The Mediterranean Seminar/University of California Multi-Campus Research Project and the departments of Comparative and World Literature, History, Jewish Studies, and the Spanish Program of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at San Francisco State University invite participants to a two-day, two-part event on Medieval and Early Modern Minorities in the Mediterranean, to be held on 7 & 8 March 2014 at San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Participants from the broadest range of relevant disciplines are welcome and encouraged to register.

Mediterranean Minorities – Symposium
Friday, 7 March, 10am—5:30pm
Humanities Bldg, Rm 587
A one-day symposium consisting of three round table discussions:
1)  Opportunity
2)  Assimilation and Exchange
3) Vulnerability
featuring:
Fred Astren (Jewish Studies, San Francisco State)
Jeremy Brown (Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University)
Brian Catlos (Religious Studies, CU Boulder/ Humanities, University of California, Santa Cruz)
Tom Dandelet (History, University of California at Berkeley)
John Dagenais (Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA)
Federica Francesconi (Jewish Studies, University of Oregon)
Paolo Girardelli (History, Boğaziçi University)
Mike Hammer (Spanish, San Francisco State)
Joshua Holo (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion)
Slobodan Dan Paich (Artship Foundation, San Francisco CA)
Jonathan Ray (Jewish Studies, Georgetown University)
Jarbel Rodriguez (History, San Francisco State)
Stefan Stantchev (History, Arizona State University)
David Wacks (Romance Languages, University of Oregon)
Valerie Wilhite (Romance Languages, University of Oregon)
Megan Williams (History, San Francisco State)

Mediterranean Minorities – Workshop
Saturday, 8 March, 9:30am—5:15pm
Humanities Bldg, Rm 587
A workshop consisting of three pre-circulated papers and a talk by our featured scholar:
Papers:
• “Do Mediterranean Studies Speak to Latin American Colonial Studies? A Suspected German Lutheran Conquers A Suspected “Morisco”in the Canaries Before Taking On the New World”
Giovanna Montenegro (Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis);
• “Alexandria ad Aegyptum”
Dan Selden (Literature, University of Californi,a Santa Cruz)
• Being Different in the Medieval Middle East? The Poet’s Story”
Jocelyn Sharlet (Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis)

Featured scholar:
Stephen Humphreys (History, University of California Santa Barbara):
“Adapting to the Infidel: the Christian Communities of Syria in the Early Islamic Period”

Full program for conference and workshop available soon at http://mediterraneanseminar.ihr.ucsc.edu/overview/.

All interested graduate students and scholars are welcome. Both events are free but pre-registration is required; attendance is limited so please register soon. UC-and SFSU-affiliated scholars may register immediately, non-UC scholars on or after February 7. Lunch will be provided on both days for attendees who register prior to February 26.

To register for the workshop and/or conference and receive the workshop papers, please contact Courtney Mahaney (cmahaney@ucsc.edu) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. UC-affiliated faculty and graduate students will be eligible for up to $350 for travel expenses; non-UC participants may apply but support will granted as available (contingent on availability and attendance at both events).

The Mediterranean Seminar is an interdisciplinary scholarly forum, the aim of which is to promote collaborative research and the development of the field of Mediterranean Studies. The UC Mediterranean Studies Multi-Campus Research Project is funded by the UC Office of the President and is administered by the Institute for Humanities Research at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

To join the Mediterranean Seminar, send your name, professional status, affiliation and fields of interest to mailbox@mediterraneanseminar.org.