Across Two Seas

Black Lives and Visual, Literary, and Archival Histories in the Medieval to Early Modern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean

A Symposium at Rice University

October 8-10, 2026

Across Two Seas explores Black life, representation, and cultural imagination across the medieval and early modern Mediterranean, Islamic world, and Indian Ocean. Bringing together scholars, curators, artists, and public audiences, the symposium rethinks premodern histories of race, trade, and global connection beyond traditional Eurocentric frames.