Unlocking the Red Sea’s Mixedness: Kick-off Meeting

Turin, The University of Turin is pleased to announce the kick-off meeting of the REDMIX project – Unpacking Mixedness for an Inclusive History of the Red Sea, 1800s–2000s, which will take place on March 25 and 26, 2025 at the State Archive of Turin – Corte Section, Auditorium Piazzetta Mollino.

The event marks the official launch of REDMIX – Unpacking Mixedness for an Inclusive History of the Red Sea (1800s-2000s), a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC), one of the main European funding bodies for excellent scientific research, supporting innovative projects aimed at transforming knowledge across various disciplines. The project, coordinated by Valentina Fusari and carried out by a team of researchers with complementary expertise, is hosted by the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Turin, which, together with the Ferdinando Rossi School of Advanced Studies of the University of Turin, also contributed to the organization of the launch initiative.

REDMIX aims to explore the role of people of mixed heritage – such as Afro-Arabs, Afro-Asiatics, and Euro-Africans – in the historical and social processes of the Red Sea region, a crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe, and between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The goal is to overcome traditional disciplinary and regional divisions by placing the experiences of these people at the center of historical inquiry through an innovative interdisciplinary approach.

The kick-off meeting will open with a keynote lecture by Professor Ann Laura Stoler (The New School for Social Research, New York) and will be followed by thematic sessions featuring internationally renowned speakers, including Lina Fruzzetti (Brown University), Samson Bezabeh (Hong Kong University), and Jonathan Miran (Western Washington University). These sessions will discuss crucial topics such as the historical trajectories of mixed-heritage communities in the Red Sea region and beyond; the methodological innovations underlying the REDMIX project; and the role of co-design and citizen science in researching, reconstructing, and communicating the experiences of the people at the heart of the project.

The event is open to everyone interested, particularly researchers, students, and anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of the history of the Red Sea and its dynamics of mixedness.

To complete the program, the public is invited to a free screening (until full capacity) of the docufilm In My Mother’s House by Lina Fruzzetti (2016, 82 minutes, original version with English subtitles), which will take place on March 25, 2025, at 6:30 PM at Cinema Centrale (via Carlo Alberto 27). The film, previously screened only twice in Italy, tells an intense family story that perfectly aligns with the objectives of the REDMIX project. The event is organized in collaboration with the National Cinematographic Archive of the Resistance.

Event Details

• Dates:March 25 and 26, 2025
• Location:State Archive of Turin – Corte Section, Auditorium Piazzetta Mollino
• Contacts:redmix@unito.it