Il mare dentro. Frontiere, migrazioni e modelli di convivenza nel Mediterraneo, ieri e oggi

The past twenty years have witnessed a return of anthropology to the study of the Mediterranean, a major strand of research being a seaward view that has paid special attention to port cities and their alleged cosmopolitanism. This article surveys the literature on these issues, with special reference to Clancy-Smith’s “historical ethnography” of 19th-century Tunis. It argues that, although caution is needed, the Mediterranean, past and present, can be tapped to draw lessons that can prove useful both theoretically, to refine our interpretations of patterns of tolerance and coexistence, and practically to develop techniques of coexistence and check xenophobic thinking.