This Study Group seeks to showcase and discuss new research on colonial encounters—both past and present—in the Mediterranean and, more generally, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The aim is to foster interdisciplinary discussion among historians, economists, sociologists, and political scientists who specialize on Europe and the MENA region to better understand the nature of colonial practices and their legacies. The Study Group will push scholars to take a more comparative and discerning approach when addressing the often traumatic—but hardly universal and potentially nuanced—impact that colonial encounters have had on state formation and economic development.
