Mediterranean Platform

For a long time, the Mediterranean has been described with magic formulas. Due to actual crises and conflicts we think that a new narrative is required. The Mediterranean Platform Konstanz brings together historical and literary approaches in order to understand cultural heritage and historical perspectives of the region and to sharpen our view for future options. In this sense, our research puts the plurality of Mediterranean spatial configurations in the spotlight. First, in a genealogical perspective, we try to reconstruct marginalised (Arabic, insular, meridional and Ottoman) representations of the region. Second, on the basis of new present-related topics we investigate cross epochs in which way natural, cultivated and imagined spaces as well as their relations to the past and future influenced each other. Third, comparative and entangled historical perspectives point out clearly how the Mediterranean interacted with other world regions and that it can certainly be compared to them.