engleski

Rethinking the Mediterranean Multiculturalism - The Study of the Eastern Adriatic Landscapes of Identities

The topic of the lecture leans on the main goals of the 13th international conference in Porto 2018, pointing to the diversities and focused on promoting social, cultural, economic and environmental cohesion in line with the “Sustainable Development Goals” and “World Goals” upheld by the United Nations. “Appreciating Differences” is also the big theme of the IGU conference taking place in Quebec in 2018. The IGU initiative of the “2016 International Year of Global Understanding” reflects the recognition of the urgent necessity of the rising of consciousness of the need of social, cultural and environmental understanding, being the only way towards the prosperity of the mankind. Multicultural and contact spaces, such as the Mediterranean, are often also spaces of conflicts. The millennia-long history shows that, but also the contemporary territorial, economic and social unbalances, inequalities and even antagonisms at several levels within the Euro-Mediterranean realm that are followed by massive economic and political migratory flows. The presentation will focus on the multicultural nature of the Mediterranean as a frame of the more in-depth historical-geographical study of the diversified landscapes of identities of the Eastern Adriatic. The perception of the Mediterranean leans equally on the nature, its climate, vegetation, sea, but also on the culture and history, lifestyle and finally on the landscape that embraces both, the nature and culture. To approach the question of identity, it seems that we have to give importance to all of these. There is no Mediterranean identity, but Mediterranean identities. Although, at the first glance, it seems that it is more than clear what is the Mediterranean region ; every one of us has a kind of an image of it, some authors argue that it is not a region, because it lacks homogeneity that is essential for regions with expressed identity. In fact, it is true, but that is exactly what gives individuality to the Mediterranean. Mediterranean is not about the homogeneity and uniformity, but about the unity that comes from diversities, contacts and interconnections. And this applies for natural world and species, as Mediterranean is considered biodiversity hotspot, as well as for peoples, cultures and lifestyles. Mediterranean is a paradigmatic contact area with the multicultural nature. Considered as a cradle of civilization it embodies the richness of the western and eastern legacies, having Greek and Roman, but also African and Asian roots. Millennia-long human-environmental interrelations have built, shaped and designed a kind of Mediterranean lifestyle, landscape and distinct multifaceted identity. The more in-depth study of the Early Modern Eastern Adriatic borderlands area reflects many social and cultural divides, sharing spaces and intersecting identities. It represents an area of multiple contacts and a multicultural environment in form of a contact area of three different imperial traditions in the Early Modern period ; Ottoman, Habsburg and Venetian. That was a meeting place of East and West, Christianity and Islam and maritime and continental traditions. Frequent border changes throughout several centuries were followed by migrations and introduction of new (other) social and cultural communities, building and rebuilding the landscapes of multiple identities. Research into past spatial perceptions and images from historical maps is of particular interest in multicultural spaces, where diverse cultures, religious systems and complex ethnic structures meet. Investigating regional identities in the multiculturalism of the borderlands was based primarily on deconstructing maps of the time ; tracing a map rhetoric and its symbolic meaning. The westernmost border of the Ottoman Empire with the Habsburg Monarchy was primarily a border between Islam and Christianity. That fact notwithstanding, the Orthodox Christians were also perceived as Others among the dominant population of Roman Catholic affiliation in (Habsburgian) Croatia. The borderlands were more likely a shared space and not so much a divide of different intersecting cultural (religious) identities that were appreciated and recognized. Landscapes of diverse identities were analyzed and discussed through a number of historical regional examples i.e. Morlacca, Minor Wallachia and Turkish Croatia.

Mediterranean, Eastern Adriatic, Croatia, Early Modern period, history of cartography, multiculturalism, identities

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