Legacies of Exchange and Conflict (1000-1700)

On 14-15 November, 2009, the MEMS program hosted the interdisciplinary conference “Global Encounters: Legacies of Exchange and Conflict (1000-1700)” at the Friday Center. This event was co-organized by Brett Whalen (History) and Jaroslav Folda (emeritus, Art History) with the help of Glaire Anderson (Art History); Wayne Lee (History); Carmen Hsu (Romance Languages), and Jonathan Boyarin (Religious Studies). This assembly of scholars from local universities and from around the country included fifteen panels on topics in literary studies, art history, history and other fields, ranging from the Americas and Africa to Europe, the Islamic world, and Eastern Asia. There were over seventy-five attendees over the course of two days. The conference featured an opening address by Professor Karen Kupperman (NYU), “Communication through Music in Encounter Situations,” and a closing address by Alfred J. Andrea (emeritus, UVM), “The Cult of Santiago Matamoros in Sixteenth-Century Mexico: The Adaptation of Reconquista Ideology by an Amerindian People.” Funding was provided by the Mellon Foundation, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Associate Provost for International Affairs, and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Duke University.

Click here to see the conference program.