Thinking with the diver: the Mediterranean in historical perspective

Abstract: This paper considers the Mediterranean as an archive. Here the contemporary migration ‘crisis’, imbricated in the asymmetrical relations of power that sustain the superficial tenets of geopolitics, are intersected by deeper histories and longer rhythms. The latter propose a critical revaluation that bring the colonial–capitalist–racist—coordinates of modernity sharply into view.

Keywords: Mediterranean, modernity, migration, colonialism.

Article posted to Journal of the British Academy, volume 8, supplementary issue 1 (A Mediterranean Perspective on European Union and Disunion).