Comparing Conflict and Conviviality around the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean is a part of the world about which clichés and stereotypes abound. This part of the world is highly urbanised, deeply shaped by histories of (im)mobility, and where entangled historical legacies and complex governance regimes converge in often highly-fraught relations between Europe and Arab-speaking countries.

Cities as Sites of Encounters

Reading urban spaces around the Mediterranean as complex sites of encounter, the aim of this project is to advance an ethnographically informed, and historically situated study of changing social relations from a number of different cities, such as Algiers in Algeria, Marseille and Nice in France, and Beirut in Lebanon. The four cities were chosen as they build on the previous research of the project partners AGYA member Dr. Claire Bullen and AGYA alumna Prof. Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury. They also offer interesting bases from where Claire and Tamirace seek to explore diverse and entangled perspectives on transforming socio-political ties around the shores of this contested sea.

This project draws on the interdisciplinary and collaborative experience of both, who bring together expertise in anthropology, political science, sociology, visual research methods, and migration studies. The project also enables them to work with other scholars and disciplines, including architecture and photography.

This project began with four overarching goals:

• To cross theoretical perspectives and ethnographic methods in ways that will help bring to life some of the many complex and entangled stories of Mediterranean urban life.
• To critically assess the dominant geographic imaginaries that shape representations of the region, for example, those that oppose the northern to the southern parts of the Mediterranean.
• To work with the notions of entanglements and encounters as conceptual frameworks that help bring to light more nuanced ideas of cities in and across the Mediterranean.
• To share and discuss findings in various settings, for example at an international workshop at the University Hassan II Casablanca, Morocco, at the Salon Sophie Charlotte in Berlin and through an hybrid debriefing roundtable at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (US).

As the material was generated through fieldwork and reading, a further aim developed:

• To test out the utility of conflict and conviviality as lenses for making sense of urban relations.

Insights and outputs produced through this collaboration include comparative readings of ethnographic fieldwork across the four sites, analysis of documentary photography, and early steps towards a special issue publication. 

The project also seeks to reach wider audiences through photo exhibitions, film showings and a series of blog posts.