Mediterranean Studies Program at Tel Aviv UniversityAcademic Year 2000-2001 The Center for Mediterranean Civilizations Project is advising the General BA department in its Mediterranean Studies program. It has designed and specifically finances the following courses:
In addition, it advises on the following courses taught in the Mediterranean Studies Program:
Mediterranean Languages:Modern GreekOne express purpose of the Center for Mediterranean Civilizations Project is to develop and enhance the study of Mediterranean languages at Tel Aviv University. This year we have started to teach modern Greek. Ms. Etti Ahkaluni, originally from Thessaloniki, is an expert teacher who now has a class of fifteen students. This is the only place Modern Greek is taught in Israel in an academic context. In the second, forthcoming academic year, we have increased Etti Ashkaluni's teaching load to include a second-year class. Ladino: Next year we hope to begin teaching Ladino, the quintessential Mediterranean Jewish language. Professor Alisa Ginio of our advisory Faculty board, is in charge of finding the suitable teacher and developing this course. The Center for Mediterranean Civilizations finances the following courses within the general curriculum of the Mediterranean Studies Program at Tel Aviv University: Academic Year 1999-2000 Medieval Commerce and Economic Activity in the Mediterranean Basin Lecturer: Dr. Nadia Zeldes The course's goal is to serve as an exposition to the question of "Mediterranean Unity" from the viewpoint of Medieval Mediterranean commerce, by presenting the important academic approaces to the subject. "Our Sea" (Mare Nostrum), Mediterranean unity an historical fact or an illusion? We will try to elucidate this question by discussing the role of commerce in constructing cultural links between different Mediterranean communities. We will focus on political and economic forces, the routes of Mediterranean commerce, by examining the basic research approaches to the region's economic history: Pirenne, Braudel, Hyde, and Goitein. We will present the world of Christian commerce as it appears in the research of Lopez, Abulafia, Ashtor, Jacoby and others. We will also discuss the Jewish angle through reading documents from the Cairo Geniza, the literature of questions and answers, and legal contracts. Society and Family: Jewish Communities in the Mediterranean After the Expulsion from Spain Lecturer: Dr. Ruth Lamdan Following the expulsion from Spain and other events, the 16th century was typified by intense dempgraphic and social changes in Jewish communities in the Mediterranean. The movement between the Christian and Islamic worlds created new relationships between the communities and the powers that be, and a new mixture of cultural, social and economic customs. The course will focus on the social implications of these encounters, especially on the Jewish family and the role of women in this dynamic environment. We will examine the influence on the Jewish-Spanish diaspora, that left its marks on Jewish culture, and also the development of the communities in Italy, North-Africa, and the Ottoman empire (Greece, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt). Intercultural Contacts: Science in Medieval Spain Lecturer: Dr. Shlomo Sela The course will be based on two basic theses:
Lecturer: Dr. Shlomo Sela The course will examine the three main Mediterranean theses that reassessed the role of the Mediterranean in history. The course will present Henri Pirenne's Mediterranean thesis, who presented a revolutionary view of the role of the Mediterranean between Christianity and Islam, between Antiquity and Medievalism. We will also discuss Shlomo Dov Goitein's research of "Jewish Mediterranean Society" and its role. Finally, we will discuss the work of Fernand Braudel, founder of the French "Annales" school, who created new ways of thinking about historical time and space in general, and especially in the Mediterranean context. Port Cities in the Modern Mediterranean: Society and Culture Lecturer: Michalis Firillas This course will explore various aspects of port cities in the eastern Mediterranean during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The approach will predominantly concentrate on the social history of these urban centers, however cultural, economic, and political developments will also be emphasized. One of the main questions which the course will explore is the effect of modernization and European penetration on the development of eastern Mediterranean port cities. The mixture of tradition and modernity, in terms of socio-economic, technological, and cultural developments, will be examined through portraits of individuals, men and women, and of phenmena such as musical styles, entertainment, crime, vocations, etc. It is hoped that by the end of the course conclusions may be reached on the role of port cities as crossroads of cultural and economic developments and as centers of cosmopolitan and polyethnic life. Academic year 1998-1999: The Mediterranean World and the Birth of Western CivilizationLecturer: Prof. Ze'ev Rubin This course deals with the role the Mediterranean basin and its civilizations played in the development of Western civilization. The role of the Roman Empire as a Mediterranean empire will be emphasized. The consciousness of the Roman people to the role of the Mediterranean sea (mare nostrum) in the development of their culture will be closely examined. Special emphasize will be put on the role of the Mediterranean sea in the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman empire, and on the role of Christianity in Mediterranean culture after the fall of the Western Roman empire. A central part of the course will be dedicated, in view of recent research, to examining Henri Pirenne's famous thesis regarding the break in Mediterranean continuity and coherence that was caused by the spread of Islam in Western Europe during late Antiquity and early Middle Ages. The course will also try to assess the importance of the ceaseless activity of Jewish merchants throughout the area, and its implications on Pirenne's thesis, by a close reading of documents from the Cairo Geniza. The course will examine the link between the existence of the Byzantine empire and the attempts to build a universal political entity in Western Europe, and the conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the secular empire known as Imperium Romanum in this context, emphasizing the Mediterranean elements of both entities. The course will also deal with the Crusades, and especially with the role of the Italian communes as both bridging over the Mediterranean basin and undermining the power of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The final meetings will attempt to asses the role of Islam in Western Europe, especially in Spain and Sicily, as a cultural bridge between the heritage of the Classical world and Western Europe's Latin Christianity, as well as the impact of the decline of the Byzantine empire on the transmission of the Greek Classical and Hellenistic culture to Western Europe. Medieval Commerce and Economic Activity in the Mediterranean Basin Lecturer: Dr. Nadia Zeldes The course's goal is to serve as an exposition to the question of "Mediterranean Unity" from the viewpoint of Medieval Mediterranean commerce, by presenting the important academic approaces to the subject. "Our Sea" (Mare Nostrum), Mediterranean unity an historical fact or an illusion? We will try to elucidate this question by discussing the role of commerce in constructing cultural links between different Mediterranean communities. We will focus on political and economic forces, the routes of Mediterranean commerce, by examining the basic research approaches to the region's economic history: Pirenne, Braudel, Hyde, and Goitein. We will present the world of Christian commerce as it appears in the research of Lopez, Abulafia, Ashtor, Jacoby and others. We will also discuss the Jewish angle through reading documents from the Cairo Geniza, the literature of questions and answers, and legal contracts. |