You are cordially invited to the “The Periphery at the Center – Islands and Islandness in the Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern Mediterranean Conference”, organised by the Department of History, which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, October 14 and 15, 2026 at FFB-22 Amphi.
Title: The Periphery at the Center – Islands and Islandness in the Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern Mediterranean
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026 Time: 13:00 – 18:00
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2026 Time: 09:00 – 19:00
Venue: FFB-22 Auditorium (Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture)
GE 250/251: 20 Points (per day)
Keynote Speakers: Molly Greene, Princeton University
Margarita Voulgaropoulou, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Luca Zavagno, Bilkent University
Filip Malesevic, Bilkent University
Abstract:
The Mediterranean between the pre-Classical and the Early Modern periods illustrates a seamless ambivalence, constantly oscillating between isolation and connectivity. Mediterranean islands have often been narrated as marginalized lands and the first stepping stones in the process of colonization. Moreover, frequently narrated as “perfect spatial commodities”, islands have significantly shaped underlying theories about insular life, often leading to a skewed “continental” perception regarding them as perilous, mysterious, and exotic on the one hand, and idyllic on the other. The conference, entitled “The Periphery at the Center”, aims to reassess the political, religious, socio-cultural, and economic significance of insular geographies in relation to the great empires and polities across two millennia of Mediterranean history by challenging fundamental narratives of islands through overlapping historical, socio-political, ecclesiastical, and economic contexts as well as chronologies.
https://pelican-pmn50m.my.canva.site/the-periphery-at-the-center