Visions of Community

Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

In the Latin West, the Roman Empire was replaced by a plurality of Christian kingdoms with ethnic denomination: the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, the Lombards and others. Byzantium remained Roman, but in the course of time, orthodox ethnic states rose in its periphery, such as the Bulgars, the Serbs or the Rus. In the Islamic World, ethnicity played a different role. Ethnic affiliations certainly existed on several levels, from ancient imperial traditions (Iran), ‚Micro-Christendoms’ and Jewish communities to the tribes of Arabia and the Prophet’s kin. But political power seems to have rested on different foundations. Thus, the imperial heritage of the Roman Mediterranean gave way to distinct political cultures, with strong implications for the development of modern nations and states. Or were these differences not as fundamental as it seems?

So far, there is a lack of in-depth comparative studies on the political role of ethnicity and religion in the post-Roman Mediterranean. Perhaps too many scholars have taken the long-term significance of ‚national’ identities for granted, without caring to distinguish between imperial identities (Roman, Arabic) or broad umbrella terms (Germanic, Slavic) on the one hand, and specific ethnic communities with political potential on the other. Others have insisted that ‚nations are modern’ and have denied any role of ethnicity in medieval state-building. It has also been misleading to distinguish flatly between ‚inclusive’ religious and ‚exclusive’ ethnic identities. These summary views certainly should not be replaced by a similarly simple distinction between an ‚ethnic’ West and an East dominated by an imperial religion. Rather, systematic comparison should pave the way for a more differentiated view of the various visions of community that lay behind political integration. Comparative studies between Islam and the West have become a hot topic recently. But they need both a sound interdisciplinary basis and a conceptual focus.

To discuss these key issues of the history of the medieval Mediterranean, we are planning an international conference in Vienna in June 2009. It should address the topic within a fairly precise chronological frame, from the 5th to the 11th centuries AD. It will thus leave the crusades and its manifold problems of direct cultural interference out of consideration. Still, long-time perspectives and diachronic comparison may be taken into account, for instance to discuss problems of longue durée, of source criticism and of modern perceptions and appropriations of medieval identities. The following issues should be addressed, among others:

* Formation and disintegration of ethnic communities, conditions for their success or failure

* Strategies of distinction in religion, language, law, costume, signs and symbols