Entangled Histories: Borders and Cultural Encounters from the Medieval to the Contemporary Era is an interdisciplinary seminar series that explores borders not merely as fixed lines of separation, but as dynamic spaces of interaction, negotiation, and cultural creativity. Spanning from the medieval world to the contemporary era, the series brings together perspectives from history, literature, religious studies, linguistics, media studies, anthropology, and cultural studies to examine how borders shape—and are shaped by—human experience.
The seminars investigate borders in their multiple dimensions: geographical and political frontiers, linguistic and epistemological boundaries, cultural margins, religious thresholds, and symbolic or imagined borderlands. Topics range from medieval riddles, cartography, and frontier landscapes to modern and contemporary issues such as migration, cinema, translation, multilingualism, decolonisation, cultural memory, and transnational media networks. Particular attention is paid to moments of encounter—where traditions meet, conflict, merge, or transform—and to voices, practices, and forms of knowledge that emerge from marginal or liminal spaces.
The choice of borders as the central theme of the series reflects a shared conviction by the series’ creators that borders are among the most productive analytical tools for understanding both past and present societies. Rather than viewing borders solely as sites of exclusion or division, the series approaches them as zones of contact that generate hybrid identities, new forms of knowledge, and alternative narratives. In an era marked by renewed debates on migration, nationalism, cultural identity, and global interconnectedness, the concept of borders offers a crucial lens through which long-term historical processes can be connected to urgent contemporary questions.
By adopting a long chronological perspective—from the Middle Ages to the present—the seminar series highlights continuities and ruptures in the ways borders have been imagined, experienced, and contested over time. This diachronic approach allows participants to reflect on how historical forms of bordering continue to inform modern cultural, political, and intellectual frameworks, and how past encounters can illuminate present challenges.
The seminar series began on 26 November 2026 and runs until July 1, 2026, with weekly meetings every Wednesday at 5:00 pm (Central European Time). Conceived as an open and inclusive academic space, the series aims to foster dialogue across disciplines, periods, and methodological approaches, encouraging participants to rethink borders not as peripheral phenomena, but as central to the study of culture, history, and society.