Michele Hannoosh

Michèle Hannoosh
The Mediterranean Perspective on Global History and Culture http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mediterranean
From Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, 1856, Moresque no. 4	I was the lead faculty co-ordinator of the interdisciplinary faculty cluster on the Mediterranean. This is part of a major initiative established by the Provost to bring new interdisciplinary research to the University. Members of the cluster are the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, the department of the History of Art, the department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the department of Classical Studies. Five new hires were made as a result of this initiative. (For more information, click here: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mediterranean/people.) The goal of our cluster is to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the Mediterranean, bringing together faculty in the arts, humanities, and social sciences to study the ways in which the sea has served over time as a medium of contact, exchange, and interaction. We take a networked approach to historical and cultural inquiry, working collaboratively to articulate and implement new ways of thinking about the transnational and transcultural dynamics of historical processes in the region. We are thinking about the Mediterranean as a region whose interconnected histories and cultures have often transcended -- whether in peaceful or violent ways -- geographic, linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national divisions, and are thus especially relevant for understanding global relations in the world today. We also believe that this approach can offer a new model for research in the university, a model which is collaborative and transdiciplinary, reaching beyond the borders which have defined the disciplinary categories by which Mediterranean peoples and cultures are usually studied. The cluster has worked closely with other units on campus to sponsor speakers and events. We collaborate with the Rackham graduate student interdisciplinary workshop, "Mediterranean Topographies" (Meditopos) which runs seminars and workshops. The cluster holds research seminars and sponsors an innovative team-taught undergraduate course on cross-disciplinary approaches to the Mediterranean (Mediterranean 253).	From Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, 1856, Moresque no. 4

I was the lead faculty co-ordinator of the interdisciplinary faculty cluster on the Mediterranean. This is part of a major initiative established by the Provost to bring new interdisciplinary research to the University. Members of the cluster are the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, the department of the History of Art, the department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the department of Classical Studies. Five new hires were made as a result of this initiative. (For more information, click here: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mediterranean/people.)

The goal of our cluster is to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the Mediterranean, bringing together faculty in the arts, humanities, and social sciences to study the ways in which the sea has served over time as a medium of contact, exchange, and interaction. We take a networked approach to historical and cultural inquiry, working collaboratively to articulate and implement new ways of thinking about the transnational and transcultural dynamics of historical processes in the region. We are thinking about the Mediterranean as a region whose interconnected histories and cultures have often transcended -- whether in peaceful or violent ways -- geographic, linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national divisions, and are thus especially relevant for understanding global relations in the world today. We also believe that this approach can offer a new model for research in the university, a model which is collaborative and transdiciplinary, reaching beyond the borders which have defined the disciplinary categories by which Mediterranean peoples and cultures are usually studied.

The cluster has worked closely with other units on campus to sponsor speakers and events. We collaborate with the Rackham graduate student interdisciplinary workshop, "Mediterranean Topographies" (Meditopos) which runs seminars and workshops. The cluster holds research seminars and sponsors an innovative team-taught undergraduate course on cross-disciplinary approaches to the Mediterranean (Mediterranean 253).