Welcome to Red Sea VI
Red Sea Conference in Saudi Arabia 2013
The Red Sea: Past and Present and Future challenges
The Red Sea VI Conference is planned to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from Sunday 17th to Wednesday 20th March 2013 followed by a two-day field trip.
HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman, President of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, will inaugurate the conference.
The conference and field trip are being convened and organised by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, The MARES 2 Project.
The focus of the conference is 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. 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.
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, we propose to invite a number of scholars to present papers that will lead to discussions on how the past can help in better understanding the present and vice versa. The conference organizers will solicit collaboration with scholars from the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences in order to stimulate interdisciplinary participation.
We are inviting speakers from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries as well as speakers from around the world with an interest in the Red Sea to present on a wide range of subjects relating to the Red Sea. These include:
- Archaeology – land and underwater.
- Climate change.
- Ecological and landscape change.
- Species extinction.
- Sea-level change, desertification, coastal erosion, and habitat fragmentation.
- Seismic activity and volcanicity.
- Flora and fauna.
- Water storage and management systems.
- Heritage and archaeology of islands.
- Cultural and economic exchanges
- Old port towns and new cities.
- Food culture.
- Diseases and epidemic.
- Epigraphy and language contact.
- Heritage, cultural awareness and tourism.
- Traditional architecture.
- Crafts, including pottery-making, textiles, carpets, jewelry and basketry.
- Travellers along sea and caravan routes.
- Sea pilgrims and hajj routes.
- Sea poetry and song, and folklore.
- Dhow culture: boat building traditions and star navigation.
The organising committee comprises Professor Ali Al Ghabban, Professor Dionisius A. Agius, Mr Peter Harrigan, Dr John P. Cooper, Dr Chiara Zazzaro
It is the Organising Committee's intention to publish papers given at the conference as part of a proceedings monograph – subject to normal academic peer-review processes.