From Latin "in the middle of the lands," the Mediterranean evokes classicism, cultural exchanges, and blue skies upon which to project a desire: to capture the traits of a common identity. Although the historian's view seems to contradict the idea of Mediterranean identity – David Abulafia in this volume defines it as a fragmented space, where even in the past the meeting of cultures was the exception in some cosmopolitan cities and not the rule – it is the Muses who are attracted to it. The melancholic and reflective vein of the songs evoked by the Turkish musician Zülfü Livaneli, the proverbial conviviality and celebration of leisure praised by Matteo Nucci, are viewed with a mix of fascination and disapproval by Protestant-rooted countries: the nobility of the Greek profile of the homo mediterraneus can quickly become a disdainful caricature synonymous with laxity and cultural backwardness. However one wishes to define it, the Mediterranean appears to be in crisis: neglected by the European Union, which looks at the North African and Levantine coasts only as a threat and energy resource, it is the crossroads of one of the greatest migrations in history. While hundreds of millions of vacationers flock to its shores every year, like in a distorting mirror, hundreds of thousands of people undertake a dramatic journey in the opposite direction to escape wars, persecutions, and poverty. The liquid road, as Homer called it, is increasingly militarized, trafficked, and polluted, as well as overheated and overfished. Seen from the North African coasts, it seems more like a wall dividing the Arab world from the European one, a source of division rather than a crossing of cultures. It would be wiser to celebrate its variety rather than seek a fleeting common identity, but perhaps Mediterranean identity is nothing more than a feeling, and as such, it does not want to hear reason. Despite everything, it remains fascinating, reassuring, and consoling. On its coasts, modernity does not fully take root, time flows differently, and peoples communicate more than elsewhere. And if the homo mediterraneus were yet to come?
Price VAT included
From Latin "in the middle of the lands," the Mediterranean evokes classicism, cultural exchanges, and blue skies upon which to project a desire: to capture the traits of a common identity. Although the historian's view seems to contradict the idea of Mediterranean identity – David Abulafia in this volume defines it as a fragmented space, where even in the past the meeting of cultures was the exception in some cosmopolitan cities and not the rule – it is the Muses who are attracted to it. The melancholic and reflective vein of the songs evoked by the Turkish musician Zülfü Livaneli, the proverbial conviviality and celebration of leisure praised by Matteo Nucci, are viewed with a mix of fascination and disapproval by Protestant-rooted countries: the nobility of the Greek profile of the homo mediterraneus can quickly become a disdainful caricature synonymous with laxity and cultural backwardness. However one wishes to define it, the Mediterranean appears to be in crisis: neglected by the European Union, which looks at the North African and Levantine coasts only as a threat and energy resource, it is the crossroads of one of the greatest migrations in history. While hundreds of millions of vacationers flock to its shores every year, like in a distorting mirror, hundreds of thousands of people undertake a dramatic journey in the opposite direction to escape wars, persecutions, and poverty. The liquid road, as Homer called it, is increasingly militarized, trafficked, and polluted, as well as overheated and overfished. Seen from the North African coasts, it seems more like a wall dividing the Arab world from the European one, a source of division rather than a crossing of cultures. It would be wiser to celebrate its variety rather than seek a fleeting common identity, but perhaps Mediterranean identity is nothing more than a feeling, and as such, it does not want to hear reason. Despite everything, it remains fascinating, reassuring, and consoling. On its coasts, modernity does not fully take root, time flows differently, and peoples communicate more than elsewhere. And if the homo mediterraneus were yet to come?
