Programme 2026
The (Re-)Visiting the Mediterranean Spring School, held between May 26 and June 7 at the Valletta Campus of the University of Malta, included a wide-ranging programme of lectures and seminars delivered by participating lecturers from the University of Malta, the National University of Ireland Maynooth, Università degli Studi di Firenze, University of Cyprus, and Carthage University.
Students attended two lectures a day, followed by a two-hour seminar in which they debated and discussed the content from the lectures in greater detail.
The Spring School also included a public lecture on Maltese literature and the Mediterranean, delivered by Prof. Adrian Grima, and it concluded with a two-day Postgraduate Symposium on the theme of ‘Communities’.
Week 1
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome Address | Prof. Stella Borg Barthet, Dr Marija Grech | 10:00am - 10:15am | VLT RM 201 |
| 2 | Mediterranean Hybridity and the Blue Humanities | Dr Marija Grech | 10:15am - 11:45am | VLT RM 201 |
| 3 | Psyche at Sea: Outline for a Memory in Fragments | Prof. Norbert Bugeja | 12:00pm - 1:30pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 4 | In-person seminar | Prof. Fernando Cioni, Prof. Evy Varsamopoulou, Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Marija Grech | 3:00pm - 5:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | From Blood to the Polis: Aeschylus’ Oresteia in the Mediterranean World | Prof. James Corby | 9:00am - 10:30am | VLT RM 201 |
| 2 | Between Tragedy and Essayism: Seneca and his Influence | Prof. Mario Aquilina | 11:00am - 12:30pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 3 | In-person seminar | Prof. Fernando Cioni, Prof. Evy Varsamopoulou, Prof. James Corby, Prof. Mario Aquilina | 2:00pm - 4:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shakespeare and the Mediterranean | Prof. Fernando Cioni | 10:15am - 11:45am | MSD Gateway Hall B1 |
| 2 | In-person seminar | Prof. Fernando Cioni, Prof. Evy Varsamopoulou | 12:00pm - 1:30pm | MSD Gateway Hall B1 |
| 3 | The Odyssey and the Mediterranean Framework | Prof. Maria Frendo | 3:00pm - 4:30pm | MSD Gateway Hall B1 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worksheet 4, morning self-study time | - | ||
| 2 | Mediterranean Origins, Irish Afterlives: Translating Greek Tragedy | Dr Sinéad Kennedy | 3:00pm - 4:30pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 3 | Specters of the Eastern Mediterranean | Prof. Rita Sakr | 4:30pm - 6:00pm | VLT RM201 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fancy Macaroni? The Mediterranean and Queer Imagination during the Long 18th Century | Dr Aaron Aquilina | 10:00am - 11:30am | VLT RM201 |
| 2 | The Victorians and the Mediterranean | Prof. Petra Caruana Dingli | 12:00pm - 1:30pm | VLT RM201 |
| 3 | Worksheet 5, afternoon self-study time | - | ||
| 4 | The Mediterranean Across Disciplines: An Interdisciplinary Roundtable | 6:00pm - 8:30pm | MSD Gateway Hall A |
Week 2
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In-person seminar | Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Aaron Aquilina | 10:30am - 12:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 2 | A Journey across the Mediterranean between North Africa and Italy: Micheal Ondaatje’s The English Patient | Dr Isabella Martini | 1:30pm - 3:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 3 | Partial Views: The Mediterranean in ‘Theory’ | Prof. Ivan Callus | 3:15pm - 4:45pm | VLT RM 201 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In-person seminar | Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Aaron Aquilina | 10:30am - 12:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 2 | Dislocation, Revolt and History in Camus’s L'Étranger | Prof. Maria Frendo | 1:30pm - 3:00pm | VLT RM 201 |
| 3 | H.D.’s Thalassopoetics, from Sea Garden to ‘Hippolytus Temporizes’: The Vegetal Marine World, the Sea and Coastal Areas, the ‘Wild’ vs the Polis’ | Prof. Evy Varsamopoulou | 3:15pm - 4:45pm | VLT RM 201 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worksheet 8, morning self-study time | - | ||
| 2 | Migrant Odysseys on Film | Prof. Denis Condon | 1:30pm - 3:00pm | MSD CHBO 316 |
| 3 | The Sea of Stories’: Crossing the Mediterranean between Hope and Despair in Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Leaving Tangier | Prof. Safia Sahli | 3:15pm - 4:45pm | MSD CHBO 316 |
| # | Topic | Speaker | Time | Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worksheet 9, morning self-study time | - | ||
| 2 | Our Literature: Some Views from Malta | Prof. Stella Borg Barthet, Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Abigail Zammit | 1:30pm - 2:30pm | MSD CHBO 316 |
| 3 | Poetry Reading | Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Abigail Zammit | 2:45pm - 3:45pm | MSD CHBO 316 |
| 4 | In-person seminar | Prof. Norbert Bugeja, Dr Aaron Aquilina | 3:45pm - 4:45pm | MSD CHBO 316 |