The control of human mobility during the Roman Empire

Conference

Published on

04 June 2015

Updated on

13 June 2017

Colloquia

The archaeology of Migrations

International colloquium organized by Inrap, in partnership with the National Museum of Immigration History.
November 12 and 13, 2015 at the National Museum of Immigration History.

Archaeology of Migrations
by Claudia Moatti, University of Southern California

The control of human mobility during the Roman Empire
Was the Roman Empire a space where free movement was permitted? What condition did a person find themselves in upon leaving their town? Was mobility associated with poverty and vulnerability? After first presenting the available sources used to study population movements, we will go on to analyse the categories through which Roman law tackled questions of mobility, methods of migrant control, as well as the logic and representations behind this.

Claudia Moatti, previously a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and member of the Ecole française de Rome and of the Institut universitaire de France, is currently Professor at the Université Paris 8 and the University of Southern California. She has studied the intellectual transformations occurring at the end of the Roman Republic (La raison de Rome. Seuil, 1997), and has directed an international program on the control of human mobility in the Mediterranean from ancient history to the modern era (2002-2009). Her current research focuses on the relationship between law and migration in the Roman Empire.

Bibliography

MOATTI C. (2000), « Le contrôle de la mobilité des personnes dans le monde romain », in Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, Antiquité, 2, p. 925-958.
MODERAN, Y. (2004), « L'établissement des barbares sur le territoire romain à l'époque impériale », in MOATTI C. (dir.), La Mobilité des personnes en Méditerranée, de l'Antiquité à l'Époque moderne. Procédures de contrôle et documents d'identification, Rome, École française de Rome, p. 337-397.
VAN DOMMELEN P. (2014), « Moving on: Archaeological Perspectives on Mobility and Migration », World Archaeology, 46, p. 477-483.
VAN ANDRINGA W. (2003), « Cités et communautés d'expatriés installées dans le monde romain : le cas de cives Romani consistentes », in BELAYCHE N., MIMOUNI S. (dir.), Les Communautés religieuses dans le monde gréco-romain : essai de définition, Turnhout, Bibliothèque de l'École des hautes études (collection Sciences religieuses, 117), p. 50-65.