Levantine Entanglements - Cultural Productions, Long-Term Changes and Globalizations in the Eastern Mediterranean - Terje Stordalen

Levantine Entanglements - Cultural Productions, Long-Term Changes and Globalizations in the Eastern Mediterranean - Terje Stordalen

1. The Region of the Levant and the Importance of the Local Perspective

Levantine Entanglements - Cultural Productions, Long-Term Changes and Globalizations in the Eastern Mediterranean - Terje Stordalen

Terje Stordalen [+-]
University of Oslo
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Terje Stordalen is professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. He also holds a chair as Obel Visiting Social Science professor at Aalborg University, Denmark.
Øystein S. LaBianca [+-]
Andrews University
Øystein S. LaBianca (PhD Brandeis 1987) is a senior research professor of anthropology at Andrews University and associate director of its Institute of Archaeology. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of over 20 books on Jordanian archaeology, including the 14-volume Hesban Final Publication Series. LaBianca is a founding co-director of the Madaba Plains Project, excavating at Tall Ḥisbān, Tall al-ʿUmayri, and Tall Jalūl, and senior director of the Hesban Cultural Heritage Project, a community archaeology initiative focused on engaging the local community in the care, protection, and presentation of this important site. He has served on the boards of the American Society of Overseas Research and the American Center of Research. LaBianca has been a visiting scholar at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and Bergen universities and has received grants from National Geographic, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of State, and the Research Council of Norway.

Description

This chapter introduces the rationale for studying global history from the context of specific localities and viewing the Levant in a longue durée perspective. The relevant lands are geographically defined and the editors offer a reflection on different conventions for naming these lands. Certain salient characteristics of the Levant are identified and elaborated, such as its perennial internal fragmentation, its geopoliticially strategic location as a corridor connecting cultural epicenters at three different continents, and the resultant constant exposure to successive world empires and trade networks.

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Citation

Stordalen, Terje; LaBianca, Øystein. 1. The Region of the Levant and the Importance of the Local Perspective. Levantine Entanglements - Cultural Productions, Long-Term Changes and Globalizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 21-32 Nov 2021. ISBN 9781781799123. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=38437. Date accessed: 11 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.38437. Nov 2021

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