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Feeding the Mediterranean: Culinary (Re-)Inventions, Legacy and Hospitality

The 4th Mediterranean Studies Symposium was held June 13-16, 2024 in Palermo, Sicily. Led by Dr. Giovanna Summerfield, Castanoli Endowed Professor of Italian and French as well as director of the Mediterranean Studies at Auburn University, the symposium focused on food and hospitality in and of the Mediterranean from interdisciplinary perspectives (humanities, social sciences, international law, media studies, art, and other fields of research). 

Co-sponsored and hosted by the University of Palermo’s Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza (JEAN MONNET CENTER OF EXCELLENCE 2019-2022, Mediterranean Studies), in the largest Mediterranean island, Sicily (Italy), the symposium was attended by more than 50 scholars from University of Cologne (Germany), Institute of Ismaili Studies London and University of Lincoln (UK), Necmettin Erbakan University and Koç University (Turkey), Queen’s University and University of Toronto (Canada), University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at San Antonio, Yale University, Harvard University, Texas A&M University (USA), Monash University (Australia), Geneva Graduate Institute (Switzerland), W. F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in East Jerusalem (Israel), University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Zagreb and Croatian Institute of History (Croatia), Tor Vergata, Rome, European University Institute, Florence, Ca’ Foscari - University of Venice (Italy), Ecole normale supérieure, Paris (France).

Some of the activities included in the program to enrich the experiences of the scholars in attendance were a walking city/food tasting tour, a visit and performance at the Museo internazionale delle marionette and a concluding discussion and gathering at Moltivolti, a community center and restaurant where migrants cook and serve food from their home countries–in the Ballarò district. Prior to the official opening day, Dr. Summerfield read from her new novel focused on domestic violence in the Mediterranean, Il coraggio di dire (2024, published by Milella Edizioni); closing the symposium, Auburn emeritus professor Zdenko Krtic, introduced by Dr. Enza de Francisci (University of Glasgow), remarked on his art exhibit (titled Le lettere non inviate/Unsent Letters) a series of a dozen encaustic paintings in a tondo (circular) format.

Selected research presented at the symposium will be part of a new volume on Mediterranean food, with a well-known international scholarly publisher, and the 5^th issue of the journal I.S. Med. Interdisciplinary studies on the Mediterranean (Mimesis international).

Auburn University offers an undergraduate certificate in Mediterranean Studies. For more information, contact Giovanna Summerfield, summegi@auburn.edu.

Tags: World Languages Literatures and Cultures