PIMo Newsletter March 2021

Despite the ongoing complications arising from the public health crisis, the PIMo network has maintained a rich and diverse programme of activities throughout this year, continuing to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on the entangled histories of displacement across the Mediterranean.

We are also delighted to announce that we will continue to support the production of research on this topic through our Short Term Scientific Mission grant scheme. We have just launched a new call for applications with a deadline of April 2nd for mission to be completed before September 30. Full details of this call can be found here: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PIMO-STSM_GP2_2ndCall_2020-2021.pdf

We continue to publish research material on our website, https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/, and welcome proposals from potential contributors.

Below you will find a short summary of some of our upcoming activities and the outputs we have produced in recent months. We thank you for your continued support for and engagement with PIMo and look forward to seeing you once we are in a position to return to holding face-to-face events.

In the meantime, please do look at our ongoing work on the website, participate in our many online activities and stay safe.

PIMo Core Group

Upcoming Events

The PIMo network remains committed to hosting interactive events online into the future. We have a range of exciting workshops lined up in the weeks and months to come:

WG1 Workshop, ‘Emotion and Memory in Gift Exchanging Practices,’ N. Iogra Institute of History, Bucharest, March 12th. See the event on the PIMo websie for more details: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/test/emotion-and-memory-in-gift-exchanging-practices/

WG2 Workshop, ‘Pandemics and Population Mobility in Early Modern Europe: Actors, Networks, and Ideas, A WG2 Workshop, Tallinn University,’ University of Tallinn, March 16th. More details available here: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/test/pandemics-and-population-mobility-in-early-modern-europe-actors-networks-and-ideas-a-wg2-workshop-tallinn-university/ 

WG2 Workshop, ‘Gendered expressions of resistance, movement, and transformative crisis across the Mediterranean,’ University Aix-Marseille, April 22nd. See the PIMo website for more details: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/test/gendered-expressions-of-resistance-movement-and-transformative-crisis-across-the-mediterranean/ 

Details of other events will be posted on the website in the weeks to come. All network members are welcome at these events.

Past Events

We are very proud to have worked with a number of partner institutions to host a number of dynamic and successful online events in recent weeks.

Our partnership with the Fondazione Fedrigoni facilitated a fascinating online event on February 12 hosted from Fabriano examining the history and diffusion of the technologies for the manufacture of paper in Southern Europe through the Mediterranean. This WG3 Workshop contributed to PIMo’s ongoing knowledge exchange on the history of paper in the Mediterranean space. Details can be found on the site of the Fondazione Fedrigoni:
http://www.fondazionefedrigoni.it/en/661/paper_in_motion_cost_action_pimo

On February 26, Working Group 4 co-hosted a workshop with the Cvito Fisković Center in Split (a subsidiary of the Institute of Art History in Zagreb, Croatia) on the topic of ‘City on the Sea: Diocletian’s Palace, Displacement and Space’. The event used the history of Split as a point of departure for a broader discussion about mobility in the Adriatic and broader eastern Mediterranean.

Finally, on March 5th, Working Group 4, working in partnership with the Centre d’Histoire Sciences Po Paris. co-hosted a very engaging workshop on ‘Muslim Memories of Europe: Circulation and Politics of Remembrance.’ The event transcended the early modern and contemporary periods to look at the histories of and memory narratives constructed around Muslims’ presence in continental Europe.

Publications and Outreach

The PIMo website continues to publish short piece from networks on aspects of their research relevant to the networks’ interests. We have been delighted to share the following pieces in recent weeks:

Rosita D’Amora, ‘An Interview with Giancarlo Casale.’ In this piece, WG2 leader Rosita D’Amora discusses recent trends in Ottoman history, historical practice and the political memory of the Ottoman Empire with Prof Giancarlo Casale of the European University Institute. It also includes an enlightening analysis of Prof Casale forthcoming book: Prisoner of the Infidels: The Memoir of an Ottoman Muslim in Seventeenth-Century Europe. You can read the interview here: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/2021/02/15/an-interview-with-giancarlo-casale-rosita-damora/ 

Iain Chambers, ‘Learning from the sea: migration and maritime archives.’ Prof Iain Chambers’ piece offers a lyrical and inspiring mediation on the way the Mediterranean has been configured aesthetically and politically in the West. His application of post-colonial and Black Critical approaches to the analysis of the Mediterranean encourages to rethink and reimagine a space and an idea that is crucial to the work of this network. Prof Chambers article, will appear in print and open access with De Gruyter in December 2021 in the miscellany edited by Angela Fabris, Albert Göschl and Steffen Schneider, in the series Alpe Adria and surroundings. Mediterranean itineraries. Border literature and cinema (directed by Angela Fabris and Ilvano Caliaro). We are happy so share it in preview on our website: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/2021/02/24/2702/ 

Stefan Hanß, ‘Materializing the Early Modern Habsburg Mediterranean.’ As part of our Research in Progress series, longtime PIMo member Stefan Hanß shared a fascinating piece exploring how the flows and counterflows of artefacts and materials shaped broader trans-Mediterranean affective spaces of shared interests and experiences. You can read his contribution, which will appear in longer form in the forthcoming edited volume The Habsburg Mediterranean, 1500–1800, here: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/2021/03/01/materializing-the-early-modern-habsburg-mediterranean-stefan-hans/ 

If you would like to learn more about how our project has evolved and what our future plans are you can catch up with the presentation our Action Chair, Giovanni Tarantino, gave at the COST Info Day here: https://www.peopleinmotion-costaction.org/portfolio-items/people-in-motion-presentation-at-cost-info-day/

We value your continued contribution to the success of this project and welcome any proposals for publications and events. Do not hesitate to contact the Core Group with queries or suggestions.

Wishing you all the best,

PIMo Core Group