Mediterraneanism as a form of ‘border thinking’?

Ilaria Giglioli, College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco, gave a presentation, followed by a discussion with Encarnacion Gutierrez Rodriguez, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, and questions from participants. You can watch the webinar in its entirety in the video above. 

Political geographers and border scholars often theorize borderlands as a hybrid space of coexistence between people of different national, linguistic and religious backgrounds, and claim that they have a distinct culture that calls into questions ideas of homogeneous nation-states. Based on ethnographic research in Sicily (Italy) and Tunisia, this talk will investigate how claims to a hybrid borderlands’ identity such as “Mediterraneanism” translate into everyday relations between people of Italian and Tunisian descent. It will also analyze how living in this borderland affects the lives and livelihoods of Tunisian migrants.

This is the second seminar of the series Dwelling, elsewhere: Comparative-methodological perspectives on borderland inhabitation, arranged by William Kutz and the Borderland Working Group. For more information about the Borderland Working Group or to join the mailing list, please write to William Kutz at william [dot] kutz [at] cors [dot] lu [dot] se (william[dot]kutz[at]cors[dot]lu[dot]se).