A scene from the conference.

Is the migration of laborers from Italy to Egypt at the turn of the twentieth century a chapter in Italian history, or in Egyptian history? Should the novels written by Algerian immigrants to France be treated as French literature, or as Algerian literature? What did the modernist painter Giorgio de Chirico-who was born in Greece and as an adult lived in Germany, France, and Italy-- mean when he talked about a "Mediterranean" aesthetic?

These sorts of questions have come to occupy scholars increasingly in recent years. And historians working on such border-crossing topics often face difficulties integrating their research into traditional academic departments. Universities typically expect scholars to focus on the history, literature, and cultural traditions of a single nation. But in the Mediterranean region, migration and cultural exchange blur the boundaries between nations.

Hence the increasing popularity of Mediterranean studies programs in North American and European universities. Scholars in the humanities-historians, literary historians, sociologists, and anthropologists-identify themselves as "Mediterraneanists" when they want to study the history of the region as a whole. Mediterranean studies programs allow them to answer complex questions like the ones posed above. "Mediterranean Studies: Identities and Tensions" brought together 22 scholars from AUB, the Middle East, Europe, and North America to share their work on the Mediterranean with each other. The conference was organized by Karla Mallette of AUB's Civilization Sequence Program, Mia Fuller of the Department of Italian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, and Brian Catlos, an historian from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Typically, conferences on Mediterranean studies focus on a particular region or a particular problem. The organizers of the AUB conference aimed to do something more ambitious: to challenge scholars to take a broader view of the definition of Mediterranean studies, and of the advantages and problems of Mediterranean studies programs.

For three days, the participants and those who attended the conference discussed the idea of the Mediterranean, and the pros and cons of establishing programs in Mediterranean studies. In addition, conferences on Mediterranean studies often are biased toward the western Mediterranean and southern Europe. Because of its location, however, the AUB conference encouraged scholars to shift their focus to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.

An architectural tour of Beirut and a discussion of the problems of postwar reconstruction gave the participants a vivid introduction to the city, its history, and the difficulties it faces at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Participants agreed that the conference was an important experience because it gave them the opportunity to communicate with scholars in other fields working on Mediterranean topics.

In the opening panel of the conference, for instance, an economist, Eyup Ozveren, from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara; a sociologist, Fuad Abillama from the State University of New York, Binghamton; and an anthropologist, Laurie Kain Hart from Haverford College, Pennsylvania presented their perspectives on talking and thinking about the Mediterranean region. At other panels, Ilham Makdisi from Harvard University discussed the immigration of Italian laborers to Egypt. Nabiha Jerad of the University of Tunis talked about the literature of Maghrebi immigrants to France. Ara Merjian from the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed Giorgio de Chirico's conception of a Mediterranean aesthetic.

Scholars seldom have the opportunity to cross disciplinary boundaries and share their work with peers working in other academic departments. The participants learned more about their own fields-and conceived of new ways of doing work in their own fields-by exchanging ideas with scholars working in other fields. Each of the three days of the conference ended with a roundtable discussion, in which participants and audience members discussed issues relevant to the general theme of the conference. The first roundtable, "Nation and State in the Mediterranean," was chaired by James L. Gelvin, a UCLA historian who was a visiting professor in the AUB Department of History and Archaeology during the 2002-03 academic year. On the final day of the conference, AUB's Karla Mallette led a roundtable: "Mediterranean Studies as a Disciplinary Practice." These informal discussions allowed participants to share their thoughts and work out new approaches to dealing with some of the issues.

On the second day, participants were taken on a tour of Beirut led by architectural historian Maha Yahya. In the evening, architect Assem Salam hosted a reception for the participants at his home, and talked to them about the history of development and reconstruction in Beirut, from the Ottoman era to the postwar period. The participants agreed that the tour and reception gave them a much deeper understanding of the city and its history, and helped them to relate some of the major themes to the city where the conference took place.

The majority of the conference participants had never before been to Beirut. Those visiting for the first time were pleasantly surprised by the city. And those who were introduced to AUB for the first time were enthusiastic about planning ongoing collaborative projects with the institution and its faculty. "Mediterranean Studies: Identities and Tensions" demonstrated that AUB has a great deal to offer scholars working in the broad field of Mediterranean studies.

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