As opposed to studies which analyze the diffusion and circulation of practices, instruments, norms, and forms of knowledge as a stage subsequent to their localized production, the TRANSFAIRE project aims to study symbolic and technical instruments that are produced and reproduced by circulation. Instead of employing the notion of “transfer,” which assumes that there are elements which are allegedly “specific” to each of the regions concerned, our approach focuses on modalities of “trans-action”, and pays close attention to processes of translation and co-production of normative vehicles and of the fabric out of which politics is made. The project focuses on a broadly defined (post-)Ottoman Mediterranean as its main field of inquiry. Our goal is dual in nature: on the one hand, we propose a new approach to connections, concomitances, and interdependencies in which (post-)Ottoman spaces are to be considered an integral part, contrary to studies which limit themselves to considering exchange in terms of one-way diffusion and importation. On the other hand, we aim to draw up a revised chronology of the modalities of governance and extroversion of the Empire and the Republic, detached from the great rifts which have marked narratives of political history. The TRANSFAIRE project builds upon the results of the ANR-funded research group TRANSTUR in 2008-2012. It brings together 25 scholars from the fields of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, and geography, 9 of them being Istanbul-based. Its priorities are organized along three main axes: 1) The forms of materiality of political objectivization; 2) The analysis of devolutions and normative (re)investment; 3) The challenges and actors of translation. Each of these axes is treated by a small team, whose activities are coordinated by one member, able to work autonomously or as a part of horizontal projects. The general organization is structured around two geographical poles, one in Paris, the other in Istanbul. At each one of the two sites a permanent correspondent, recruited as a postdoctoral research assistant, sees to the organization of the team’s activities and assists the main coordinator, while ensuring the pooling and sharing of activities amongst the team members. Bimonthly seminars ensure coherence and exchange within each “pole.” Yearly work meetings, held in executive session, will allow individual difficulties to be addressed, completed work to be presented, and publishing projects to be discussed by the entire team. Scientific dissemination and visibility will be carried out by multiple methods: academic workshops; an international conference presenting the results of completed research; collaboration with members of the TEPSIS LabEx (EHESS / HESAM), of which the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBAC), the main partner of the current project, is an integral part; public outreach activities; and the creation of an internet site. The TRANSFAIRE project will equally contribute to higher education and training: the seminars will contribute to expanding the offer of academic courses in Paris and Istanbul; graduate workshops will be organized, and presentations for undergraduate students are also planned. In sum, the financial support of the ANR will reinforce an active research network already well in place, and will help promote the formulation of generalizable theoretical ideas. This will be made possible by the broad multidisciplinary background of the team members, as well as their profound knowledge of the historical and geographical themes under discussion. The knowledge produced by this project will equally be of interest to an ever-growing number of scholars, decision-makers, and members of the general public, given the significant transformations of the regional equilibrium in which are engaged the current states of the post-Ottoman space.

This project focuses on the exploitation of bitumen deposits in southern Albania and proposes a transhistorical and transdisciplinary approach. It is based on a double hypothesis and has a twofold objective: on the one hand, we consider that this natural resource has shaped the region from which it is extracted in the longue durée and we will seek to explain to what extent its mode of exploitation, its uses and circulation have affected the surrounding society (land property structures, intercommunity relations, religious beliefs and practices, landscape and health status of the population). On the other hand, we consider that the bitumen as an “object” invites to an interdisciplinary approach and we propose to use it as an observatory of the implementation of the collaboration between disciplines (archeology, history, geology, anthropology, geography), thus reflecting on how each discipline involved contributes to building that object and, in turn, is affected by it. The project is scientifically organized around four themes: - Material and technological dimension. As the bitumen material is at the centre of the project, it is a question of studying, through chemical and physical analyses and studies, present or past, the different types of extracted products, their qualities, the possibilities and techniques of extraction; the location, extent and type of deposits; the types of transformations (on site or off site - for example, Marseille, Bari, etc.) and the uses of these products, as well as their packaging. Other materials and objects needed for the production and transport chain will also be considered. - Material and technological dimension. As bitumen material is at the centre of the project, it is a question of studying, through chemical and physical analyses and studies, present or past, the different types of products extracted, their qualities, the possibilities and techniques of extraction; the location, extent and type of deposits; the types of transformation and uses of these products, as well as their packaging. Other materials and objects necessary for the production and transport chain will also be studied. - Knowledge and beliefs. In Antiquity, the bitumen deposit was associated with a sanctuary located in the south of the Greek colony of Apollonia of Illyria founded by Corinth in the last quarter of the 7th century BC. This sanctuary of the Nymphs, which was also a bitumen deposit exploited from antiquity and where a flame permanently burned, visible from afar in the landscape, was the source of a singular oracle, but its exact location remains to be discovered. It is also a question of looking at the evolution of technical and commercial knowledge, from antiquity to scientific studies, from the end of the 18th century onwards. - Territories, spaces, landscapes. This dimension concerns the territory used and mobilized according to the times for the extraction of bitumen. Attention will be paid to the link with land issues, as the mine was located in the Ottoman period in an imperial domain, which later became a state farm in the 20th century. The concession system introduced in the second half of the 19th century also raises the question of sovereignty. At a regional level, therefore, it will also be necessary to analyse the articulation with the agro-sylvo-pastoral space, as well as the impact on the landscape and the environment. - Men and women. This concerns the social dimension, be it the question of the organisation of work (ethno-confessional, men and women, managers/workers, local/foreign) and the interactions between different groups (Muslims, Vlachs, foreigners) or its institutional frameworks. Specific forms of labour (such as forced labour mentioned for the Ottoman and communist periods) and their articulation with other activities, including agro-sylvo-pastoral activities, will also be studied.