MedRoute attended the 14th Conference of the European Association for Urban History that took place in Rome from August 29th to September 1st , 2018.
The project was presented in the panel Standing Out, Getting in, Staying in. Being foreign in Cities, 13th-18th centuries with
the paper “Between Frank Street and the Grand Port. Experiencing Urban
Pluralism in the Port Cities of Izmir and Valletta (17th-18th
centuries)”.
Through a comparative analysis of the pluralism-(s) of Izmir and Valletta, the paper explored how members of the same groups handled coexistence following different strategies in different urban spaces. Political factors, and not a “global” Mediterranean attitude, is crucial for the elaboration and development of cultural pluralism in the two environments. The new “city users” introduced new cultural elements as well as new demands into urban discourse, stimulating the responsiveness of entities entrusted with the organization of geographical and social spaces. The practice of cultural otherness enhanced spontaneous toleration as an effect of a relativistic cultural shock.
The interaction of political factors with foreign groups led to the
development of different forms of early modern multiculturalism, ranging
from the creation of a new universal society, as in the case of Malta,
to a different degree of separation/hybridization of diversities, as in
Izmir.
For the panel program here