Violence as Global Practice in the Early Medieval Western Mediterranean
Paper by Travis Bruce
Given at Western Mediterranean and the Global Middle Ages Conference, held at UCLA, on October 21, 2023
Abstract: Scholars have produced a significant amount of research on the medieval Mediterranean in recent years, attracted in part by its unique interreligious context. Yet, even as academe has sought to diversify its ranks and research interests, our understanding of the Mediterranean continues to follow Eurocentric lines. For the eleventh century, emerging Italian ports such as Pisa and Genoa dominate the literature on Mediterranean history in a narrative wherein Christian ports always already control the sea. Moreover, even in examining Latin relations with the Islamic world, in giving those ports a more Mediterranean framework, the gaze is still positional and directional. What we often take as Mediterranean is, in fact, still Latinate.
Advertisement
The GMA paradigm has created an opening for scholars to challenge traditional and Eurocentric approaches. This does not mean that we must embrace an all-is-global perspective, but that we can also reconsider the chronological, spatial, and other deterministic frameworks that have restricted our research. With this paper, I challenge the assumption that violence involving Muslims and Christians was necessarily religious. Moreover, I propose that normative texts concerning maritime violence impede rather than illuminate our understanding of that violence, particularly in cases adjacent to religious rhetoric. I propose an analysis that understands violence as a global practice with local and situational specificities. This approach thus cuts across religious or cultural lines, while also inviting diachronic and transregional comparisons
Violence as Global Practice in the Early Medieval Western Mediterranean
Paper by Travis Bruce
Given at Western Mediterranean and the Global Middle Ages Conference, held at UCLA, on October 21, 2023
Abstract: Scholars have produced a significant amount of research on the medieval Mediterranean in recent years, attracted in part by its unique interreligious context. Yet, even as academe has sought to diversify its ranks and research interests, our understanding of the Mediterranean continues to follow Eurocentric lines. For the eleventh century, emerging Italian ports such as Pisa and Genoa dominate the literature on Mediterranean history in a narrative wherein Christian ports always already control the sea. Moreover, even in examining Latin relations with the Islamic world, in giving those ports a more Mediterranean framework, the gaze is still positional and directional. What we often take as Mediterranean is, in fact, still Latinate.
The GMA paradigm has created an opening for scholars to challenge traditional and Eurocentric approaches. This does not mean that we must embrace an all-is-global perspective, but that we can also reconsider the chronological, spatial, and other deterministic frameworks that have restricted our research. With this paper, I challenge the assumption that violence involving Muslims and Christians was necessarily religious. Moreover, I propose that normative texts concerning maritime violence impede rather than illuminate our understanding of that violence, particularly in cases adjacent to religious rhetoric. I propose an analysis that understands violence as a global practice with local and situational specificities. This approach thus cuts across religious or cultural lines, while also inviting diachronic and transregional comparisons
Travis Bruce is an Associate Professor at McGill University. Click here to view his Academia.edu page.
Click here to learn more about the Western Mediterranean and the Global Middle Ages Conference
Top Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Arabe 6094 fol. 68r
Related Posts
Subscribe to Medievalverse