CHAPTER I- The Mediterranean World.- Approaches to the Mediterranean World Alisa Ginio(Tel Aviv University).- The Mediterranean during Late Prehistory Mehmet Özdoğan (Istanbul University).- Anthroscapes: Inherited Land Management of Past for a Sustainable Future Selim Kapur (Çukurova University), Erhan Akça (Adıyaman University), Claudio Zucca (University of Sassari), Suha Berberoğlu (Çukurova University), Somayyeh Razzaghi Miavaghi (Çukurova University), Hari Eswaran (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service).- CHAPTER II- Dramatis Personӕ and Decorum.- Visible/Invisible: Sanctity, History and Topography in Tarsus Oya Pancaroğlu (Boğaziçi University).- The Advent of the Maronite Community of Mersin Şerife Yorulmaz (Mersin University).- The Greek-Orthodox of Mersin (mid-19th century to 1921)
Evangelia Balta (National Hellenic Research Center).- Where Have All the Egyptian Fellahin Gone? Labor in Mersin and Çukurova Ehud R. Toledano (Tel Aviv University).- Cotton Pickers in Cilicia and the Aegean Halis Akder (Middle East Technical University).- CHAPTER III- Last of the Cities but not the Least.- Cities of Hellenistic Cilicia Ümit Aydınoğlu (Mersin University).- The Architecture of the Historic Railroad Stations Mustafa Akpolat (Hacettepe University).- The Port of Mersin during the Early Republic Melike Kara-Tülin Selvi Ünlü (Mersin University).- Bearing Modernity's Imprint Burak Beyhan (Mersin University).- Changes to urban form in the Eastern Mediterranean port cities: Formation and transformation of Çamlıbel neighborhood in Mersin Tolga Ünlü (Mersin University).-CHAPTER IV- The Denizens’ Turn.- Local Voices, Memory and Context Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu (Koç University) Tülin Selvi Ünlü (Mersin University).
Dr. Filiz Yenişehiroğlu is a faculty member at the Department of Art History of Koç University. She also serves as director of Vehbi Koç Ankara Studies Research and Application Center in Ankara, Turkey. Her areas of specialty are Ottoman Art, Ottoman architecture, Ottoman ceramic art and popular culture.
Dr. Eyüp Özveren is Professor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (FEAS), Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey. His areas of specialty are economic history, history of economic thought, institutional economics, Mediterranean studies and political economy.
Dr. Tülin Selvi Ünlü is researcher at Mersin University-Center for Mediterranean Urban Studies, Turkey. Her areas of specialty are Eastern Mediterranean port cities and their urban development, urban history, urban memory and oral history.
This book surveys the historical development, current problems and likely prospects for Eastern Mediterranean port cities, providing contributions from scholars from various disciplines, such as archaeologists, historians, economists, urban planners and architects. By studying the city of Mersin and the surrounding area, it offers insights into the changing nature of Eastern Mediterranean port cities.
The first part of the book discusses the approaches to the Mediterranean World, from the late prehistory to the present, and questions the implications of the values inherited from the past for a sustainable future. The second part then examines the social structure of Eastern Mediterranean port cities presenting an in-depth study of different ethnic groups and communities. In the third part the changing physical structure of these cities is elucidated from the perspectives of archaeology, architecture, and urban planning. The last part focuses on urban memory through a detailed study based on live recordings of original accounts by the local people.
The book benefits prospective researchers in the field of Mediterranean studies, archaeology, history, economic history, architecture and urban planning.