QUADERNS DE LA MEDITERRÀNIA, 4
Comparative visions of the Mediterranean


- Foreword . Maria-Àngels Roque.
Original Language : Catalan.
Translation : English.



DOSSIER


- Demythicising and Remythicising the Mediterranean. Edgar Morin.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mediterranean, history, conflict, civilisation.

The Mediterranean has historically been a zone of antagonisms and conflicts, a zone of creation at the same time as it encompasses destruction, where races, religions and cultures have always been mixed. Remythicising the Mediterranean does not only mean selecting the positive elements, it also means discovering the roots of various civilisations by revealing potentials that may have been inhibited or rejected throughout history and regenerating them, to accept the Mediterranean as our mother region.


- History and Dialogue . Salvatore Bono.
Original Language : Italian.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: History, culture, Mediterranean, dialogue.

The origin of any movement of understanding, collaboration or peace in the Mediterranean is to be found in the lack of sufficient attention that has been paid to historical processes. All peoples, cultures and civilisations have followed different paths through time because evolution never follows a straight line. Thus the knowledge of the long history of the Mediterranean should provide the most solid foundations in order to achieve a mutual feeling of respect and understanding between the peoples of the Mediterranean world.


- Opening to the Concept of the Other and to Mediterranean History . José Enrique Ruiz-Domènec.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mediterranean, economy, acculturation, antiquity.

The origins of the present Mediterranean lie in the classical antiquity of Herodotus or Polybius, rather than in the conquests of Napoleon, as is often believed. The Mediterranean processes of acculturation have always shown that dialogue cannot be initiated until the other participant is granted a voice (and at least a partial acknowledgment of its point of view). With the beginning of capitalism in the middle of the eleventh century, the Mediterranean was divided into those communities that followed this new economic model, and those that decided not to do so.


- The Mediterranean: a Laboratory for History and the Economy . Josep-Antoni Ybarra.
Original Language : Catalan.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mediterranean, history, economy, development.

The Mediterranean allows us to benefit from lessons in economic matters that should help us to understand our future, due to the fact that many of these elements have been verified in the laboratory of History. Economists must adopt a rigorous and complete vision, with a critical spirit and scientific methodology, which will distinguish the useful factors from those resulting from specific historical circumstances when carrying out a study of the elements brought to us by the Mediterranean.


- Southern Europe and the Social Services Model against the Challenge of Social Exclusion . Enzo Mingione.
Original Language : Italian.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Europe, welfare state, social provision, social exclusion.

The model of welfare of the southern European countries is based on a Mediterranean perspective, holding determined values that can sometimes promote the family institution to the detriment of individualism, constituted through public devices of discontinuous and arbitrary performance that favour particularism and a notable subsidiarity in relation to the family, the community and the third sector, so that the status of the breadwinner becomes radicalised and the sector of senior citizens becomes over-protected.


- The Arab Countries' Generation of Change . Philippe Fargues.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Demographic transition, population, Arab societies, social change.

The process of demographic transition, which in Western countries has been underway for more than a century, has taken place in a little less than a period of one generation in the Arab societies. This radical change of mentality and material conditions of existence from one generation to the next involves very significant social transformations. This transition stresses the differences between the countryside and the cities and creates similarities between these cities and European cities rather than maintaining their resemblance to the hinterland.


- Law and Family. The Evolution in Morocco: Legal Keys . Malika Benradi.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Morocco, family law, women, laws.

From a legal perspective Malika Benradi constructs a vision of the main family laws in Morocco, thus dealing with the situation of women and their inferior position within the family and society in general. In Morocco, the family unit prizes solidarity among its members and this ideal becomes the principal exponent of society's values. Because of the profound changes experienced in the last few years, the family institution struggles between contradictory trends, in the fight between tradition and modernity.


- The Mediterranean, a Great Area of Migration and Exile . Mohammed Choukri.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mediterranean, traditions, rationalism, migration.

Based on his own personal experiences, the author relates the most current values of the Mediterranean region to their traditional roots, and investigates how the cities have always been the neuralgic centres of life and trade, and how the triumph of utilitarianism has led to a dehumanized rationalism. Now emigration is no longer considered enrichment for the individual, but rather a prelude to death, and can only be borne with the hope of an improved future.


- Egypt: a Personal Vision . Gamal Al Ghitani.
Original Language : Arabic.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Egypt, tradition, sea, history.

Based on his own experiences, the author reflects the myriad of emotions and feelings awoken by the perception of the sea, so tranquil and at the same time so unpredictable. Using poetic language abounding filled with resonance, evoking idyllic images that blend imagination with reality, he compares the River Nile to the Mediterranean Sea, relating the most distant points around it, and establishes the points that form the links, all of them deriving from the bond with the sea. The Mediterranean is a land of reminiscences, with memories that were born in Antiquity, and areas such as Sicily or Al-Andalus, exemplary places of interaction and harmony, which in the past made the coexistence of religions possible and where ideas enriched each other instead of cancelling each other out. It was from this eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, of which we form a part, that the spiritual foundations, the ideas and hopes that have finally modelled the modern world, have extended.


- On the Balkans . Pedrag Matvejevic.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Balkans, developed countries, territory, Slavs.

The Balkan territories are formed from the remainder of the supranational empires and from new states that have been liberated by international agreements and their own national programmes: the region is the legacy of two world wars and the cold war, of the vicissitudes of Eastern and Western Europe, and the ambivalent relations between developed countries and those which are still developing; the result of ruptures and reunions between the Mediterranean and Europe, between the North and the South.


- Words and Emotions in the Middle East . Tomàs Alcoverro.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Literature, Islamic societies, 11-S, anti-Westernisation.

Behind the triumph of the Islamist discourses, a minority of laic writers question the role of the Arab intellectuals and defend the criticism against the prevailing stereotyped anti-Western ideas. This paper summarises both the perception of the generalised feeling of antagonism towards American interventionism and the criticism of some intellectuals of this feeling and of the regressive situation that is paralysing the progress of Islamic societies.


- “European-Mediterranean Interculturality”; Tassadit Yacine Interviews Pierre Vidal-Naquet .
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mediterranean, dialogue, interculturality, rites of passage.

Throughout classical Greece and the current Berber world, Tassadit Yacine and Pierre Vidal-Naquet trace a course across the Mediterranean region which traverses time and territories. The voyagers explore the existence of an intercultural Mediterranean with cultivated and popular visions, thus weaving an innovative dialogue which passes through the imaginary and the real, in topics that are as closely linked to culture and life as rites of passage, alimentary customs, common legends or love.



OVERVIEW OF RECENT EVENTS


- The Valencia Conference: Reinvigorating the Barcelona Process. Richard Gillespie.
Original Language : English.
KEYWORDS: Barcelona Process, Valencia Conference, politics, Euro-Mediterranean Conference.

Reinvigorating the Barcelona Process involves the recovery of some of the weaker points of the 1995 Barcelona Conference, and a more effective response to the problems that, in the last few years, have been acquiring higher importance. In this sense, the Valencia Conference has been one the most constructive conferences of Euro-Mediterranean Foreign Affairs Ministers held to date, even though it took place within an extremely difficult international context.


- The Situation of the Sahara Today: Peace Proposals . Vicenç Fisas.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Sahara, referendum, James Baker, independence, Morocco.

For more than a quarter of a century the Saharawi people have awaited return to their land, by means of a referendum that should already have taken place, but in recent years the United Nations has reduced the firmness of its resolutions. In the last report made by the personal envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, James Baker, possible solutions to the conflict were set out, ranging from the partition of the territory to the withdrawal of the UN as mediator in the zone.


- The Battle of Palestine . Joan Roura.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Palestine, Jewish settlements, Oslo Agreements, peace, Middle East.

The increasing colonisation of Palestinian lands with Jewish settlements is blocking any possibility of achieving peace. Although the 1993 Oslo Agreements were on the verge of obtaining its objective, the current situation sees both the Israelis and the Palestinians under continuous threat. For the author, the only feasible solution is the creation of a Palestinian state with small modifications to the borders that were previously delimited in 1967.


- Milosevic in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia . Antoni Pigrau.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Slobodan Milosevic, The Hague International Tribunal.

Based on the trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, where the accusations of crimes committed in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are grouped in a unique process, the author emphasises the efforts of the ICT in the creation of a standard protocol in international criminal processes, distancing itself from the responsibilities not assumed by the UN Security Council and benefiting the process for the creation of the International Criminal Court.


- The Influence of the Turkish-Ottoman Model: The Case of Turkey in the Last World Cup . Semih Vaner.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Media, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Muslim religion.

With reference to the celebration of the last football World Cup, the author analyses the set of representations presented by the European media of visions of Turkey, according to which Western Europe considers that the Turkish reality is distant, has no bonds to share, is impregnated by the presence of the Muslim religion the European Christian element is seldom perceived and that misconceptions and ignorance are intertwined, above all in a negative and critical tone which combines generalisation and stereotypes.



CULTURAL OVERVIEW


- Gaudí: Nature in Architecture . Daniel Giralt-Miracle.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Antoni Gaudí, architecture, functionalism, town planning.

Gaudí is considered an architect of universal scope. He offers his personal solutions with original repertoires to architectonic challenges, by finding inspiration mainly in nature and the arts. He breaks with historical styles and initiates the creation of a new visual language, always experimenting with novel methods of expression, combining a sense of beauty with practicality and economy, and influencing the analysis of forms while leaving no room for improvisation.


- Mediterranean Courtyards and Gardens . María Elena Morató.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Architecture, Egypt, culture, courtyard.

Since its appearance in Egypt more than five thousand years ago, the courtyard continues to be an architectonic element that is closely linked to our culture, closely associated with Mediterranean countries, where it emerged out of the inhabitants' need to adapt to the area and the climate, and coming to assume added religious and social functions. Thus, throughout history, Mediterranean architecture has modified the uses and values of the courtyards, always with the principal purpose of providing improved luminosity and ventilation to the surrounding buildings.


- Turkish Film Today . Àngel Comas.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Turkey, film, culture, audio-visual production.

Turkish cinema is currently in a state of crisis. The effects of television, the monopoly of American cinema and the general lack of liberties and recognition of the rights of minority cultures have combined to generate a spectacular reduction of the productions made in the country. The 1960s saw the first attempts, thanks to the interest of the country's intellectuals and the evolution of producers, of the peculiarities of Turkish society, which often resemble a halfway point between Asian and European cultures.


- Orientalism : Twenty Years On . Patricia Almárcegui.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Edward S. Said, Orientalism, literature, values.

In his study Orientalism, Edward S. Said proposed to study the Orient from a dynamic point of view, distancing himself from all previously completed investigation, and leaving aside the generalities to enter into specificities, without adopting a colonising vision of the West. The author widely reflects what Orientalism means today and the changes that occurred with the appearance of Said's work, still compulsory reading twenty-five years after its publication.


- Does Such a Thing exist as Balkan Literature? Tamara Ivancic.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Balkans, literature, history, Ivo Andrich.

Reviewing some of the quotations and works of the most important authors of territories where diversity of cultures, towns and religions have always coexisted, the author explains how the perception of the existence of a Balkan literature is due the recognition of many authors from different origins, who have all contributed to the construction of a common history and culture for the Balkans.


- Reflections on the Translation of The Koran . Antoni Matabosch.
Original Language : Catalan.
Translation : English.
KEYWORDS: Mikel de Epalza, The Koran, Islam, cultural heterogeneity, pluralism.

The translation into Catalan of the Koran by Mikel de Epalza has been used by the author to promote knowledge of the sources of Islam thinking, given the increase of cultural and religious heterogeneity in our environment. It must be made clear that Islam is not a compact block but that the differences of perception, intensity and territory are very important, and that it is necessary to explore them in depth in order to understand them fully and to be able to make the successful transition from a homogenous to a plural society.


- Some New Contributions, Visions and Contexts on Food in the Mediterranean Area . Francesc Xavier Medina.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.


- The Mediterranean, People and Books . Claudine Rulleau.
Original Language : French.
Translation : English.


- Reviews of: “Nueva antropología de las sociedades mediterráneas” by Maria-Àngels Roque, and “Marruecos y el colonialismo español” by Eloy Martín Corrales . Yolanda Aixelà.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.


- Review of “La imagen del magrebí en España” by Eloy Martín Corrales . Miguel Hernando de Larramendi.
Original Language : Spanish.
Translation : English.


- Selection of journals and other periodical publications about the Mediterranean on the web . Elisenda Macià.