning
institutions in the Mediterranean.
Nedim Nomer, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, “The Idea of Culture: A View from Turkey”
This paper aims to shed light on the
views of Ziya Gökalp, a Turkish social and political thinker and an activist
who played a central role in the making of the ideology of the Turkish Republic
in the early 20th century. I am especially interested in a distinction he makes
throughout his writings between ‘culture’ and ‘civilization.’ For Gökalp,
culture is defined by values and ideals that are unique to a particular
society, whereas civilization indicates values and ideals that are shared by a
number of different societies. That is, Gökalp wanted to make and maintain a
distinction between particularity and universality in social and political
phenomena. For Gökalp this distinction was not just academic but also related to
the predicament of Turks who had recently experienced the collapse of their
imperial social and political institutions (i.e. the Ottoman Empire) and
therefore had to create a new political society and thus a new collective
identity of their own. In this paper I cast doubt on the widely held view that
Gökalp was not an original thinker in his approach to culture and civilization,
that he simply borrowed his concepts from various European thinkers such as
Emile Durkheim and Ferdinand Toennies. I argue that while there can be no doubt
that Gökalp was influenced by a variety of 19th and 20th century European
theorists of culture and civilization, he was an independent thinker in his own
right. The originality of his views can be appreciated when one realizes that,
unlike most of his European counterparts, Gökalp recognized the role of
international or global factors in the formation of particular local social
identities. This explanation also makes Gokalp our contemporary.
Pinar Eraslan-Yayinoglu, Kocaeli University, Turkey, “Exploring Media Ownership and Publishing Policies among European Residents in a Cosmopolitan County Borough of Turkey: The Case of Alanya”
Alanya, alongside the Mediterranean sea
of Turkey, is a county which is actually quite urbanized and has a cosmopolitan
life as part of City of Antalya. As a touristic destination, Alanya attracted
many foreign residents -mostly retired European, especially German- from 33
different country. Last ten years, noteworthy numbers of these European
residents began to spent their time mostly in Alanya rather than their home
countries. About thirteen thousand of them are freeholders and many of them
have been working in Alanya. Although it is not easy to define their position
as a proper immigration movement, but also it is not possible to underestimate
their role of shaping multicultural, cosmopolitan life of Alanya. In addition
to this, the case of Alanya with its European residents can be seen as the part
of an issue relating to intercultural communication. Both Turkish population
and European residents have different cultural backgrounds. They live together
in a county (Alanya) which have been changing by the interactions of these
different cultures. Today, the role of media in intercultural contacts and interactions
is vital. Actual individual contacts can be quite limited depending on cultural
barriers like language, unknown norms and attitudes. On the other hand, media
use can be more flexible to a foreigner, to contact with a different culture.
So it can be seen as an instrument to develop a potential for intercultural
communication competence, via the publishing policies. This study tends to the
immigrants/foreigners and aims to explore media ownership or editorial
management status among these European residents both to determine the factual
situation and the publishing policy power and their publishing policies
followed. Consequently, findings can be helpful to catch some reflections
related to both competence and further issues of intercultural communication in
context of media use. The study incorporates a qualitative method with in dept
interviews, field observations and media content examination. Finally, we may
say that this study includes first generation European residents (immigrants)
in Alanya, before next generations’ cultural changes.
Ayhan Akman, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, “Politics, Religion and Civil Society in Turkey and Greece”
In this paper, I try to understand and
investigate the conflicting views of religion and civil society in Turkey and
Greece. Throughout the paper’s discussion of these two cases, the overarching
aim will be to try to see what they can teach us about the intersection of
religious activism and civil society in general. The Turkish experience is in
some ways unique in presenting a case of a predominantly Muslim country with a
long history of secularism and a significant (if checkered) experience in
multi-party electoral democracy. The Greek experience, on the other hand, not
only has the potential to illuminate challenges faced by other Orthodox
countries (Greece being until very recently the only Orthodox country with a
liberal democratic political regime and a free market economy) but it can also
provide a much needed corrective to the literature on religion/civil society
nexus which, on the whole, has been dominated by the experience of the
Protestant and Catholic churches. One of the leading questions of this paper is
how to evaluate religious activism in these two countries vis-a-vis civil
society. Specifically, the paper asks whether the overall trajectory of
religious actors in Turkey and Greece can be characterized as arch that
stretches from outright hostility to suspicious aversion to ambivalent
engagement and possibly positive articulation. The answer to this question
partly depends upon the structure of the field of religious activism. While the
Turkish context witnesses a fragmented, poly-centered and diverse field with a
rather diverse group of religious actors (alternatively competing and
collaborating for influence, funds and volunteers), the Greek context is
characterized by a centralized and hierarchical structure (the Orthodox Church
of Greece) which effectively monopolizes the field of religious activism in
that country. My focus will be especially on the past two decades: Since early
1990s both countries have witnessed the increasing public presence of religious
actors in the political domain. The Orthodox Church of Greece (under the late
Archbishop Christodoulos) became a far more autonomous and effective political
actor, unafraid of taking on the state on many issues. Church’s mobilization in
defiance of state has been a novel a perplexing phenomena in Greece which is
traditionally accustomed to a carefully preserved conservative, symbiotic
relationship between the Church and state. In Turkey, on the other hand, the
recent rise of religious actors is seen as a direct challenge to official
secularist state ideology (Kemalism). The modernist brand of nationalism that
the Kemalist Republic has embraced since its founding in 1923 increasingly
became untenable, especially in 1990s and 2000s. Religious groups became
increasingly and unapologetically visible in the Republican public sphere and
are seen as direct challengers to the secular Republican regime. It can be
argued that these religious actors’ attempt at self-positioning in the domain
of civil society is telling both as an attempt at legitimation and as a
strategy of social and political mobilization. The paper is based on fieldwork
carried out between 2007 and 2009 in Greece and Turkey.
5A. Art History
Chair: Rogério Vieira de Almeida, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
Mindy Nancarrow, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, “Representing Perpetual Perfection: Problems in the Iconography of the Virgin” CANCELLED
Annette Weber, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg, Germany, “Convivencia and Cultural Transfer: Jewish Architecture and Art in the Era of the Spanish Reconquistà and Beyond”
Cultural Artefacts of Spanish Jewry
during the Reconquistà present an oscillating pattern of a multipolar identity.
Whereas synagogue architecture and manuscripts of Hebrew Bibles tend to
preserve the Muslim heritage by adopting the so-called Mudejar-style, contemporary
illuminated Haggadot (liturgical manuscripts for Passover) are heavily indebted
to Christian medieval book illumination by showing figurative pictorial cycles.
It is still an ongoing debate, whether the reorientation towards the Muslim
past might present a deliberate Jewish response to the ever more repressive
Christian surroundings, since this trend seems to be contradicted by the
figurative Haggadot. The most recent research has brought forward a new
hypothesis that the pictorial implements of the Haggadot may present a cultural
turn towards a new Jewish mysticism and as such just another response to
growing oppression. The paper would like to argue, that the divergence of
stylistic and iconographic expression could also be linked the specific religious
context of the building and/or artifact within each Jewish community. This
would mean that Jews of the Iberian Peninsula may have had a highly refined
understanding of the different cultural milieus in which they lived and were
able to adapt them to their own needs.
Memory Holloway, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, “Salazar’s Boots: Women, Power and Authority in the Work of Paula Rego”
This paper investigates patriarchy, the family and gender violence under Portugal’s Salazar in the work of Paula Rego. Born under the dictatorship of Salazar in 1935, Rego represents the absent authoritarian father in three paintings. In The Policeman’s Daughter, Salazar is metonymically present in the boots that a young girl cleans and polishes. A year later, in 1988, Rego painted The Family which can be seen as a metaphor of the Nation and as an example of the complex ties between mother, father and daughter. In The Interrogator’s Garden (2000), the artist marks the torturer as a leering, lustful figure who wears boots and no pants, and who is surrounded by the instruments of his trade. In all three pictures, individual meaning is held up as part of collective memory in which subversive female power is exercised under patriarchy. Through her ambiguous narratives the artist critiques the official discourse of Nation and of ‘God, Patria and Family.’ She denounces the oppressive fascist dictatorship and its emphasis on Portugal’s expansionist and colonial past. She exposes the myth of the rural hierarchical family and its effect on women who turn against their authoritarian masters and she obliquely examines Salazar’s policies, which were fashioned from the desire to see Portugal’s empire as continuous in the present. Rego’s view of the history is disruptive, ironic and shot through with conflict.
Rogério Vieira de Almeida, “Why Can’t We Play? Rural Courtyards, Urban Squares: Popular Cultural Activity as a Spatial Defining Device in ‘Peripheral Central Places’”
Leisure and games are present in early
modern Portuguese historical sources. Town’s with a slow growth until the XVIII
and diffuse powers depend on continuous activities to achieve the formation of
large urban spaces and stabilize their form. This paper will present some cases
where the definition of urban squares has been a long way term process and
remained transitional between rural environment and urban world. In fact the
presence of popular activities - leisure, games, fairs – was a key factors in
the achievement of the goal of defining an urban square. The paper will consist
in four documented cases in which this peripheral kind of spaces maintained
themselves as nodal points of close encounters of rural and city man’s. It will
be analyzed the role played by this popular activity, his relation and
specificity in parallel with other cases where squares had a more interior
urban location and with a broader geographical context. And argued that, along
with the growing centralization of the European states, that the relation
between municipal authorities and central government seems to have been
inscribed in the new architectural forms of the towns’ and cities’ public
spaces, previous and contemporaneous popular appropriation coexisted with the
need to create spaces specifically designed to host communal activities of
commercial as well as of a more symbolic and juridical significance. The aim is
in this paper to understand how these appropriation established the conditions
for the long persistence of these urban “voids” where sometimes the rural
activity blended itself with the almost villa’s like or court lifestyle.
5B. Ancient Greece and Rome
Chair: Mary M. Rowan, Brooklyn College, New York
Eleni Pachoumi, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, “The Curse of Eros in the Greek Erotic Spells and defixiones of the Ancient Mediterranean world”
The paper looks at the curse elements of
the erotic desire as expressed in the magic spells from the Mediterranean
world. The study is focused on the examination of the erotic spells of the
Greek Magical Papyri from the Greco-Roman Egypt with parallel references to the
comparative material of the erotic binding tablet spells, defixiones, form the
Mediterranean area. Questions addressed are: How is the erotic desire
represented in the magic spells? And is it expressed as a curse towards the
erotic object of the spell? I shall also attempt to explore the logic of these
curse patterns followed in the magic spells.
Jessica Ambler, University of California, Santa Barbara, “Hannibal is Inside the Gates!”
In the year 146 BCE the Roman armies of
Scipio Aemelianus defeated the Punic defenders of Carthage at the conclusion of
the Third Punic War and laid waste to the once-great capital city of Punic
North Africa. The ruined city sat dormant for almost a century, despite a
failed Gracchan attempt at settlement in the mid second century BCE, until
Julius Caesar decided to re-found the city sometime before his death in 44 BCE.
His plan was not fully realized until Octavian (later Augustus) was firmly in
power after 31 BCE and the Roman colony of Colonia Concordia Iulia Karthago was
finally made a reality. In The Urban
Images of Augustan Rome, Diane Favro has argued that by acknowledging the
Roman belief in the genii locorum,
Augustus drew strength from association with admired locales. It is my contention
that Carthage was one of these locales, and its spirit of place was created, or
at least enhanced, through the development of Roman memory of Carthage. In this
paper I will consider how the Roman understanding of the nature of Carthage
developed through a variety of media, constructing a collective social memory
of place over the span of centuries. In so doing, I will focus on two sources;
the play Poenulus, written by Plautus
and performed at the end of the Second Punic War and two passages from Pliny s
first century CE Natural History,
which describe the appearance of Carthaginian statues in Rome. These examples
will demonstrate how the public opinion of Carthage in the guise of its genius loci was formed by a collective
Roman audience over the course of centuries.
Zeynep Akture, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey, “Theatre-Construction in the Cultural Milieu of the Roman Hispania: Precedents and Antecedents”
In Archaeology
and Colonialism (Cambridge, 2004), Chris Gosden outlines a three-partite
typology of colonialism. At one end of the spectrum is the violence model
through armed invasion and mass death; while at the other is colonialism within
a shared cultural milieu, as in Iron Age Greek settlement of the Mediterranean,
which brings new forms of social and cultural capital that is seen by the local
elite as novel sets of resources that can be used for their own ends. According
to Gosden, the round peripheries of Greek colonies and the Roman Empire are in
the middle ground, and characterized by a working understanding of the other s
social relations, which makes all parties feel in control, and creates new
modes of difference rather than acculturation, as in Roman Britannia. While
adopting Gosden s typology, this paper argues, starting from observations
related to theatre constructions, that the experience in the provinces of
Hispania follows rather the model of colonialism within a shared cultural
milieu. In this way, the paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of
the various forms of cultural contact in the Mediterranean under Roman control,
producing the material culture that forms the heart and material record of
those relationships.
5C. Literature, History,
& Philosophy
Chair: Paul S. Vickery, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Luis Cortest, University of Oklahoma, Norman, “Moshe Almosnino’s Regimiento de la vida as a Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean Portrait”
Rabbi Moshe Almosnino was one of the
most important Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) authors in the sixteenth century. His Regimiento de la vida, a treatise on
moral conduct based on the principles established in Aristotle’s Nicomachean
Ethics, combines elements from Moral Philosophy, Rabbinic literature and the
Physics and Astronomy of his time. My goal is to show how the Regimiento gives us (as modern readers)
a comprehensive view of the intellectual landscape of the sixteenth-century
Mediterranean world. Since Almosnino was neither a Greek nor a Spanish citizen
(as a Sephardic Jew living in Thessalonica) his perspective offers us a unique
picture of his age.
Paul S. Vickery, “The School of Salamanca, Moral Theology, and the New World”
The Spanish presence in the New World
created a host of problems for theologians. How were they to treat these newly
found people? Were they human with eternal souls, or only homunculus as
described by Aristotle? Within the University of Salamanca individuals such as
Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo De Soto, and Melchor Cano debated these issues.
This paper will examine the foundations of the moral theology arising from this
debate.
Deina Abdelkader, University of Massachusetts Amherst, “Western Liberal Political Thought and the ‘Stillborn God’”
This paper will examine Rousseau’s and
de Tocqueville’s writings and how they viewed the role of religion in public
life, since in many ways they have theoretically laid the foundations of
Western liberal democracy. Thus the paper will analyze whether
post-enlightenment Western European liberal thought excludes religion from the
public arena. This analysis will also have implications regarding the
theoretical assumption that secularization is imperative to democratization.
Joseph A. Agee, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, “Ortega y Gasset: Philosophy or Literature?”
The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset
often commented that he was accused of doing literature and not philosophy.
This profoundly irritated him and he made pointed statements directly refuting
the charge. Obviously he was very interested in aesthetics. His famous Dehumanization of Art is still widely
read and he was a devoted student of art and literature in general especially
as hypersensitive reflections of where cultural trends were heading. Yet he
took great pains to make clear that he was essentially a philosopher and did
not want to do or be anything else. This is interesting for two reasons. First,
it points to the major divide between what is called the Anglo-American
philosophical tradition and the Continental one. In the former, few, if any,
philosophers are even interested in literature much less attempt to write or
discuss it while in the later tradition many of the most important philosophers
of the modern period, Sartre, Heidegger, and Spain’s own Miguel de Unamuno, for
example, either produced literature themselves, as a way to incorporate and
explicate their thinking, or used it as the essential basis of their
philosophies. On the contrary, the Anglo-American tradition has viewed
philosophy as primarily an affair of science; a realm in which literature
should play little or no part. The Continental tradition, in direct contrast
since the time of Rousseau, has seen literature as the repository of the
highest level of human aspiration in which science has little to say. Ortega’s
place in this scenario is the second reason the issue is interesting. Although
he placed himself firmly in the Continental sphere of philosophy, he was
equally concerned with science not only for its impact on human beings but also
for its foundational role in the development of the thinking process. In a very
important way, this stance located him intellectually between the two
traditions of thinking that now characterize many controversies regarding the
role of science and culture in the contemporary world. The purpose of my paper
will be to explore the roots of Ortega’s dual focus and to shed light on a
number of consequent misinterpretations of his philosophy that have prevented
it from gaining the recognition that it should have as a remarkably relevant
contribution to today’s burning issues about human nature and the essence of
the thinking process.
5D. Theater and Film
Chair: Phillip
Drummond, New York University in London, UK
Ala Sivas, Istanbul
Commerce University, Turkey, “Nuovo Cinema Italia”
“Italian Cinema. Who has seen that? This
title of Franco Montini’s article is published on the newspaper La Repubblica,
3 August 1997, which includes recent desolated situation of national film
industry...” The film critic and researcher of Italian film history, Professor
Gian Piero Brunetta, writes these words in his reviewed publication entitled “Cent’anni
di cinema italiano 2. Dal 1945 ai giorni nostri” (Roma-Bari, Editori Laterza,
2004) Reading his sentences, we can easily see the economical and narrative
crisis of Italian cinema during nineties. At the same decade, existed also some
initiatives to reconstruct a new cinema, new young filmmakers who tried to
create a new film language in the country. In this study, from the beginning of
nineties, we’re going to try to see new industrial and narrative dynamics of
contemporary Italian cinema and indicate some cases of new young filmmakers of “rinascimento”,
as Matteo Garrone, Paolo Sorrentino (who recently won international success at
Cannes Film Festival 2008), Gabriele Muccino, Ferzan Ozpetek, Gabriele Salvatores,
Silvio Soldini, Francesca Archibugi and others.
Flavia Laviosa, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, “Honor Crimes in the Mediterranean: Definitions, Sociology, and Legal Issues of this Cultural Practice and their Representations in Cinema”
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) defines honor killings as crimes committed against women who are rape victims, suspected or accused of having premarital sex, or women thought to have committed adultery. The women are typically killed by male relatives in order to restore the family s violated honor. In many societies in the Mediterranean region the cultural concept of maleness is defined by the principle of honor, which is deeply connected to the control of female sexual behavior in the family and community. This session aims firstly to develop a composite definition of honor-based crimes, to identify the multifaceted culturally-defined reasons for this prevalent phenomenon in Mediterranean communities, and to illustrate the varied manifestations and insidious forms of manipulation of such practices intended to punish women who are accused of tarnishing their family s reputation. This session also intends to report on the pervasiveness of honor killings, and to examine the intrinsic weakness in the legal enforcement of punishments for these crimes, which often hinders the prosecution of the murderers. Proposals addressing these cultural, sociological, and legal issues, as well as their representations in literature, media and cinema are welcome.
A screening of “Un Chien Andalou” (dirs. Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, France, 1929, 17 mins.)
Phillip Drummond, “Textual Space in ‘Un Chien Andalou’”
‘Un Chien Andalou’ (‘An Andalusian Dog’)
is perhaps the most famous, and also the most notorious, of short films in the
history of world cinema. Made in Paris in 1929, it was to prove a calling card
for the young immigré Spanish artists Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali and was
quickly adopted as an iconic work by the French surrealists themselves. Born
out of the poetry of dream memories but fashioned with the care and patience of
an industrial feature film, ‘Un Chien Andalou’ pays tribute to, and also mocks,
the generic traditions of early American film comedy and French melodrama in
its perverse and disjointed tale of desperate sexual desire and resistance.
Starting with the horror of a woman s eyeball shattered by a cut-throat razor,
and culminating with the mystery of lovers half-buried on a beach, its stately
but bewildering and wordless narrative journey around the unstable world of
Parisian streets, parks and bedrooms plays against the combined musicality of
Wagner s ‘Tristan and Isolde’ and an Argentinean tango. In the process, ‘Un
Chien Andalou’ proposes both an oneiric encounter between Freudian psycho-sexual
symbolism and a determined semiotic deconstruction of the protocols of emergent
narrative cinema at the dawn of the sound era. Drawing on long-term research
into the film, this paper offers an overview of the critical traditions which
have sprung up around this canonical expression of the Franco-Spanish
avant-garde, arguing for the importance of a shift from symbolic to semiotic
readings of textual space in film. It goes on to offer a detailed analysis of
the famous donkeys-and-pianos segment, focusing on issues to do with narrative
and scenographic space, iconography and intertextuality. A screening of the
film (17 minutes) accompanies the presentation. Hard copies of the paper are
freely distributed.
5E. “Self” and “Others” Face-to-Face: Defining Identity in
Late Medieval Urban Iberia
Chair: José Antonio Jara Fuente, Universidad de
Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca
José
Antonio Jara Fuente, “Taxing
identities in medieval Castile: Short-circuiting privileged status in the city
of Cuenca in the fifteenth century”
In Castile, like in any other
kingdom or principality, taxes functioned as a means for organising and
distributing the financing of the kingdom and its “corporate” constituents,
among them cities and towns. Thus, taxes had a deep economic significance. But,
in a society marked by social and economic, at last political, inequalities,
taxes involved, above all, deeper social implications. Paying taxes had
profound social and political connotations. The most important implication was
to dividing society, separating those who did pay taxes from those that did
not: those that were exempted from that obligation, at last those that were
noblemen (or noblewomen). But nobility was not the only way to “evading” paying
taxes. There were other socio-political circumstances (statuses) that conferred
on the individual the privilege of tax exemption without enjoying (at least for
the moment) a noble status. Unlike nobility, these privileged statuses had a
more or less long life and were not hereditary. But, in many cases, they
constituted the germ of a chain of life-trajectories directed to attain that
goal. And short-circuiting the enjoyment of any of these statuses meant ending
with the social aspirations of the individuals involved in these processes. The
aim of this paper is to analyse the processes and circumstances in which the
city of Cuenca resorted to this (short-circuiting) political means when dealing
with this segment of urban society in the fifteenth century; and to consider
the specific aspirations of these individuals and the range of possible answers
at their disposal.
Juan
Antonio Barrio Barrio, Universidad de Alicante, “The ‘Otherness’ within the ‘Otherness’: Forging of Identities among
Jewish Conversos in the Kingdom of
Valencia in the Late Middle Ages”
In the late 15th century, the plight of Jewish conversos in the Kingdom of Valencia was compounded by two dramatic
events: the establishment of the royal Inquisition in the kingdom, and the
expulsion of the Jews in 1492. The establishment of the Inquisition in Castile
and the Crown of Aragon was inspired, driven and implemented by Ferdinand II,
and it was clear that the project was firmly ruled by the monarch in the joint
realm that he maintained with his wife, Isabella I of Castile. The first steps taken
by the Inquisition in the Kingdom of Valencia were slow and cautious, and the
inquisitorial zeal of the tribunal’s officials only took off after the year
1500, when the secret synagogue of Miquel Vives was discovered. This paper aims
to study how the identity of the Jewish conversos
evolved during this tumultuous period, from the establishment of the
Inquisition in the kingdom’s capital to the early years of the 16th century. In
this decisive time, the judaising conversos
had to make decisions and assume behaviours that for many of them would affect
the rest of their lives. Some conversos
clearly defined themselves as judaisers and established themselves as an
otherness within the Christian world that was becoming shored up in many towns
and cities across Europe. Others developed subtle nuances and doctrinal and
spiritual differences from inside this “otherness”, in the context of the rich,
varied and complex world of Valencian crypto-Judaism, which grew and became
enriched in these years of upheaval and tension. This was apparent with the
arrival of a large wave of converso
emigrants or exiles from different areas in the Crown of Aragon, Tortosa,
Teruel, Xátiva, Segorbe, Albarracín, Gandia, Elche and Orihuela, as well as
from more distant regions, such as Cuenca and Portugal, and who made their own
contribution to local rituals and how certain festivities were observed,
bringing their own sacred texts and their own interpretations of them. An “otherness”
was thus forged inside the “otherness”, which led not only to a logical tension
and divisions between more strongly judaising conversos and the official Old Christian world, but also to
controversy and conflict among the judaising conversos themselves, within the framework of an increasingly
intense crypto-Judaism.
Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar, Universidade de Évora, Portugal, “Towns and Cathedrals in Medieval
Portugal”
The main goal of this study is to think about the process of
construction of an urban identity having as background the analysis of the
relations between the church and the municipal power. In this context we will
try to understand and to define, in general terms, the lines of joint or
fracture in relations between these two powers, especially in the case of the
cities that were also see of bishoprics, in order to understand as the process
of construction of an urban identity has been articulated with the presence and
influence of these cathedral institutions. If the principal objective of this
analysis is to place some of the doubts and the problems that often
characterised the relations between Church and specially cathedral clergy and
the process of construction of an urban identity, we will not forget, however,
the importance of the social component and the paper performed for some of the
protagonists of these ecclesiastic institutions and its families in the context
of the municipal power.
1:15 – 3:00 Lunch (on your
own)
Friday 3:00 – 5:00
6A. Renaissance Studies I
Chair: William D. Phillips, Jr., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Susan Rosenstreich, Dowling College, Oakdale, New York, “The French in Florida: Making the World Right Again”
The project of building a New World
refuge for sixteenth century French Protestants involved conceptual designs for
the distribution of power in ideal communities. These designs were not
articulated, but were rather embedded in French travel writing from this
experience. The paper presents outlines of these ideal communities, using
travel writing by René de Laudonnière, Jean Ribault and Nicolas de Challeux.
Jane Tar, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, “Mother Luisa de la Ascension, the Nun of Carrion: Celebrity and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century Spain”
In 1635, Mother Luisa de la Ascensión
was one of the most well-known, revered and influential religious women of the
Spanish Empire. Consulted by Papal representatives and Franciscan officials, by
Kings and their Ministers, Mother Luisa (aka, “The Nun of Carrión”) had been
dispensing spiritual and political advice for nearly fifty-years. The founder
of an 80,000 member confraternity sworn to defend the Immaculate Conception,
Mother Luisa’s own image had become, if not quite as well-known as the Virgin
Mary’s in the Hispanic world, then arguably as well-known as St. Teresa of
Avila’s. Portraits of Mother Luisa, as well as crosses and rosary beads thought
to be blessed by her, could be found not only in Madrid, but as far away as
Mexico City and Manila. In addition to celebrated visionary journeys to convert
indigenous peoples to Christianity or to support Spanish troops on the
battlefield, Mother Luisa had even had a Spanish sailing vessel named after
her. Between 1632 and 1635, the frigate, “Madre Luisa de la Ascensión,” made
three exploratory trips along the Baja Peninsula and California coasts. As the
late nineteenth-century Inquisition historian Henry Charles Lea once noted,
Mother Luisa’s religious career should have placed her squarely on a fast track
for “enrollment in the Church’s calendar of saints.” However, in 1635, Spanish
Inquisitors removed the abbess from her convent and sent her to Valladolid for
questioning. Exhausted by a series of lengthy interrogations and physical
examinations, the elderly and ailing Mother Luisa died within fifteenth months
of her detention, yet one more victim of the Holy Office. Mother Luisa’s case
raises a number of interesting questions. Why were inquisitors so interested in
her? Did they think she really was a heretic? Did they simply suspect her of
visionary fraud? Were they seriously considering the possibility that she might
be a witch when they examined her in search of an incubus? Did male religious
contemporaries feel threatened by her influence and authority? Or was Mother
Luisa’s apparent opposition to the policies of the unpopular Count Duke of
Olivares the true reason for her arrest? Whatever the motives were, the effects
were devastating, for not only did Mother Luisa die as a result of her ordeal,
but inquisitorial edicts of 1636, prohibiting all publications, images, and
other items associated with her, served effectively to erase from popular
memory, a figure once so influential and admired. This paper revisits Mother
Luisa’s case with a view to restoring her to the historical record as a
significant woman religious leader of both the Spanish Empire and the early
modern Mediterranean world.
Michelle McKinley, University of Oregon, Eugene, “Continuities and Disjunctures in Ibero-American Slavery”
The internal diversity within the
African community transplanted to the New World is an important yet
understudied aspect of the ethnogenesis of early colonial Latin American
society. Slaves and free blacks from the Iberian continent were among the first
expeditionaries in the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Iberian slaves
occupied an ambiguous social position in the militarized expedition and quest
for adventure, wealth and power that characterized the Peruvian Conquest. They
were both cultural interlocutors for Spanish efforts, as well as henchmen in
the sexualized and military exploits of Conquest paraphrasing Matthew Restall,
they were voluntary expeditionaries and involuntary colonists. In the late 16th
century, the Iberian urban slave experience was reconstituted in the New World
with remarkable similarity to its peninsular patterns. While the creolization
of West African slaves in the New World is well-documented by Atlantic and
diaspora scholars, far less is known about the status and experiences as urban
slaves and freedmen in Castile as they reconstituted their lives in the New
World. I use the Iberian urban slave experience to posit continuities and
disjunctures in the creation of a new slave society in colonial Lima from the
perspective of lawsuits brought by slaves and freedmen exploring innovations of
honor, caste, and Afro-Catholic religiosity that feature heavily in these
lawsuits. While it is possible that yet another exposition on the diversity of
slavery strains the utility of slavery as a unified analytical category, it
seems that a more intellectually rich field of comparative slavery studies
would include the peculiarities of Hispanic American urban slavery that drew as
heavily on their Mediterranean roots as on their West African heritage to in
the constitution of an urban colonial society.
6B. Discourses of Empire in Habsburg Italy: Policies,
Forms, and Ideas
Chair:
Thomas J. Dandelet, University of California, Berkeley
William
S. Goldman, Stanford University, California, “The Political Culture of Peace:
Spanish Foreign Policy during the Venetian Interdict Crisis, 1605-7”
The Venetian Interdict Crisis of 1605-7
is generally studied as a seminal moment of intellectual and ecclesiastical
history, one in which the centralizing tendencies of Rome were defeated by the
Venetian desire for Republican liberty. Yet the crisis was international in
scale. Spain s decision after much delay and obfuscation to form an army in
Lombardy to defend the pope, and to counter a threatened French invasion of
Milan on behalf of the embattled Venetians, had profound ramifications for the
Spanish Empire and Europe as a whole. Forced, in essence, to choose between
prolonging the ongoing war in Flanders against the Dutch Rebels or intervening
in Italy, Philip III and his Council of State, relying on an elite political
culture dedicated to peace and a reduction of imperial commitments based on
Tacitean reason of state, chose to defend Rome. The result was the successful
unwinding of the Venetian crisis without bloodshed, and the signing of a
short-term truce with the Dutch in 1607. But it s more salient effect can be
seen in the ascendance of a peace party inspired by Tacitus in the Council of
State that would lead Spain toward a policy of imperial conservation.
Sabina
de Cavi, Flemish Academic Centre for Science and the Arts, Brussels, Belgium, “Burgundian
Court Etiquette in Spanish Naples”
From 1503 to 1734 the city of Naples was
the capital of a Spanish viceroyalty in Italy. Around 1600 it became the
representational centre of the Habsburg Spanish crown. Under Philip III
(1598-1621) the city was provided with a royal palace, whereas in Rome the
Spanish embassy was missing a permanent site. The new building could stand
comparison with any modern princely palace in Italy, even the Pope’s, as it was
planned by Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), once architect of Sixtus V. It was,
however, also Spanish: it accommodated the needs of Habsburg court etiquette.
In my paper I will outline the role played by the Flemish master of ceremonies,
Miguel Diéz de Aux in guiding the planning, and will also discuss how his
unpublished etiquette book and his own presence in town (from 1580 to 1622),
provided a beneficial continuity on which the unstable government of the
Neapolitan viceroys relied. This manuscript etiquette on the court of Naples,
which I am editing for publication, was the first codification of old
historical sources and etiquettes as well as modern practices of hospitality
devised by Miguel Diéz de Aux to reflect the new standards of magnificence and
kinship established by the government of Philip III.
Thomas
J. Dandelet, “An Early Modern Symposium on Empire: The Neapolitan Academy of
the Spanish Viceroy, the Duke of Medinaceli”
In the late
seventeenth century, a group of Neapolitan intellectuals, all part of an
Academy sponsored by the Duke of Medina Celi, Spanish viceroy of Naples, wrote
a group of essays united by the theme of empire. Over 40 essays reflected on
the history of ancient empires including those of the Assyrians, Persians,
Greeks and Romans. Rome, not surprisingly, was the empire that received the most
attention with many essays dedicated to individual emperors. This paper focuses
on the treatment of the Roman Empire in the Neapolitan Academy and will explore
the ways in which the historical essays on ancient Rome can be read as
reflecting contemporary preoccupations and critiques of the Spanish empire.
6C. Literature II
Chair: Robert G. Collmer, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
Ana del Campo Gutiérrez,
Universidad de Zaragoza, “Ya por ojo la
Muerte ve que vien: Los signos anunciadores del deceso y la agonía en la
Edad Media”
A partir del verso del Libro de Buen
Amor con el que comienza el título, esta comunicación trataría de acercarse a
cómo las gentes medievales percibían la muerte, es decir, saber qué les llevaba
a colegir su inminencia, qué signos se la anunciaban. En segundo lugar, se
analizaría el modo en el que afrontaban la agonía. De esta manera, se prestaría
especial atención a los cuidados que los moribundos recibían por parte de los
médicos, sobre todo cuando éstos entendían que no podían sanar a su paciente y
que debían prepararle para morir. Por otro lado, también se estudiarían los
cuidados de tipo religioso proporcionados por los sacerdotes y monjes, entre
los que se encuentran los últimos sacramentos, pero también el acompañamiento
espiritual con oraciones, salmos y letanías. En última instancia, se analizaría
cómo entendían y cómo representaban el momento exacto de la muerte las gentes
de la Edad Media. Para todo ello se emplearía un amplio abanico de fuentes:
literarias, notariales, médicas y artísticas.
Sarissa Carneiro Araújo,
Universidad de Chile, Santiago, “Infortunio
y virtud: el Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, lector de Petrarca y de Vives”
The early Renaissance reflected on the question of the space of the man in the world and his relation with fate and liberty. Literature, art and philosophy expressed the problem of the position of the singular person and his fight with the world. The Christian and ascetic tradition joined then the sense, recovered from Antiquity, of the strength of the personality in conflict with the enigmatic power of Fortune. Ficino recommended in a letter to Giovanni Rucellai, to make peace with Fortune using power, wisdom and wish. This presentation refers to the relation between misfortune and virtue, specialy in the first chronicle of the Peruvian mestizo, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616). The chronicle (La Florida del Inca, Lisbon, 1605) narrates the unfortunate expedition of Hernando de Soto to Florida (1539-1541), and analyzes the reasons of the failure, stressing the virtues and vices of its participants. In this text, Gacilaso de la Vega transposes some notions explored before by humanists and authors of the Renaissance. This presentation examines some relations between Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae and Vives Introductio ad sapientiam (1524).
Faith Harden, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, “Angels, Demons, and Autobiographical Self-Fashioning in Jerónimo de Pasamonte’s Vida y trabajos”
Often located somewhere between a
(religious) confession and (secular) memorial
de servicio, and expressed by means of various literary conventions,
including those of lyric poetry, the comedia, and the novela sentimental, among
others, soldiers autobiographies from the Spanish Golden Age are an important,
if frequently overlooked, subgenre of early modern literature. While previous
criticism has tended to emphasize the documentary value of such texts, this
paper draws attention to the formal aspects and thematic content that disclose
the cultural and intellectual frameworks undergirding autobiographical
self-construction. The text considered in this paper is a particularly striking
seventeenth-century soldier s autobiography, Vida y trabajos de Jerónimo de Pasamonte, that recounts the author
s spiritual visitations from earliest childhood, as well as his capture and
enslavement by Ottoman Turks in the conquest of La Goleta and his ensuing
eighteen years of forced labor, followed by unrelenting demonic persecution at
the hands of his fellow Christians upon his release. The power and presence of
supernatural beings is evident in almost every chapter of Pasamonte s Vida, a recurrent motif that much
previous scholarship has interpreted as symptomatic of the author s traumatic
experiences in captivity. In contrast, in this paper I contend that Pasamonte s
representations of benign and malignant spirits are an integral part of his
textual self-fashioning, one that reflects through the prism of
Counter-Reformation angelology the author s conception of his own permeable and
precarious subjectivity, susceptible to the machinations of diabolical forces.
For this reason, together with Pasamonte s subordinate social and economic
status, the text evinces a certain anxiety, an underlying unease that motivates
the author s constant affirmations of the validity of his moral pronouncements
based on the authority of his own experience and tempered by the guidance of
his superiors.
Ana Luisa Vilela, and Fabio Mario da Silva, University of Évora, Portugal, “Two Iberian Authors of the 17th Century: Bernarda de Lacerda and Mariana de Luna”
From the end of the 16th century (1580)
until mid-17th century (1640), the Iberian Peninsula witnessed profound
political and cultural transformations: the Spanish dominion over Portugal
changed the country into a subaltern and peripheral nation in relation to
Europe. This factor also influenced Portuguese literature: we verify, for
example, that most of the authors of the time started to write in Castilian or
in both languages. This is visible in the work of two Portuguese women writers
who lived during this period: Dona Bernarda Ferreira de Lacerda and her
Soledades de Buçaco (1634); a work written under Spanish dominion; and Dona
Mariana de Luna, with the work Ramalhete de flores: a felicidade deste Reyno de
Portugal em sua milagrosa restauração por Sua Magestade Dom Joaõ IV (1640), a
work on the Restoration of the Portuguese sovereignty. The paper will analyze
how these two writers became pioneers in Portuguese literature and how their
works represent the problems lived in the Iberian Peninsula at the time.
6D. Mediterranean
Cultural Studies III
Chair: Orna Almog, Kingston University, UK
Sen Yuksel, Dogus University, Istanbul, Turkey, “Investigation of Antioch City in the Context of Mediterranean Architecture”
Settlings where the communities create
and keep their own cultures alive, take their shapes with the environmental
characteristics of that region. But, in the result of changes in the cultural,
economical and functional factors by the effects of industrial period, these
settlings have started to lose gradually their identities and characteristics.
New settlings arised by ignoring the environmental conditions, are deviated
from the original architecture of that region. In the result of this, a uniform
structure has started to arise as being applicable in every region, even in
every country. The city of Antioch (Antakya), located on the south of Turkey,
bearing the traces of Seleukos, Rome and Byzantine, is one of the oldest
settlements of the World. It is a city with different religions and Muslim,
Christian and Jewish people live together in and historical, cultural and
natural riches. In this paper Antioch City will be investigated in the context
of the Mediterranean architecture, and Antioch villa in the Roman period and
19th Century the traditional Antioch houses will be analyzed.
Orna Almog, “No More War: The Role of Leadership in the Arab-Israeli Conflict”
In the world of international conflicts the Arab-Israeli- Palestinian conflict endures as one of the most acute with far-reaching implications for both the region and for international affairs. The much sought after peace still eludes resolution. However, since 1977 there have been several successful attempts towards conflict resolution and peace settlements, namely, the Egyptian-Israeli agreement in 1979; the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel in 1995 and the failed 1993 Oslo peace accord between Israel and the PLO. Historians and political analysts have debated whether great moments, or turning points in history are the result of a special momentum and right timing or due to great leadership. Both are no doubt crucial, however, if the right leader is not there at the right time to seize the opportunity no progress or peace process will ensue. This paper will discuss the historical peace initiative of Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat in 1977 as well as the equally dramatic decision of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who in 1993 undertook to sign a peace treaty with the PLO. It will examine the motives and aims behind their decision to embark on a new path of peace; assessing their roles to bring about a shift in the region’s seemingly endless history of violence and bloodshed.
Liora Gvion, Kibbutzim College of Education, Israel, “‘I’d like to have hummus, tahini and
shishlik’: Palestinian Restaurants in Israel as Political Arenas for
Experiencing Leisure”
This paper analyzes the meanings
Palestinians in Israel assign to restaurants. It argues restaurants are arenas
of leisure, which constitute social practices that reproduce power relations in
three spheres. Along gender lines, eating out reinforces the domination of men
over women. Via their menus, restaurateurs acknowledge women’s culinary
knowledge, their traditional cultural role as homemakers and their contribution
to the sustainability of Palestinian culture at the home. From a cultural
standpoint, a visit to a restaurant makes it possible for the Palestinian
family to practice and narrate modernity, choose their modes of participation
in Israeli popular culture and the ways in which they adjust to middle class
culture. Moreover, Palestinians assign distinctive cultural meanings to eating
out. From a political standpoint, restaurants are arenas of memory and
tradition formation as restaurateurs control the image of Palestinian food in
Israeli society and the dissemination of Palestinian culinary knowledge to
Israelis. Consequently, they construct their vision of authenticity, control
the commodification of Palestinian food and choose their selective means of
participation in Israeli culinary culture. Thus, the Palestinian restaurant
simultaneously makes it possible for Palestinian citizens of Israel to
incorporate modernity while preserving traditional thinking of food and the relationship
embedded in food production.
Elena Moreddu, University of Sassari, Alghero, Sardinia, Italy, “Lingering over Play: The Status of Art in Relations between Men and Places”
It is on the territory that men and
places encounter each other. Some apparently abandoned territories favor this
encounter. An example are certain sacred places where dialectic interaction
takes place throughout time, each year at the same time, to renew a process
that I define of interpretation and creation. But what are the premises on
which these encounters with their territorializing value are based? And in what
way do these encounters prove to be productive at an existential level and take
shape as constituent events of men and places? The assumption from which to
depart is suggested by Lindsay Jones, who invites us not so much to seek the
meanings of [religious] places in themselves (as if built forms had innate,
unchangeable meanings) as to recognize they have a voice, life and personality
of their own. The cumbessias villages of Sardinia should, therefore, be
interpreted as works of art, fertile reserves of meaning to the eyes of the
devout, attentive interpreter. Men and places are, then, active subjects
engaged in a relationship that goes far beyond a mere visual or perceptual
dimension but is expressed in an existential type of proximity, proximity that
can be summarized in Heidegger s formulation of Dasein: this translates as a
continuous dialogue (even at a distance), historically determined, a
hermeneutical engagement reciprocally constitutive for both subjects involved.
Saturday, May 29
Universidad de Salamanca. Edificio Histórico. Patio de Escuelas, 1
Saturday 9:00 – 11:00
7A. El papel de la intolerancia en el Renacimiento
Chair: María Martín Gómez,
Universidad de Salamanca
María Martín Gómez, “El
poder de la intolerancia en la Universidad salmantina del siglo XVI”
En la presente comunicación, titulada “El poder de la intolerancia en la Universidad salmantina del siglo XVI” queremos hacer una reflexión crítica sobre una serie de acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar en la Universidad de Salamanca durante el siglo XVI y que fueron fruto de un ambiente de intolerancia religiosa y académica que inundaba todo el país. Nos estamos refiriendo a las diversas maneras de censuras y reprobaciones que tuvieron que vivir nuestros intelectuales renacentistas durante el siglo de Oro español. Por ejemplo, límites en su libertad de expresión, prohibiciones para salir a estudiar en el extranjero, obligaciones para enseñar solamente la doctrina impuesta… Para el desarrollo de nuestra exposición vamos a basarnos sobre todo en la aprobación de los estatutos de la Universidad donde sólo se permitía enseñar a Santo Tomás y San Agustín, en el famoso proceso inquisitorial a los tres maestros hebraístas (Fray Luis de León, Gaspar de Grajal y Martín Martínez Cantalapiedra), en el estatuto de sangre, en la pragmática de 1559 decretada por Felipe II, en la quema de libros o en la publicación de varios Índices de libros prohibidos.
Doris Moreno Martínez, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona,
“El dominico Fray Juan de Villagarcía y su Diálogo llamado cadena de oro ...
para atraer a los herejes (1562)”
Al mismo tiempo que llegaba a su fin el Concilio de Trento en su última
etapa, el dominico fray Juan de Villagarcía escribía un tratado titulado “Diálogo
llamado cadena de oro entre dos cristianos... y sirve para dar a entender
aquellas cosas con un herege se pueda y deva volver a la Sancta fee catholica
de Jesucristo”. Regente del Colegio de San Gregorio de Valladolid, amigo
personal del arzobispo de Toledo, el también dominico fray Bartolomé de
Carranza, colaborador suyo en la represión de la herejía en Flandes, fray Juan
de Villagarcía pasó varios meses entre 1560 y 1562 en las cárceles inquisitoriales
de Valladolid acusado de hereje. En esta comunicación analizaremos su tratado
con el propósito de desmenuzar su concepto de herejía y los métodos que propone
para atraer a los herejes. Él, que pasó de perseguidor a perseguido.
Rosa Benéitez Andres, Universidad
de Salamanca, “La ‘contra-representación’ de las identidades en François
Rabelais y Enrique Marty: dos maneras de convivir con la intolerancia”
Una de las cuestiones abordadas por la Teoría de la Literatura de las últimas décadas ha sido la de especificar cuál es el papel de la literatura y de las artes en la formación de las identidades sociales. A pesar de las diferencias existentes entre unas y otras perspectivas teóricas, todas vienen a coincidir en que en el proceso de formación de la identidad grupal no sólo se privilegia unas singularidades y se descartan otras, en función de determinados intereses, sino que además se toman ciertas diferencias o divisiones internas al grupo y se proyectan como distancia insalvable e intolerable entre individuos o comunidades. Dentro de esta perspectiva podríamos analizar dos obras, una literaria y otra artística, que en determinados periodos históricos han llevado a cabo una especie de contra-representación de las sociedades en las que se sitúan. Al decir contra-representación nos estamos refiriendo al hecho de que estos trabajos suponen una revisión de los modelos establecidos y un cuestionamiento de la idea de identidad unitaria, y por tanto de aquello considerado como aceptable, que era y es pregonada por el sistema de pensamiento en el que se inscriben. Así, tanto Rabelais en el Renacimiento, como Enrique Marty en la cultura contemporánea se proponen como miradas despojadas de todo convencionalismo, que analizan además de manera satírica las contradicciones de sus respectivos contextos.
7B. Renaissance Studies II
Chair:
James F. Powers, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts
Lorraine Attreed, Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts, “Places in the Heart: Architecture & the Politics of Gender in the Life of Margaret of Austria (1480-1530)”
Exactly five hundred years ago, Margaret
of Austria – daughter of Emperor Maximilian and Regent of the Netherlands in
charge of the future Charles V – made a momentous decision impacting the
exercise of both public and private power. Four years into a project to build a
monastery in honor of her late husband the Duke of Savoy, Margaret decided that
she wanted to be buried with him and his mother, necessitating the construction
of an elaborate church in which to house the tombs, the building we know today
as the Royal Monastery of Brou. For the rest of her life, Margaret oversaw the
design and construction of two important edifices: the monastic complex just
outside Bourg-en-Bresse, and the public palace in Mechelen from which she would
raise her nephew and his sisters, rule the Netherlands, and exercise diplomatic
powers throughout Europe. Both complexes manifest important statements about
public and private power, gendered spheres of influence, and intense personal
expressions of love and loss. This paper will explore how Margaret, influenced
by her early years in Castile, her marriage in Savoy, and her public duties in
the Netherlands, united Northern and Mediterranean themes into architectural
expressions of power and beauty.
Javier Quinteros Cortés,
Universidad de Almería, “Mercado Negro y Redes Económico-Políticas: el clan Rey
en el Reino de Murcia (1474-1504)”
En el último cuarto del Siglo XV, la
actuación del clan genovés de los Rey, en el Reino de Murcia, no sólo se
caracterizó por el rol desempeñado en el negocio del alumbre –tópico hasta el
momento parcialmente estudiado- sino por ciertas transacciones “legales”,
especialmente importaciones y exportaciones de cereal, que sólo enmascaraban
actividades comerciales que podríamos considerar como “ilegales” dado que los
beneficios económicos a nivel fiscal se conocen a partir de las denuncias o
sentencias por impagos. La comunicación, más allá de ajustarse a la anécdota y
la saga familiar, analiza hasta qué punto se llevó a cabo una manipulación
económica para obtener beneficios fiscales desorbitados, cómo dicha
manipulación estuvo a cargo del clan Rey y cómo los Reyes Católicos estuvieron
de acuerdo con dicha acción. Las conclusiones nos demuestran un innovador
sistema de mercado negro en la costa murciana de la Corona de Castilla y una
cierta modernidad en este reino fronterizo al no tener colonias italianas sino
verdaderas compañías extranjeras privadas.
Cássio da Silva Fernandes, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, “The
Commentarii de Piccolomini and the
Narrative of the Vita in the Italian Renaissance”
The work of Enea Silvio Piccolomini constitutes a significant example of the humanistic literature in central Italy of the Quattrocento, while his actual performance in the world reveals the wealth of a particular character. Poet, cosmographer, eminent orator, political theorist of state, diplomat, Piccolomini followed a religious career and was elected Pope Pius II in 1458. The symbolic role played by his life and work is expressed in his autobiography entitled Commentarii. In this book, the cosmographical narrative creates the environment in which human action will occur. Amid the description of cities, customs, migration, government actions, Piccolomini narrates the tale of the life of illustrious personages of his time. It is this in this scenario that he develops the narrative of his own life, a major figure of his time, in charge of a papacy specially known by the march of the Turks toward the West. Thus, the autobiography of Piccolomini, participant in the Latin tradition of narrative called “vite”, as cultivated in Renaissance Italy, presents another ingredient: it inserts the life of the authorprotagonist in the midst of a fascinating description of the world and the men, turning autobiography in historiography, without neglecting it.
Dan Crews, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, “Deconstruction of Valdesian Justification, 1542-1525”
My paper will begin with Juan de Valdés
s association with the Regensburg doctrine of double justification and the
origin of the post-mortem Valdesian heresy. I will then look at Valdés s
writings just before his death that inextricably linked faith and charity and
the significant bequests he made in his will to the Neapolitan Hospital for the
Incurables. I will then analyze his doctrine of justification by faith and
charity in his religious writings in reverse order of composition down to his
1529 Dialogue on Christian Doctrine. I will discuss his inheritance of the
prebend of the mayoralia of San Lazaro and the conflicts his father had with
the associated cofradia in trying to reform welfare distribution. I will
conclude with social, chronological and documentary links to the authorship of
Lazarillo de Tormes.
7C. Music and Drama
Chair: Flavia Laviosa, Wellesley College, Massachusetts
Incoronata Inserra, University of Hawaii at Manoa, “Re-imagining the Mediterranean through the Southern Italian Folk Music Revival”
The current revival of Southern Italian
folk music, the focus of my larger PhD dissertation project, represents a
crucial entry point into larger socio-political and cultural issues at stake in
Southern Italy. The Southern Italian response to current homogenizing
trends--the unification of Europe and the increasing globalization of
culture--takes on several forms simultaneously: a restatement of the South’s
own unique cultural heritage; a refusal of current conservative migration
policies in favor of a larger Mediterranean (and Southern) cultural
perspective; participation in the global market via the circulation of Southern
Italian rhythms in the international musical scene under the label of World
Music. In this paper, I analyze song lyrics and musical arrangements of a
particular subgenre of Southern Italian folk music, the tammurriata tradition
from the Campania region. Developed in the rural areas near the cities of
Naples and Salerno, the tammurriata revival clearly illustrates co-existing
local and global trends within current Southern Italian musical culture. The
music of the revival testifies not only to the co-existence of several cultural
strands within the tammurriata tradition, but also to the specific cultural and
political meanings that this music takes on within the current socio-political
framework.
Zeynep Barut, İstanbul Technical University, State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Turkey, “An Overview of Classical Turkish Music”
In this presentation, Classical Turkish
Music will be explained in its main lines; general information about the basic
subjects, such as Turkish Music sound system, Notation etc... will be touched
upon. In the concept of Classical Turkish Music Terminology, on account of the
wide geography in which the Turks resided in history, the reflections of
reciprocal interaction with other cultures will be examined closely by
employing diverse elements and invaluable set of values spreading over many
cultures.
Şerife Güvençoğlu, İstanbul Technical University, State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Turkey, “Ottoman’s Harem and Music”
The dictionary definition of Harem is: “A
holy place that not everyone is allowed to enter”; however, Harem in
traditional Turkish-Islam society is: “A place reserved for ladies”. During
Ottoman era, like for many other areas of living, Harem was the place of
practice and training where ladies learned music, singing, dancing and to play
musical instruments, Harem weddings, henna ceremonies and musical
entertainments during social visits, that constituted the musical life of,
Harem, were the rings of deep rooted musical tradition, as well as deep rooted
dancing and entertainment traditions. During the course of great changes that
has entered our social lives, Harem is now remembered by us all as what we
read, heard and as it was portrayed for us. As is known, “traditions, customs,
habits and norms” in our social life are like living entities. This continuity
evolves naturally like birth, growing up and multiplying before passing away.
For these reasons, Harem has been enjoying its vitality all throughout the
changing times and places, if not with its old magic, secrecy and name. The
musical life of, Harem, which is the institution that the Ottoman palace women
especially from 17th century gathered to conduct every kind of social,
political and artistic activities, constitutes the subject of this
presentation.
Rosemari Bendlin
Calzavara, Universidade Norte do Paraná, Londrina, Brazil, “A interpretação
dramática da história”
O presente estudo tem por objetivo
discutir o drama moderno a partir de um terreno historicizado, apresentado por
Peter Szondi no livro Teoria do drama moderno. Para documentar esta discussão
escolhemos a peça As Confrarias de Jorge Andrade tendo em vista seu caráter
histórico e sua forma composicional. Para Szondi, o drama como arte se constrói
sob dois aspectos imprescindíveis: o embate intersubjetivo entre os homens e
sua relação com a comunidade que o cerca. Daí a diferença maior entre drama
clássico e drama moderno. Na dramaturgia moderna a origem dos acontecimentos
reflete-se sobre si mesma, passado e presente representam um objeto saturado de
tensões. A forma se apresenta como conteúdo “precipitado”, ou seja, através de
uma relação dialética entre dois enunciados: o “enunciado da forma” e o “enunciado
do conteúdo”, conteúdos advindos da vida social e que por si só já têm uma
forma peculiar. Nessa perspectiva o núcleo do confronto que caracteriza a crise
da forma dramática, encontra-se na crescente separação do sujeito e do objeto.
O caráter constitutivo do diálogo desempenha no drama um caráter constitutivo
de restauração da textura dramática. De certa maneira pode-se considerar a peça
As Confrarias como uma construção histórica do avanço do elemento épico no
âmago da forma dramática que a princípio teria no diálogo as funções épicas ,
tributárias da cisão de sujeito e objeto.
7D. Mediterranean
Historicity and Diversity II. Sponsored by the Institute for Mediterranean Studies,
Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea
Chair: Mohammed Selim, Kuwait University
Jayoung Che, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “A Shift of the Military and Social Structures of the Byzantine Empire: On the Mutation of the Thema System”
Much
part of the soldiers of thema (themata) in the Byzantine Empire is regarded to
be indigenous, supported by their families, most of them being farmers, not
necessarily however. They were called for duty whenever in need, returning home
in winter and peace of time. The thema referred to army itself first, then to
the area where the army stationed, and last to administrative area. The usage
of thema for administrative area following the designation of army appeared in
the 670s first time in the sources, while the words, ‘stratos’ as well as ‘strateuma’
was much more generally used for meaning army. The theses around themata are
about when they came into existence, whether the recruitment of soldiers is
related to holdings of land or alleged ‘military land’, etc. This essay do not
concern with the origin of thema system, but just with the relation between the
soldiers of thema and land holdings over the 7th to the 10th century, what
political and sociological meanings a series of agricultural laws enacted in
the 10th century have, and what meaning of historical context the fiscalization
of military service has. The question about which of the two, person or land,
military service was imposed upon could not be easily answered, as it did not
follow to a uniformed norm but depended largely on confronted situations.
Generally, active military service in person was more preferred by the Empire
until the 9th century than later, and in the 10th and 11th centuries the
fiscalization of military service got more intensified. As time passed on, the
generals (strategos) as well as the soldiers of thema gradually lost
significance and gave in to administrative bureaucrats and the mercenaries more
mobile and more aggressive. With the development of thema system, the Empire
enlarged the object of imposing military duty in person and in property. And
this process has a close connection with intensifying governmental control and
tax collection of the Empire, the tax referring to land (jugatio) as well as
poll tax (capitatio) and household (kapnikon). A previlege of being exempted
from a kind of particular tax was to be awarded to the common farmer, as he
recorded in the military duty. The dissemination of military service to the
peasant society coincides with the strengthening political power of the Empire
itself, and the bureaucracy of thema and its breaking into parts. This process
kept going on over the 7th to the 11th, 12th centuries. Moreover, the criminal
laws of the Empire got enforced and more atrocious, too. Thus, the transition
of the form of military service and the system of land holdings and taxation
influenced not simply to military system, but generally to the governmental
system of the Empire which permeated into the lowest stratum of society of
farmers as well as the sphere of church. In short, the expansion of the
military and then the administrative structure of thema made an opportunity of
intensifying the subordination of farmers and ecclesiastical society to the
military-administrative system of the Byzantine Empire.
Nina Chang, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “En quoi peut contribuer IMS (Institute for Mediterranean Studies) à l’étude méditerranéenne en Corée?”
Cet article a pour l’objectif de examiner le projet
de IMS qui est subventionné par le Korea Research Foundation 2007 dans le cadre
de Humanities Korea Projet (International Area Studies: Mediterranean Area).
Pour obtenir de bons résultats en tant que l’étude méditerranéenne en Corée,
nous avons développé les plusieurs programmes selon le but des acquis des
recherches humaines dans la complexité des cultures méditerranéennes et la
promotion des informations interculturelles de la zone méditerranéenne aidant
ainsi les enseignements des futurs spécialistes à former. En plus, pour
atteindre cet objectif de la recherche et l’enseignement, nous avons divisé en
deux sections: académique et civil. D’abord, dans l’introduction de ce projet,
nous présentons notre agenda de la recherche comme une étude coopérative.
Après, nous résumons l’histoire de ce chemin de IMS en se focalisant sur le
premier institut de l’étude méditerranéenne en Corée. Par la suite, nous vous
invitons à présenter nos contenus des résultats actuels par des activités
diverses. A travers des activités, nous commençons à contribuer
progressivement. En conclusion, nous avons pu constater que IMS, le premier
institut des étude méditerranéenne en Corée, peut contribuer à la propagation
de l’étude méditerranéenne hors de la zone méditerranéenne, particulièrement la
Corée, pourquoi pas.
Juin Lim, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “Novelas ejemplares y amorosas: la identidad femenina y el honor”
Las mujeres en la literatura españla del siglo XVII se han descrito como fuente del mal. Este percepción tendría como base la noción Cristiana al pensar en la mujer como un instigador para degenerar al ser humano, seducida por el demonio. La posición misógina creada en la escritura de varios autores, proviene de la Inquisición y el Concilio de Trento, que contribuyeron en la atmósferma antifemenina en España. Pero la imagen generalizada sobre la mujer o el esterotipo tradicional de la mujer como el mal se representa no solo en la literature española, sino también en la de otros países europeos, como en la grancesa o la italiano. Especialmente, el asunto historic y foklórico llamado por “caza de hechicera” se ha derivado de la imagen negative de la mujer; es decir, la noción de que la mujer es un ser malign en sí mismo. El tema de hechicería también se deriva de este misoginismo de la época, pues la persecución contra la hechicera es también en contra de las mujeres como esposa o hija, que los hombre3s consideran como un ser amenazante al orden patriarcal. En este sentido, H. Patsy aclara la correlación entre la hechicería y el género de discriminación. Entonces, ¿es la mujer una hechicera que manipula al hombre o es un ser manipulado por el hombre? María de Zayas, novelista femenina de la época barroca en el siglo XVII, trató de destruir el estereotipo de la mujer descrita por los maestros masculinos de su época. Aunque el studio de María de Zayas no da una respuesta decisive a la pregunta, la observación sobre este texto elegido nosh ace possible pronoer el cambio de la percepción masculine en cuanto al sexo. Al tener en cuenta que la mujer de su época no puede tener voz propia en la esfera social política y religiosa, no es tan sorprendente la imagen de la mujer descrita generalizadamente en la literature. En este sentido se destaca el esfuerzo de autora en no aceptar esta noción masculine sin Resistencia alguna. Mientras que en el Siglo de Oro, los escritoires expresan su temor y el odio hacia la mujer, que amenaza al sistema patriarcal y tradicional, en la novella de Zayas derriba la relación directa entre le mal propio de su naturaleza y la fuerza sobrenatural de la magia diabólica por medio de la inverción del papel sexual. Mientras escritoires prolíficos y conocidos proporcionan una atmósfera confuse y misógina, que no es difícl discriminar de la realidad y dan paso a la actitud hostil hacia el sexo femenino, a través de la magia y el acercamiento a la noción de que la mujer es fuente de mal en sí mismo. Zayas trata de crear la combinación de la percepción negative sobre la mujer basada en el sistema patriarcal y la realidad incluyendo su mensaje feminist. A través de comparer el punto de vista generalizada sobre la mujer de novelistas masculinos como Cervantes con el femenina y desafiador de Zayas, intent reflexionar sobre el característica del discurso femenino y la reinterpretación sobre el honor basado en la vista masculine. Además nos damos cuenta de que en la novella de Zayas, sin tener en cuenta el sujeto de usar magia, las mujeres son inevitablemente culpable por su sexo inherente en la sociedad patriarcal. En este sentido Zayas, con la ironía de mantener el argument a base del discurso ofrecido de los maestros masculinos, derriba la construcción tradicional en cuanto al sexo y refuerza su mensaje feminist. Zayas demuestra con la voz de Lisis, narrador del cuento de marco, cómo es maltratada la mujer inocente en nombre del honor vacío tanto en la realidad como en la literature. Aunque el uso de magia y la imagen de mujer como mal inherente siguen al discurso precedente, la novella mímica de Zayas acusa la crueldad, la injusticia y el prejuicio del hombre contra la mujer en vez de sostener el orden patriarcal. Para confirmer el hecho, he analizado Beatriz, heorína del cuento llamado “la perseguida triunfante” por teoría de Clarisa Ester en su libro llamado mujeres que corren con lobos.
She draws an internal masculine energy to her aid. In Jungian psychology element has been named animus; a partly mortal, partly instinctual, partly cultural element of a woman’s psyche that shows up in fairy tales and in dream symbols as her son, husband, stranger, and/or lover—possibly threatening depending on her psychic circumstances of the moment. This psychic figure is particularly valuable because it is invested with qualities which are traditionally bred out of women, aggression being one of the most common
Ella dibuja una energía masculina interna a su ayuda. En psicología de Jungian el elemento se ha nombrado animus; un elemento en parte mortal, en parte instinctual, en parte cultural de la psique de una mujer que demuestra para arriba en cuentos de hadas y en símbolos ideales como su hijo, marido, extranjero, y/o amante-posible que amenaza dependiendo de sus circunstancias psíquicas del momento. Esta figura psíquica es particularmente valiosa porque se invierte con las calidades que se crían tradicionalmente fuera de mujeres, agresión que es una del mas comun
A través del análisis, he llegado a la conclusion de que la mujer creativa no es sino una mujer como sujeto independente, que puede hacer frente al cambio social y descubrir su valor interior con búsqueda de reconciliarse entre la razón masculine y la intuición femenina.
Jae-Hoon Choi, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Korea, “A Study on the Cognition and Responses to Middle Eastern Terrorism”
As
for the definition of terrorism, academics and analysts diverge in their
opinions. No one has been able to produce a universally agreed definition.
Walter Laqueur, even argues that terrorism is simply indefinable and unworthy
of definition. One of the controversial questions related to a finite definition
of terrorism is how to identify state terrorism. In this regard, the West
blames some Arab nations and the Muslim world for state terrorism and religious
terrorism by supporting Islamic Radicals or Islamic extremist, while Arab
nations and the Muslim world ascribe terrorism to the developed nations’
colonization of the less developed nations. Terrorist groups in the Middle East
have diverse origins, ideologies, and organizational structures. These groups
date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the majority of these were
formally or informally linked to the PLO. Typically, they are also relatively
bureaucratic and maintain a nationalist or Marxist agenda. In contrast, most
new generation groups arose in the 1980s and 1990s, have more fluid organizational
forms, and rely on Islam, especially the concept of Jihad as a basis for their
radical ideology. The groups have survived to this day partly through support
from states such as Syria, Libya, and Iran. The groups retain the ability to
train and prepare for terrorist missions; however, their involvement in actual
operations has been limited in recent years, partly because of successful
counter terrorism campaigns by Israeli and Western Anti-terrorism agencies. In
contrast, the newer and less hierarchical groups, such as Hamas, the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hizbullah, Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group
(GIA), the Egyptian Islamic Group (IG), and Osama bin Laden’s Arab Afghans,
have become the most active organizations in and around the Middle East. After
the gulf war in 1991, Muslims regard the coalition army, especially the US
military presence as an intimidation of Islam by the West. Al-Qaeda’s ideology
and behavior is seen as an extreme form of Islam and as a political movement by
modern Islamic Fundamentalists, and one of its ideals is pan-Islamic unity. To
Al-Qaeda in particular, the world is viewed as a struggle between their extreme
Islamist ideology on one hand and non-Islam, like Zionism, Christianity and the
secular West on the other.
8A. Medieval History III
Chair: James D. Ryan, CUNY, New York
Luigi
Andrea Berto, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, “Narrating a Crisis: The
Decline of the Lombards in the Chronicles
of Saint Benedict of Cassino”
The end of the Lombard political unity
in southern Italy and the Muslim military activities in that area rendered the
ninth century a crucial, yet troubled period for the history of this part of
the Italian peninsula. The monastery of Montecassino was deeply affected by
those events as well. Its riches and the lack, in fact, made it an easy target
for the Muslims, who, after imposing heavy tributes on the monastery, sacked
and destroyed it in 883. Several years had to pass before the monks of Saint
Benedict could return to Montecassino. In the difficult period of exile they
put a lot of effort in the reconstruction of their community s identity as well
as in reaffirming its role as repository of southern Italy s memory. In this
process of reconstruction the texts known as the Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis had the fundamental task of
describing as well as explaining the events that had provoked the crisis of
southern Lombard Italy.
Anna
Katharina Angermann, University of Heidelberg, Germany, “The ‘Franks’ and the ‘Saracens’
– Exploring narratives of border and transgression: A case study of the raid on
Alexandria in 1365”
The raid on Alexandria in 1365 severely
affected the relationship between “East” and “West”, or rather Cyprus and the
Mamluk Empire. Nevertheless, the two realms, each populated by a wide range of
religious and ethnic groups, interacted extensively, mainly, but not only, on a
commercial level, both after and before the raid. In contrast, Arabic and
European sources suggest the intentional creation of borders for propagandistic
and economic purposes. Retracing the concepts behind terms such as “Franks” and
“Saracens”, the analysis concentrates on exploring the use of these notions and
their repercussions on local society. This question includes the mutual
perception of the actors of the trade between Cyprus and her allies on the one
hand and the Mamluk Empire on the other hand, for instance Oriental Jews and
Copts, but also Latin merchants based in Alexandria. The examination will focus
on the question how propaganda contributed to establishing borders and to
legitimating the transcultural reality that mitigated these borders. Thus the
paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the raid on Alexandria as
a multifaceted altercation between a fragile Latin-Christian coalition under
Cypriote leadership and a Mamluk Empire shaken by domestic instability.
Teresa
Sartore Senigaglia, University of Heidelberg, Germany, “The Empty Ghetto: Transcultural
Interactions in Medieval Rhodes”
Medieval Mediterranean societies have
been characterized by the existence and interaction of diverse diasporic
communities. Transcultural environments and the presence of ethnic minority
groups shaped commercial, social, legal and political relations between
different cultures. Particularly interesting it is to analyse the case of the
Jewish community in Rhodes, a small island strategically positioned between the
Levant and the Occident. In the Middle Ages Rhodes was ruled, from 1309 to
1522, by the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John. During this
epoch, great cultural fervour and commercial expansion took place. The
Hospitallers seem to have cohabitated mostly harmoniously with the indigenous
population and with a considerable number of diasporic communities. This paper
will focus on the analysis of interethnic relations in Rhodes, mainly from a
legal and anthropological perspective. Particular importance will be given to
the analysis of legal pluralism aspects in the diasporic networks created by
the Jewish community in the 1420s. Sources from the Archive of Malta dealing
with urban organization are the starting point for the analysis of the
socio-legal encounter/clash of diverse cultural groups who cohabitated in the
same territory. The micro-historical analysis of the Jewish community networks
in Rhodes will hopefully help to shed light on contemporary issues related to
migration and integration patterns in transcultural societies.
8B. Political
Thought and the Art of Government in the Wake of Machiavelli
Chair:
Dan Reff, Ohio State University, Columbus
Dan
Reff, “Machiavelli, the Jesuits, and Reason of State”
Machiavelli s The Prince (1513) was a
provocative work not only or largely because it mocked Thomist notions of good
government (that which leads to human salvation), but because it helped spark a
vigorous debate about the art of governing, which culminated in Botero s 1589
treatise The Reason of State. The Jesuit order was founded in 1540, in the
midst of this profound debate seemingly ushered in by Machiavelli. While repulsed
by the Florentine s principles, and fearful of the atheism that seemingly
undergirded reason of state (good government is that which promotes the reified
state not salvation), the Jesuit order, and Jesuit mission enterprises in
particular, anticipated and affirmed the new political rationality associated
with the modern state. This argument is advanced through a discussion of the
Jesuit mission enterprises in the New World and Japan.
Beatriz
Helena Domingues, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil, “Machiavellianism
and Thomism in the Writings of the Portuguese Jesuit Antonio Vieira”
This paper discusses two texts by Father
Antonio Vieira, “The Sermon of the Good Thief” (1655) and the “Papel Forte”
(1648) -- a short work of advice addressed to the king of Portugal on the Dutch
occupation of Pernambuco. Both of Viera s texts can be considered examples of
the so-called anti-Machiavellianism of the seventeenth century. Although both
relate to the problem of “restitution”, they do so from very different
understandings of its meaning. I argue that, while the sermon uses the
Scholastic argument to provide a counter-program to that of Machiavelli, the
second is dominated by principles diagnosed by the Florentine in his studies on
the taking and maintenance of power.
Luiz
César de Sá Júnior, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil, “Damião de
Gois between Lusitanitas and the Christian Republic: Notes about the Insertion
of the Humanist among Erudite Entourages in Europe, 1533-1542”
This paper
intends to summarize the positions of the Portuguese humanist Damião de Gois
between two major lines of his writing of letters and essays. First, the
defense of interests of his homeland, his lusitanitas, moreover, the side taken
in face of the religious quarrels of his time, which led him to the Ethiopian
religion, the open Christianity - in the view of Jean-Claude Margolin and
others – and the Protestantism of Luther and Melanchthon. The aim is to reach
an understanding of how this intellectual was inserted among Humanist European
scholars of the 16th century, and tried to use his connections with Portugal to
establish himself as a partner worthy of the great masters with whom he got in
touch. The period studied covers the years of 1533, when Gois leaves the royal
service at the factory of Flanders, until 1542, when he publishes Hispania, a
text in wich he describes Iberia as a civilized and resourceful entity in order
to defend that region of critics from relevant scholars. The sources chosen for
research are limited to his correspondence relevant to the period, to essays
and translations published during his stay in Freiburg, with Erasmus, and in
Padua, with Bembo, and the comments collected in the statements of his inquisitorial
process, in 1571.
8C. Mediterranean Cultural Studies IV
Chair: Joseph A. Agee, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Evy Johanne Håland, Bergen,
Norway, “Saints, Snakes and Healing in Modern and Ancient Greece and Italy”
In the modern village of Markopoulo on the island of Kephallonia
(Greece) snakes appear annually on 6 August and disappear after the
Dormition-festival dedicated to the Panagia (Virgin Mary). The snakes invade
the local church dedicated to Panagia. They are thought to be healing, and
several pilgrims arrive to be touched by the snakes, particularly on the eve of
15 August. In the Italian village of Cocullo, situated in the Abruzzi in the
territory of the ancient Marsi, renowned for their magic arts and power over
serpents, we meet a similar phenomenon: The Feast of Serpents in Cocullo is
celebrated on the first Thursday in May. It is dedicated to Saint Domenico,
patron saint of the village, who is credited with miraculous powers of healing,
and pilgrims arrive at Cocullo to be cured at the Feast of Saint Domenico. The
paper will present the two festivals where I have conducted fieldworks and
compare them with ancient material, since snakes also had an important healing
function in the ancient Graeco-Roman world.
Olga Solodyankina, Cherepovets State University, Vologda, Russia, “The Mediterranean in Foreign Governesses and Tutors’ Activity in Tsarist Russia”
Home education and upbringing with
governesses and tutors was rather popular in noble and middle class families in
Russia from the beginning of the XVIII century to the revolution of 1917.
Usually tutors and governesses were French, Swiss, British, and German. Some
(not numerous) of foreign governesses and tutors were Italians and Spaniards.
They used images of traditional suits of their native land for children’s
masquerades. At lessons of drawing they told about picturesque landscapes of
the Mediterranean. Usually natives of the Mediterranean were very musical, and
gave children lessons of music, often using songs of the native land.
Fascinating stories about the fine southern countries looked as a fairy tales
in a cold Russian climate. At last, this region could be the purpose of a Grand
Tour, finishing young man’s upbringing. In that case young nobleman under
supervision of the tutor made a trip on Italian cities. Italian language also
could be learned as an additional language, not as a compulsory language
(usually it was French). There were some sad cases when a tubercular pupil
accompanied by a governess or a tutor went to the coast of the warm
Mediterranean sea, far away from cold Russian winters, in hope for a treatment.
Manos Perakis, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece, “An Eastern Mediterranean Island during the Era of Nationalism: Muslim Departure and Land Redistribution in Crete during the Autonomy Period (1898-1913)”
The end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century are considered the period of the emergence of
nationalist movements across Europe and especially in the Balkans and the
eastern Mediterranean, a phenomenon that often led to population rearrangements
and financial transformations. This phenomenon also emerged in the island of
Crete with its 90,000 Muslims and 300,000 Orthodox Christians in 1898. The
liberation of Crete from the Ottoman suzerainty in 1898 led to the massive
departure of approximately 50,000 Muslims (mostly from the rural areas) between
1898 and 1899. This movement of the Muslim population continued (though not so
intensively) till 1913 when the island was incorporated in the Greek territory.
This was the first radical transformation of the ethnic-religious composition
of the Cretan population during the later ottoman era. The Muslim departure
intensified the transfer of the Muslim lands to the Christians and considerably
enhanced small-landownership. This transfer was particularly intensive during
the first 2-3 years of autonomy, despite the prevailing hard economic
conditions, due the over-supply of land and its relatively low price. The
transfer of land was realized with the help of high-interest private loans that
the majority of the Christian population took. The leading Christian groups of
the cities and the countryside (who had the financial capacity to buy Muslim
land despite the hard economic conditions) functioned as creditors next to the
two credit institutions (the Agricultural Bank and the Bank of Crete), either
under the control of the two institutions or by supplementing their role in
conditions of high demand for loan capital. In any case, from the middle of the
first decade of the 20th century the purchase of land was facilitated for the
majority of the population by the financial recovery of the people and the most
efficient functioning of the credit institutions. Consequently, a great part of
the Orthodox Christian Cretans possessed land (easily or not, under favorable
or unfavorable conditions) before the incorporation of Crete in the Greek
State.
Robert G. Collmer, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, “A Twisted Trail: Borges and Me (and Eco and Theroux)”
This is a personal, not a scholarly,
talk. It records observations about Jorge Luis Borges with connections to
Umberto Eco and Paul Theroux. It traces details related to various
places--Italy, Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Texas, Ossining, New York City, and
beyond. Eco’s Nome della Rosa,
published in 1980, sold nine million copies and made the main character, a
blind librarian, Jorge of Burgos, built on the writer distinguished for
cerebral and fantastic tales, widely known. When I was serving as a Fulbright
Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1966-67, a
friend asked me what my specialty was. I told him, John Donne. He said Jorge
Luis Borges was interested in Donne and had even written an essay on Biathanatos, Donne’s defense of suicide.
I flew to Buenos Aires and met Borges. He told me that he wished he owned a
copy of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary. I contacted a rare-book dealer in
Ossining, New York, secured the 6th edition, 1785, took it to Buenos Aires, and
gave it to Borges. I maintained contact with Borges the rest of his life, saw
him in Austin, Texas; Oklahoma; and New York. He visited me in Lubbock, Texas.
Paul Theroux met Borges in Buenos Aires. Borges told him someone in Sing Sing
prison had sent him a copy of Johnson’s Dictionary. I corresponded with Theroux
to explain my connection.
Afternoon free
Saturday 7:30
Patio de Escuelas Menores
Closing reception sponsored by
MSA.