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Inter-cultural Exchange in the Western Mediterranean 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 8-11, 2014Organizers: Sarah Davis-Secord, University of New Mexico and Travis Bruce, Wichita State UniversitySponsor: Institute for Medieval Studies, Univ. of New MexicoOne of the keynote speakers at the 2013 Congress, Peregrine Horden, called on all medievalists to define the boundaries of our regions of study, and to be in a continual process of testing those boundaries. Scholars of the Mediterranean region have a convenient means of questioning the limits of our field: the process of exchange, either economic or cultural. By looking directly at what was exchanged, between whom, and why, we probe the parameters of the discreet regions within the Mediterranean and across the sea as a whole. This session aims to foster discussion about the particular ways in which networks of exchange and communication in the Western Mediterranean aided in the creation or maintenance of cross-cultural, or multi-cultural, zones of interaction.We welcome submissions on any topic related to the commercial or cultural connections between various religio-cultural groups in the medieval Western Mediterranean. Please submit a 300-word abstract and the participant information form (http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html#PIF) to the panel organizers, Sarah Davis-Secord (scds@unm.edu) and Travis Bruce (travis.bruce@wichita.edu), by September 15, 2013.Infos: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/index.html