Center for Italian Studies at Stony Brook University, November 12-14, 2015. THE IDEA OF THE MEDITERRANEAN - An International Conference to Explore What the Mediterranean Region. Represented in the Age of Progress and What It May Represent in the Era of Geopolitical Realliances and Globalization. Stony Brook University's Wang Center – Lecture Hall Two - Free and Open to the Public. For a detailed program and schedule, visit the Center for Italian Studies web site. You may also contact the Center for Italian Studies (631-632-7444) for conference updates and developments.

The Mediterranean has been the cradle of civilizations with a unique history of having given birth to all the Western cultures, to three world-wide religions, and to opening pathways to the Orient. An organic and autonomous Mediterranean identity may not exist as such today; but in the collective imagination of the people of the world and especially in the last two centuries with migrations from the Mediterranean area settling throughout the entire world, there exists a "popolo mediterraneo."

Globalization has made evident the importance of preserving culture and the development of a consciousness that especially constitutes a matchless resource for the nations of the Mediterranean and the new Europe. Because of what has been happening in the last few months, the geopolitical disorders regarding the issues of borders, transnationalism, mobility and migration of the Mediterranean especially have attracted increasingly more attention.

These are the reasons that justify an attempt to recognize the value of the Mediterranean basin as a region having an original culture capable of connecting many other fragmented cultures,. and set the stage for an intellectually exciting forum for new ideas and new knowledge.

The Conference Program will include presentations by International Scholars and Government Officials connected to states of the Mediterranean.

Source:  Center for Italian Studies