070131 FS Forschungsseminar Global Studies/ (2008W)

The International Convention on the Law of the Sea agreed upon in 1982 in Jamaica allows all states bordering on the sea to extend their exclusive maritime zone to 200 nautical miles. This led to numerous international disputes between such countries, especially island states about the correct distribution of the bottom of the sea where petrol, gas diamonds, gold etc. as well as food may be exploited. In these disputes which have to be decided by the International Court of Justice in the Hague (Netherlands) litigants again and again use historical arguments to substantiate their claims. The research seminar will study these argumentations which sometimes go back as far as the 15th century highlighting parallels and differences in the islands¿ histories. Moreover, we will study the phenomenon that often islands witnessed comparable developments different from main lands close by, f.e. in urban administration, feudal structures, or the collection of commercial duties. Scarce goods such as wheat, f. e., were handled in a different way in the ports of islands than in those of the main. This is a fact which has not been researched in depth so far. We have to ask whether the islands influenced each other in a more profound way than the close main land because of their similar situation. Mariners may have had an important part in this as Predrag Matvejević has shown in his path breaking book Mediteranski brevijar in 1987. It seems that not only the terminology of mariners travelled but also political ideas which never settled on the main land but on the islands only. The history of islands combines in a very impressive way global and micro history as well as problems of the past and the present.
Students are expected to attend all classes and meetings, to write a scientific paper (with critical footnotes, 70.000 characters + abstract) and to present the result of their research. The best papers will be published in a volume called ¿Insular Studies¿ in 2010.

First meeting October 8, 2008: introduction to the topic, choice of special topics for research
October 15, 2008: further discussion of topics chosen
November 12, 2008: discussion of work in progress
December 17, 2008: discussion of work in progress and preliminary results
January 7, 2009: lecture by Adrian Carton, Sydney, on "Rethinking the Columbian Exchange: Food and the Global Contract"
January 14, 2009: discussion of remaining problems before finishing papers
Final meeting Saturday January 31 and Sunday February 1, 2009: concluding congress of the research seminar with presentation of papers