Theme:
6. The Mediterranean from Within
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Maritime Heterotopias: Novel Insights into the Archaeology of Maritime Cultural Landscapes in the Mediterranean and Beyond
Content:
Heterotopia as a term was initially coined by Michel Foucault in the 1960s. According to his definition, a heterotopia is an “other space”, an “enacted utopia”, a place differing from its surroundings and serving a particular or possibly deviant purpose in society. Analyzing a space as such can prove to be a useful approach to examine and establish the context of places, while gaining a deeper insight into their purpose and role. The concept of heterotopias offers an ideal theoretical framework to study space and place in maritime cultural landscapes. Foucault describes ships as the perfect example of a heterotopia, since they houses a distinct society voyaging between coasts. Similarly, harbours can form specific spaces within maritime cultural landscapes, delineating the boundary between hinterland and foreland, the familiar and the unknown. These areas can be interpreted as distinctive meeting places for individuals from diverse backgrounds and origins. The entire maritime cultural landscape constitutes a border heterotopia, acting as a pathway bridging land and sea.
This session seeks to critically assess various notions of space and place in maritime cultural landscapes and invites case studies drawn from the Mediterranean and other regions, not limited to specific time periods. We invite contributions that explore heterotopias through a range of sources, including but not limited to archaeology, history, material analysis, textual sources, and art that address other places in maritime landscapes and seascapes: the sacred, the forbidden, the floating, the real, the imaginary, the in-between, and the ephemeral.
Keywords:
Heterotopias, Maritime cultural landscapes, Ships, Harbours
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Ioannis Nakas (Greece) 1
Co-organisers:
Anja Krieger (Germany) 2
Affiliations:
1. Centre of Hellenic Studies, Harvard University
2. Independent researcher
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