The launch day of the Institute "Societies in Transition in the Mediterranean" took place on 6 March 2020, at the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'Homme.
Report of the day by two master students in sociology, Nina Lino-Annunziata and Thibault Pinto.
The launching day of the Institute "Societies in Transition in the Mediterranean""" (SoMuM) took place on 6 March 2020, at the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'Homme. In the presence of representatives of the governance of Aix-Marseille University, the A*MIDEX Foundation, the components, colleagues, students and partners involved, this day was an opportunity to present the Institute and launch its scientific work in three directions: interdisciplinarity, mutations and the Mediterranean.
Two highlights marked this day:
A morning conference, dedicated to the presentation of the Institute and to the interventions of two researchers, a historian and a geohistorian.
The conference began with the opening address by Maryline Crivello, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Aix-Marseille University. She emphasized the importance of the Institute within the University and the major issues it represents in the context of graduate studies. The introduction of the day continued with a presentation of the Institute by Sylvie Mazzella, its director, as well as Delphine Mercier and Isabelle Renaudet, deputy directors of the research and training poles. They recalled the central place occupied by the Mediterranean as it is today at the heart of many public debates. It also raises new questions in a number of fields: environmental, social, economic and political. The institute has two major objectives which are interdisciplinarity and a willingness to collaborate with a consortium. This aims, in the long term, to strengthen the link between research and training, but also to federate the other institutes present on the Aix-Marseille site.
The conference continued with a presentation by historian François Hartog and geohistorian Christian Grataloup. François Hartog is a specialist in the question of the experience of time and the notions of past and present. Christian Grataloup is co-founder of the magazine Espaces Temps and author of a geo-history of globalization. Both considered as disciplinary border-crossers, they have presented their vision and experience of interdisciplinarity. This was followed by an introduction to the notion of presentism by François Hartog and a presentation on the Mediterranean and its centrality in a context of globalization by Christian Grataloup.
An afternoon of collective reflection bringing together the major actors of research on Mediterranean studies as well as the academic and non-academic partners of the institute "Societies in Mutation in the Mediterranean" (SoMuM).
The participants were divided into three workshops dedicated to the topics at the heart of the Institute: "Transitions, lasting destabilisations and crises", "Dynamics, circulations, cultural legacies", "Territorial recompositions and interactions". Conceived as participatory meetings, the aim of these working sessions was to define SoMuM's scientific priorities as well as to reflect on the Institute's calls for projects: refining the scientific axes, linking research and training, giving priority to exploratory and high-risk projects, supporting access to land, setting up research outside the walls, in and with society...