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Méditerranées: Une histoire des mobilités humaines
Méditerranées Cet ouvrage propose de réfléchir au large éventail des mobilités méditerranéennes de la fin du XVe au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, depuis les expulsions massives des populations juives et musulmanes de la péninsule Ibérique jusqu’aux déplacements des marchands et des marins habitués à fréquenter les ports, les villes et les escales pour les besoins du commerce. À travers une série d’histoires situées, il éclaire la vaste gamme des dispositifs institués pour réguler la mosaïque complexe des communautés politiques et religieuses dans les pays chrétiens et d’islam. Il offre ainsi une synthèse de l’histoire récente des migrations, des diasporas et de la condition des étrangers dans le monde méditerranéen de l’époque moderne. Guillaume Calafat Maître de conférences en histoire moderne à l’université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (IHMC), il est spécialiste des relations entre l’Europe occidentale et l’Afrique du Nord. Mathieu Grenet Maître de conférences en histoire moderne à l’INU Champollion d’Albi (FRAMESPA), il est spécialiste des migrations en Méditerranée.
576 pages, Pocket Book
Published October 20, 2023
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March 16, 2025
The book is a very thorough and inspired summary of the current literature on migrations across the early modern Mediterranean world.
Anyone who likes that stuff should definitely read it as it explores little-trotted articles and gloriously unknown tomes. Everyone is there from the Greek merchants settling in British-occupied Menorca to the Roms expelled from Venetian territory. Of course, some areas are less explored (such as the South and East of the sea) but it mostly reflects the limits of the research rather than the authors' own bias.
The book particularly shines when it comes to replaying the debates around concepts such "diaspora" or "identity".
So overall, well worth a read. But I'd say there is a glaring fault in this book: the scope of the research is never addressed. What I mean is that if you write a. book about X in the space Y, the assumption is that X is notably different in the space Y compared to elsewhere, that the regime of X in Y is distinct and follows a different path compared to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is never addressed.
The authors never address how, say, a Spaniard moving to Sicily is more like a Turk moving to Tunisia than like a Englishman moving to the American colonies or a Chinese settling in Malaca. The choice of the Mediterranean world as a space of research thus appears random or, worst even, capriscious.
This issue is compounded by the quasi absence of dynamism in the chronology. Sure an event taking place in 1492 is technically before another happening in 1720 but they both appear wrapped in a single and unchanging regime, there is no evolution and no cause for these evolutions.
This is particularly unfortunate considering that the early modern period is a crucial moment for the Med. It goes from a leading region in the world to a back water, what Faruk Tabak had called the "Waining of the Mediterranean". How does that waining affect the populations? How does it change the migration patterns? How does it affect the way people welcome others? These are never addressed, things just are because they are. And that's unfortunate!
Anyone who likes that stuff should definitely read it as it explores little-trotted articles and gloriously unknown tomes. Everyone is there from the Greek merchants settling in British-occupied Menorca to the Roms expelled from Venetian territory. Of course, some areas are less explored (such as the South and East of the sea) but it mostly reflects the limits of the research rather than the authors' own bias.
The book particularly shines when it comes to replaying the debates around concepts such "diaspora" or "identity".
So overall, well worth a read. But I'd say there is a glaring fault in this book: the scope of the research is never addressed. What I mean is that if you write a. book about X in the space Y, the assumption is that X is notably different in the space Y compared to elsewhere, that the regime of X in Y is distinct and follows a different path compared to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is never addressed.
The authors never address how, say, a Spaniard moving to Sicily is more like a Turk moving to Tunisia than like a Englishman moving to the American colonies or a Chinese settling in Malaca. The choice of the Mediterranean world as a space of research thus appears random or, worst even, capriscious.
This issue is compounded by the quasi absence of dynamism in the chronology. Sure an event taking place in 1492 is technically before another happening in 1720 but they both appear wrapped in a single and unchanging regime, there is no evolution and no cause for these evolutions.
This is particularly unfortunate considering that the early modern period is a crucial moment for the Med. It goes from a leading region in the world to a back water, what Faruk Tabak had called the "Waining of the Mediterranean". How does that waining affect the populations? How does it change the migration patterns? How does it affect the way people welcome others? These are never addressed, things just are because they are. And that's unfortunate!
Displaying 1 of 1 review