IMC 2022: Sessions

Session 1130: Borders and the Formation of Tribal Societies in Roman, Arabic, and Ottoman North Africa, 1st-16th Centuries

Wednesday 6 July 2022, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	RomanIslam Center for Comparative & Transcultural Studies, Universität Hamburg
Organiser:	Daniel Syrbe, Research Project 'Constraints & Traditions: Roman Power in Changing Societies', Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Moderator/Chair:	Daniel Syrbe, Research Project 'Constraints & Traditions: Roman Power in Changing Societies', Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Paper 1130-a	Borders and the (Non-)Formation of Tribal Societies in Roman North Africa, 1st-6th Centuries (Language: English) Daniel Syrbe, Research Project 'Constraints & Traditions: Roman Power in Changing Societies', Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History
Paper 1130-b	Creating the 'Berbers' in Early Islamic North Africa: Political Formations and Nomenclature in Arabic Literary Texts (Language: English) Antonia Bosanquet, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures & Societies, Freie Universität Berlin Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History
Paper 1130-c	Where Three Worlds Met: Andalusi Seafaring in Ṣiqiliyya and Aglabid Conquest in the 3rd-9th Centuries (Language: English) Xavier Ballestín, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Maritime and Naval Studies, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History
Abstract	A broad variety of written sources from antiquity to the later Middle Ages refers to the inhabitants of North Africa neighboring regions as opposed to the imperial powers that had established a presence in the region. Literary sources from the Roman to the Arabic period for example gradually shifted from using individual names for different tribal groups to 'umbrella terms' that educated pre-modern authors used to emphasise ethnic and/or cultural differences. This session will analyze the change in nomenclature from a longue-durée perspective. Using the examples of Roman and Arab-Islamic North Africa (1st to 9th centuries), the three presentations ask how differentiations between sociocultural entities relate to changing political formations in North Africa. The papers will discuss the impact of strategies of border management on creating or disrupting political unity among the different societies of North Africa.