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Two ½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ scholars contribute to an international conference

Two University of Malta scholars from the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg from the Department of History and Prof. Charlene Vella from the Department of Art and Art History, contributed to the Insular Entanglements: Malta, 300–1700, held in Valletta from 16 to 19 June 2026.

The conference was organised by Prof. Mohamad Ballan of Stony Brook University and Prof. Katharina Heyden of the University of Bern, within the framework of the international research initiative Co-Produced Religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

The broader project is coordinated by Prof. Katharina Heyden and Prof. David Nirenberg of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. It is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, with the University of Bern and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, listed as host institutions.

The conference brought together an international group of scholars to examine Malta as a case study in Mediterranean entanglement from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern period. Its programme addressed Malta’s role within wider networks of language, religion, politics, material culture, mobility, memory and historical writing.

Prof. Emanuel Buttigieg opened the scholarly proceedings with a paper entitled “History of, and History on Islands: Some Perspectives.” His contribution considered how island histories may be approached not as marginal or isolated narratives, but as central and dynamic fields through which broader Mediterranean processes can be understood.

By reflecting on insularity, connectivity and the writing of history from island perspectives, Prof. Buttigieg offered an important framework for thinking about Malta’s place within regional and transregional histories.

Prof. Charlene Vella presented a paper entitled “Basilian Monastic Materiality and the Muslim Imprint in Medieval Malta.” Her contribution focused on Malta’s layered medieval visual and material culture, particularly the ways in which religious spaces, cave churches, monastic traditions and the island’s Muslim and post-Muslim heritage may be understood within a wider Siculo-Byzantine and Mediterranean context.

The paper highlighted the importance of Malta’s surviving material remains in reconstructing a past shaped by continuity, adaptation and cultural entanglement.

In addition to presenting her research, Prof. Vella also assisted with the conference’s on-site visits in Malta, helping to contextualise key historical and artistic sites for the visiting scholars.

This engagement provided an important bridge between the academic discussions held during the conference and the physical landscapes, monuments and material traces that continue to shape Malta’s historical identity.

The participation of Prof. Buttigieg and Prof. Vella underscored the important contribution of Maltese scholars to international debates on the medieval and early modern Mediterranean. Their involvement also highlighted the University of Malta's role in supporting research that situates Malta within broader European, North African, and Mediterranean conversations.

The conference was particularly significant because it brought leading international scholars to Malta to engage directly with the island’s complex past. Such initiatives help ensure that Malta is not treated as a peripheral case study, but as a crucial site for understanding movement, exchange, coexistence, conflict and cultural transformation across the Mediterranean.

Through both scholarly presentations and on-site engagement, the University of Malta’s contribution helped foreground the richness of Malta’s historical record and the continuing relevance of Maltese research within international humanities scholarship.