Foreword: a critique of Mediterranean Europe as a "migration place (original) (raw)

2023, Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

Critical thinking is a broad classification for a diverse array of reasoning. In this Foreword we will underline different topics by breaking down arguments and claims, to see how these apply to a supposed model of Mediterranean Europe, in order to advance a critical understanding of the Introduction and the following chapters, identify significant commonalities, enhance connections and facilitate dialogue with the authors and their ideas. This Foreword will outline the broad contours of such critical thinking through the discussion of two topics that we have selected as the basis for a meaningful analysis in Mediterranean Europe: (1) the topic of place (which includes Mediterranean borders, an exploration of cities and the changing rural world); and (2) the topic of contemporary mobilities. FRAMING THE TOPIC OF PLACE The 7 Climates are traversed by 7 Seas of which we speak following, if it pleases God. The 7 Seas are called also Gulfs. Six are contiguous; one only is separated without communication with the others. They are; 1) the China and Indian Seas at 13 degrees latitude and to their south is the Equator; 2) the Gulf of Persia, 440 parasanges in length; 3) the Gulf of the Red Sea, 1400 miles long; 4) the Mediterranean Sea, 18 miles wide at the Detroit; 5) the Gulf of Venice, 1100 miles long; 6) the Pontus Euxine, 1300 miles from the Detroit; 7) the Caspian Sea, 1000 miles x 650 miles. (Preface to Al-Idrisi World Map, 12th Century) The idea of place corresponds to a notion inspired by cultural geography. A place is not a simple location in abstract space (Holzer, 2003), but a spatial entity with a meaning and a value that is lived, conceived and appropriated by social communities (Tuan, 1977). Places have a memory and an identity, and result from the consequential transformation and appropriation of a physical space by a community. In this sense, places have not only a socio-cultural value but also a political one. Using this notion of place as a point of departure, the first problem we face is identifying a reference point for the discussion. The debate can be launched by