This special session, taking its inspiration from the conference theme “Our Ruling Classes: Culture, Power, Conflict,” invites presentations that challenge the assumption that adaptation is primarily an industry-driven practice shaped by Anglo-American cultural and legal frameworks. In these systems, intellectual property laws define adaptation as a derivative process, regulating authorship, ownership, and revenue streams. What happens when we shift the focus to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, or South Asia? In these contexts, adaptation often emerges through more fluid practices of transmission, performance, and reinterpretation/inspiration, where the boundaries between original and adaptation are less rigid.