social networking in the pre-modern mediterranean
Concepts such as Social Network Analysis (SNA), spatial mapping, and connectivity offer stimulating new resources for the academic analysis of political, economic, and cultural contacts in historical contexts. The great diversity of populations, traditions and religions around the pre-modern Mediterranean provides a multi-faceted laboratory for the application of these new theories. How did networks of cities, ports, religious centers, colonies, diaspora-communities, diplomats, Grand Tour travellers, or letter-writers contribute to the construction of Mediterranean communities and worlds? What role did the sea itself play in the rise and maintenance of these networks? How and by what means can we best map these networks across the "Blue Web"?
This website was created in 2014 by third-year students from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, in fulfillment of the requirements for the course 'Blue Networks. Social Networking in the pre-modern Mediterranean World', the last segment of the interdisciplinary three-year minor The Mediterranean World, offered by the History department of the Faculty of Arts. Students in the minor come from the departments of History, Art History, Archaeology, Classical Studies, European Languages and Cultures, and International Relations.
The course began with four plenary sessions in which network theory was discussed in relation to Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern periods. After this, in-depth seminars gave students the opportunity to examine network dynamics in more detail in the respective periods.
The following seminars were offered:
Course Coordinator: Dr. Megan K. Williams
Docents: Dr. Saskia Roselaar, Dr. Sabrina Corbellini, Dr. Anjana Singh
This website was created in 2014 by third-year students from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, in fulfillment of the requirements for the course 'Blue Networks. Social Networking in the pre-modern Mediterranean World', the last segment of the interdisciplinary three-year minor The Mediterranean World, offered by the History department of the Faculty of Arts. Students in the minor come from the departments of History, Art History, Archaeology, Classical Studies, European Languages and Cultures, and International Relations.
The course began with four plenary sessions in which network theory was discussed in relation to Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern periods. After this, in-depth seminars gave students the opportunity to examine network dynamics in more detail in the respective periods.
The following seminars were offered:
- Ancient Networks: Economic Networks and Cultural Change - given by Dr. Saskia Roselaar
- Medieval Networks: Textual Networks: Real and Virtual Communities - given by Dr. Sabrina Corbellini
- Early Modern Networks: The Opening of the Mediterranean and "Discovery" of the Indian Ocean Network - given by Dr. Anjana Singh
Course Coordinator: Dr. Megan K. Williams
Docents: Dr. Saskia Roselaar, Dr. Sabrina Corbellini, Dr. Anjana Singh