Welcome to Red Sea VI

Call for Papers : Pre-announcement

The MARES Project and the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of Exeter,
is hosting the Red Sea VI conference, the latest in the Red Sea Project series.

Scholars are invited to submit papers on topics that stimulate new thought and discourse about different human adaptations to and interactions with the environment of the Red Sea , both past and present. Scholars are strongly encouraged to present papers leading to discussions on how the past can help us better understand the present, and vice versa.
The study of past methods of adaptation to and interaction with the marine environment can suggest solutions to present environmental problems. Equally, current scientific and ethnographic research can help us better interpret the past of Red Sea communities through archaeological, historical and linguistic data.

Recently, Red Sea countries have increasingly been promoting the exploitation of marine resources. In several, , the sea, viewed as a resource, has had a limited impact on the modern economies and societies of Red Sea countries. Yet recent research into the Red Sea past has demonstrated that the sea played a crucial role in the formation of early state-based societies and empires.

In light of this theoretical framework, scholars are encouraged to present papers that will lead to discussions on how the past can help in better understand the present and vice versa.

For the first time, the conference is soliciting collaboration with scholars from the natural sciences in order to stimulate interdisciplinary participation in the conference among scholars from the humanities and sciences, for the mutual benefit of both.

The committee welcomes submissions on the following topics:
• Climate change.
• Ecological and landscape change
• Species extinction.
• Environmental disaster, desertification, coastal erosion, and habitat fragmentation.
• Diseases and epidemic
• Flora and fauna.
• Food culture.
• Migration and refugees.
• Travellers along sea and caravan routes.
• Sea poetry and song.
• Water storage and management systems.
• Islands.
• Heritage, cultural awareness and tourism.
• Crafts, including pottery-making, textiles, carpets, jewellery, and basketry.
• Technological transfer
• Language contact
• Hajj route
• Ports and harbours
• Slavery
• Epigraphy
• Identity and ethnicity
• Traditional architecture
• Boat traditions

The proceedings of previous Red Sea conferences have been published by Archaeopress as part of the Society for Arabian Studies Monograph Series. The committee intends to continue this tradition.

The committee also welcomes academic posters for display at the conference.

The organising committee comprises Professor Dionisius A. Agius, Dr. John P. Cooper, Dr. Chiara Zazzaro, Mr Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Ms Lucy Semaan and Ms Beata Faracik.

A call for paper will be posted on the MARES website on 31 July 2011. Meanwhile, for further information, please contacting in one of the following ways:

Postal address:
The Red Sea VI Organising Committee
The MARES Project,
IAIS Building,
University of Exeter,
Stocker Road,
Exeter EX4 4ND
United Kingdom
Email: redsea6@exeter.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 (0) 1392 72 4036 or 1392 72 52 51