The History Program at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, the University of Cambridge, and the Arabic Poetry in the Cairo Genizah (APCG) Project, is organizing a conference titled “The Social and Cultural History of the Mediterranean World: Literature, Folklore, and Photography” on the February 28 and 29, 2024, at the Doha Institute.
Dr Assem Nassar, Head of History Program at the DI, has commented on the significance of the conference by saying: “This conference aims to connect the shores of the Mediterranean through thinking about the cultural relations and knowledge exchange historically, with a focus on the process of knowledge transmission via the informal methods such as pictures, letters, literature and biographies. It also gives a different perspective as per the Jewish Cairo Genizah manuscripts and documents. The conference aims, as well, at studying oneself and the Other through the untraditional documents, and at training DI students of the History Program to read and analyze historical documents.”
During the two-day conference, the speakers in five sessions will cover topics about Arabic literature and cultural legacy across the Mediterranean, the private letter in the Colonial Era and the narrative of the refugees, Jews and the Other across the Mediterranean through the poetry of the Cairo Geniza and Jewish journeys, Palestine and Mecca in the European Imagination through photography, audio recordings, and films, and the social perceptions through the literature of Geniza and the journey across the Mediterranean World in addition to other topics of discussion.
The History Program at the Doha Institute seeks to prepare a new generation of Arab historians, whose training is multidisciplinary, with a focus on modern Arab history. It analyzes Arab history within the larger Arab, Mediterranean, African, and global contexts. The program aims to provide students with a solid theoretical background in Arab historiography and Arab thought and train them in current research methodologies.
