This interdisciplinary seminar series explores borders not as fixed lines, but as dynamic spaces of interaction and cultural creativity. Spanning from the Middle Ages to the present, the series examines geographical, linguistic, and symbolic boundaries through the lenses of history, media studies, and literature. After successful sessions on medieval riddles, Jesuit translations, and transpacific borders, the upcoming program features experts discussing decolonization, cartography, and migration.

Organised by Ester Cristaldi (Üsküdar University) and Elisa Ramazzina (University of Insubria), under the patronage of the Faculty of Communication at Üsküdar University.

"Entangled Histories" investigates borders in their multiple dimensions: political frontiers, linguistic boundaries, and symbolic borderlands. The series aims to bridge long-term historical processes with urgent contemporary questions like migration and decolonisation.

Upcoming sessions include:

February 25, 2026

• Anik Nandi (Woxsen University) - Transnational Migration and Language Policies in Northern Ireland, UK: Family Dynamics towards Heritage Language Maintenance

March 4, 2026

• Muhammet Enes Akdağ  (Üsküdar University) - Transnational Film Networks and Moviegoing Culture in the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate (1874–1917)

About the Speaker: Muhammet Enes Akdağ is a Research Assistant in the Department of New Media and Communication (English) at Üsküdar University. His research focuses on film industry studies, new cinema history, and screen studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Communication Sciences at Kadir Has University, with recent work exploring communal viewing experiences and representations of identity in contemporary media.

Logistics:

• Location: Online via Zoom.
• New Secure Link (Please note: We have updated our meeting link for security reasons. Please use this new URL for this session).

Join the discussion! Explore the intersections of colonial urban modernity, shared public space, and the visual economy of the late Ottoman city.

March 11, 2026

• Karen Pinto (University of Colorado Boulder) - Through the Eye of the Cartographer: The KMMS Islamicate Vision of the Bilad al-Rum Byzantine Frontier with Syria

March 18, 2026

• Sonja Brentjes (Max Planck Institute/Independent Scholar) - Formal and Informal Borders: How Much Did They Matter in the Mathematical Sciences in Premodern Islamicate Societies?

March 25, 2026

• Eleonora Matarrese  (University of Bari Aldo Moro) - Edible Wild Plants: Widespread and Futuristic Knowledge in the Middle Ages (with practical workshop)

April 1, 2026

• Pierpaolo De Giosa (National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris), Luigi Andriani (University of Hamburg) - More-than-human Encounters under the Same Roof: Household Spirits and Rituals in Bari

April 8, 2026

• Marusca Francini  (University of Pavia) - Beyond Poetry. The Style of the Norwegian "Tristrams Saga"

April 15, 2026

• Gesufrancesco Petrillo & Cristiano Bedin (Istanbul University) - Queer Encounters Across Borders: Adapting Perfect Strangers (2016) into Stranger in My Pocket (2018)

Seminar Break for Academic Leave: April 20-26, 2026

April 29, 2026

• Elisa Ramazzina (University of Insubria) - Margins, Maps, and Monsters: Negotiating Borders in the “Wonders of the East”

May 6, 2026

• Seda Öz (University of Delaware) - Entangled Germanies: Remaking Cinema at the Borders of Cultural Memory

May 13, 2026

• Giorgio Ennas (University of Utrecht/Franklin University Switzerland) - Borders and Epidemics: Sanitary Transformation of State Borders in the Ottoman Empire between the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth Centuries

May 20, 2026

• Nora Berend (University of Cambridge) - Title TBA

May 27, 2026

• Valentina Surace (University of Messina) & Aisling Reid (Queen’s University Belfast) - Divided We Stand: Belfast’s ‘Peace’ Walls and the Logic of Security                               

June 3, 2026

• Elisa Cugliana (Cologne University) - «Altez Gaschraibach» and New Technologies: Documenting Cimbrian Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries

June 10, 2026

• Luigi Andriani (University of Hamburg) - One Language Fits All? The Spectacular Case of Multilingual Italy

June 17, 2026

• Betsey Price (York University) - The Mansions of the Visigoths: Self-Definition Through Boundaries

June 24, 2026

• Nancy Bruseker (University of Toulouse) - Gender Jetset: The Carrousel Cabaret and Transfemininity on Tour, 1950-1969 

July 1, 2026

• Feride Zeynep Güder (Üsküdar  University) - Borders of Memory: Queen Zenobia as a Connective Turn in the Digital Legacy of Antioch 

Past sessions have covered a wide range of topics, including Irish poetics, Byzantine and Islamic riddles, Italian shamanism, and transpacific resistance.

Full program and Zoom links available at: https://sites.google.com/view/entangledhistories/