Ricerc@Sapienza

This project proposes an interdisciplinary analysis of the processes through which some of the ancient great empires negotiated and reevaluated their own past histories in the context of regional peacebuilding: Roman Empire, early modern Christendom from Europe to the Americas and Asia, Iberian Empires, Mughal empire, and the Tibetan Kingdoms of the Tibetosphere. The project will focus mainly on the concept of border and conflicts of identity across the boundaries and on the role of historical narratives in conflicts and their resolution. The approach is interdisciplinary, rooted in the discursive approach to conflict and reconciliation through the language of myth, theology, philosophy, law, and arts. During the project, we will become acquainted with concepts and theories of peacebuilding and conciliation, as well as social, political, and cultural issues related to the position of minorities in the empires of Late Antiquity, Middle Ages, and the long Renaissance, from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. We will also explore the repercussions that certain narratives of the past continue to cast on the contemporary images of minority group in the socio-cultural and political scenarios of the present.