Mediterranean Crossings: The Politics of an Interrupted Modernity

The volume seeks to offer a vibrant interdisciplinary and intercultural interpretation of the Mediterranean's cultures and histories. The 'Mediterranean' as a concept entered the European lexicon in the early nineteenth century. As an object of study, it is the product of modern geographical, political and historical classifications. The volume contends that that the region's fundamentally fluid , hybrid nature has long been obscured by the categories and strictures imposed by European discourse and government. The work offers scholare an opportunity to rethink the past and present of the Mediterranean in terms of overlapping cultural and historical currents that exceed the immediate constraints of nationalisms and inflexible understandings of identity.