MSAC OIKOS - Workshop

This year the Münster School of Ancient Cultures (MSAC) and OIKOS will organize together a workshop on Neighbouring Cultures & Beyond – Interconnectedness and Divergence in the Mediterranean and the Near East.

During this three-day workshop, 6 OIKOS PhD and (preferably 2nd year) ReMA Students are given the opportunity to present a paper of 25/30 min., followed by a 10-15 min. discussion. Participants will receive 3 ECTS for their participation. The primary goal of this workshop is to bring young researchers together and to create a positive atmosphere for open discussion and the test of ideas.

The workshop will be held from 6 - 8 July 2022 at the Landhaus Rothenberge of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Landhaus Rothenberge: Rothenberge 83A, 48493 Wettringen).

Theme

The geographical features of the Mediterranean and the Middle East have always favoured contact, exchange and movement of people, material goods as well as the transfer of knowledge. The great migratory movements of the Phoenicians, Greeks, Iranians, Romans and others contributed to the emergence of a world that, while politically, culturally and economically heterogeneous, was remarkably characterised by the development of local, transregional, global and intercultural links and entanglements. The recurring efforts of people to transcend religious, political and cultural boundaries intertwined regions and the whole world, penetrated social, historical, linguistic and geographical borders. The emergence, consolidation, decline and erosion of communities and intercultural exchange can be understood and analysed as a fundamental phenomenon of the history and development of the ancient Mediterranean and the Middle East, their cultures, bodies of knowledge, societies, economies and communities.

In recent years, considerable scholarly efforts have been made to improve our understanding of the forms of contact, exchange and entanglement. Building on this, our workshop aims to bring together a broad and interdisciplinary range of ancient studies disciplines to discuss material, literary and theoretical evidence related to the societies and cultures of the prehistoric and ancient worlds in the Mediterranean and Middle East (and beyond). The focus of the workshop "Neighbouring Cultures & Beyond - Interconnectedness and Divergence in the Mediterranean and the Near East", organised by the Münster School of Ancient Cultures (MSAC) and OIKOS, the National Research School in Classical Studies in the Netherlands, lies on the different modes, perceptions and designs of interconnectedness and divergence in societies and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean Near East, but also of individuals as actors and shapers of cultural exchange in the broadest sense.

The contributions to the workshop will trace the various phenomena of interconnection and divergence in the Mediterranean and the Middle East in local, regional as well as global contexts, covering as broad an interdisciplinary tableau as possible. This methodologically as well as theoretically open cut "beyond borders" invites case studies on a wide range of topics and questions, e.g. myth and religion, language and texts, material culture and trade, innovation and change, conflict and identity, social and ecological practices, etc. These and other phenomena, or their literary and material transmission, can be studied from topographical-geographical, socio-political, historiographical, economic, sociological, religious and/or technological-historical perspectives. We encourage participation from candidates of different disciplinary backgrounds in order to ensure a variety of perspectives and inspiring comparative discussions.

Registration

The Call for Papers is extended. To apply, send an abstract of c. 500 words (in English) by 15 April to the following address: msac uni-muenster.de. The selected candidates (with a maximum of 6 OIKOS participants) will receive further notice after this date.