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Alphabet Soup 335
activism, gender stereotypes, and relationships with non-Arab
populations. This volume’s preface, written in the aftermath of
11 September 2001, despairingly pleaded yet again for the
forms of dialogue sought by that journal. But the author also
went on to draw an explicit link between the Mediterranean and
broader predicaments: ‘As a global microcosm, the Mediterranean
manifests paradigmatically the interaction of Christendom,
Islam and Judaism with all the trappings of the social
dilemmas and stereotype delimitations we are witnessing
worldwide.’ 22
Growing dichotomies in the modern Mediterranean, arising
especially since the end of the Cold War, have been closely
observed in many quarters—not least in a parallel sequence of
other ‘new’ serials: for example, Mediterranean Quarterly
(1990–), Mediterranean Politics (1994–), and the Mediterranean
Journal of Human Rights (1997–). These journals chronicle such
present-day traumas of the Mediterranean as the sea’s plainly
accelerating ‘north/south’ divide (rich/poor; western/nonwestern;
Christian/Islamic) and its increasing characterization
as a region of economic inequality, demographic imbalance and
migration, youth frustration, and environmental loss. 23
This apparently promising breeding ground for a ‘clash of
civilizations’ could seem very distant from the quiet world of
our Mediterranean serials. But there exist more points of connection
than might at first appear. As this review has suggested,
modern agendas undeniably inflect the character and coverage
of a journal, sometimes overtly, sometimes not. Conversely,
historical study of the Mediterranean—that ‘global microcosm’
of contact and interaction—may have something, and even
something heartening, to offer at this juncture. The Mediterranean
has long existed, after all, as a communicative mixture of
religions and cultures and languages, as a scene of cultural
transmission, as a crossroads. This fact has been recognized
by political leaders and analysts of the region, who see in the
area’s historical diversity some hope—if often only a faint
22 A. Spiteri, ‘Preface’, Journal of Mediterranean Studies: History, Culture
and Society in the Mediterranean World 11 (2001), 2.
23 See, for example, D. K. Xenakis and D. N. Chryssochoou, The Emerging
Euro-Mediterranean System (Manchester and New York, 2001), with bibliography.