‘An evening with Professor David Abulafia’

BOZAR welcomes eminent professor David Abulafia for an evening discussion inspired by Malta - Land of Sea; the highly-acclaimed exhibition of the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council currently on at BOZAR Centre of fine arts. The evening presentation and discussion, in the company of BOZAR CEO and artistic director Paul Dujardin and exhibition curator Sandro Debono, shall debate some of the topics and issues which the exhibition seeks to raise and question. The discussion shall focus on the stories and histories which the exhibition seeks to underpin, rethink and challenge including the historic and contemporary facets of the Mediterranean sea which David Abulafia describes as a place ‘where the most vigorous interaction between different societies takes place on this planet.

David Abulafia is an eminent maritime historian and author of the widely-read, highly acclaimed and award-winning book The Great Sea (2012). The book, broadly acknowledged as a classic history of the Mediterranean Sea, has also been described as ‘the definitive account of perhaps the most vibrant theatre of human interaction in history’. Reviews also describe it as mesmerising, a towering achievement and a memorable study on the subject. Other books on the same topic by Abulafia include The Mediterranean in History (2003); an edited volume with contributions by eight distinguished scholars which also challenges traditional readings of Mediterranean history to instead acknowledge the overwhelming influences of physical geography on the moulding of the region's civilizations.

Professor Abulafia has spent his career in the History Faculty at Cambridge University where he is Professor of Mediterranean History.