The Maghrib Workshop: Sovereignty, Crisis, and Narratives of Belonging

About the Project

Led by Associate Professor of Literature and Mediterranean Studies Juan Camilo Gómez-Rivas,  this project explores the history of sovereignty in North Africa, its relationship to people’s notions of belonging, and how both concepts change in times of crisis. Persistent questions for the colonial and postcolonial transformations, they are equally significant for the long pre-modern period. And while the evolution of sovereignty has long been of interest to historical and political studies, the narrative component encourages interdisciplinarity and invites scholars to explore the cultural production of the Maghrib and its diasporas as well as its engagement with contested identities and their narratives. This thematic framework brings together 14 faculty members and 3 graduate student scholars of the Maghrib from across the University of California (and beyond).

This project is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI).