DOCSLIB.ORG

FOCUS Migration

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
FOCUS Migration FOCUS_Migration Living faith: In Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in North Africa, the religious communities play a very prominent role in public life: Christians – here in a traditional procession for Holy Week – Muslims, Jews and Hindus alike. 34 MaxPlanckResearch 1 | 18 A Model for Greater Togetherness La Convivencia is viewed as a golden age of tolerance – a period of peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Jews and Christians in medieval Spain. The myth surrounding this period persists to this day. Researchers at the Max Planck Institutes for Social Anthropology in Halle and for the History of Science in Berlin are studying the history of the Convivencia and considering its possible function as a model for today’s world. TEXT JEANNETTE GODDAR ust before Diwali, the Hindu festi- the Spanish exclave, which borders val of lights when members of the Morocco to the west and the Mediter- Hindu faith take to the streets in ranean to the east, since 2001. colorful processions, festive deco- J rations also adorn the area around RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS ARE the Plaza de los Reyes square in Ceuta. INTENDED TO FACILITATE CONTACT The online daily newspaper Ceuta Actu- alidad counted over 50,000 lights on Ceuta is less known as an autonomous the streets of the old city in 2016. As city than as a cipher for the confronta- in previous years, the city’s leader, tion of Europe and Africa: in both Ceu- Juan Jesús Vivas, who holds the title ta and Melilla, the European Union has Mayor-President due to Ceuta’s special a land border beyond the Mediterra- autonomous status, paid a visit to the nean. The familiar media images from Hindu community. The 64-year-old Ceuta mostly feature people climbing politician has led the government of fences: the headline “Hive of Terrorism Photo: age fotostock/Alamy stock photo 1 | 18 MaxPlanckResearch 35 on the Outer Borders” has already ap- deep that immigrants who had arrived peared in a reputable national newspa- from South America in the 1980s were per based in Zurich. naturalized before Muslims who had Juan Jesús Vivas doesn’t attend Di- been living there for generations. Chris- wali because a particularly large num- tians and Muslims have cohabited in ber of Ceuta’s 82,000 inhabitants be- Ceuta since it was conquered by Por- lieve in Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and the tugal in the 15th century. It was later rest of the Hindu pantheon; over 95 ceded to Spain. percent of Ceuta’s inhabitants are Christians and Muslims. Vivas attends CEUTA CAN’T BE REDUCED because he understands that the joint TO ITS BORDERS celebration of religious events – be it Diwali, Yom Kippur, Eid-al-Kabir or Brian Campbell himself comes from a Easter – is a means of promoting social country located on the external border peace and stability. “When Vivas be- of Europe: Malta. Since 2011, he has Top Under one roof: This Hindu shrine in came Mayor in 2001, Ceuta was com- spent time among the inhabitants of Ceuta contains not only images of the pletely divided,” says anthropologist Ceuta over the course of many visits, goddess Durga and other Hindu gods, but Brian Campbell from the Max Planck some of which lasted several months. It also Christian and Muslim symbols. Institute in Halle. all started because, at the beginning of Bottom In the open: Muslims in Ceuta Christians and Muslims kept to his doctoral career, he was searching for mark the end of Ramadan – the month of fasting – with the traditional cele - themselves. It was very clear who was a “textbook example of multicultural- bration prayer. in charge: the Christians considered ism.” In Ceuta he found, along with themselves the city’s true citizens and many other things, a place where, al- divided power among themselves, and though people coexist under extraordi- the Muslims had to make do with what- nary conditions, the actual situation ever remained. The certainty regarding bears no relation to the image present- who belonged and who didn’t ran so ed in the European media. “Ceuta can’t Photos: JORDI CAMÍ/Alamy stock photo (top), Reuters (bottom) 36 MaxPlanckResearch 1 | 18 FOCUS_Migration Every society carries within it the roots of violence – » but also the potential for reconciliation. be reduced to its borders,” explains thing: the former implies a space that is Campbell, “People live there and they used jointly by several people or groups, love it because it’s their town. And, like while the latter implies that these peo- people everywhere, they try to make the ple or groups make joint use of all the best of what their lives have to offer.” structures in which their shared lives, And they are supported in this by including the contact between them, the mayor: In an environment in are organized. “People who cohabit which ethnicity and religion are ex- share more than just the space,” adds tremely interconnected, where Mus- Campbell, “they live, not alongside lims are almost always of Moroccan de- each other, but with each other.” scent and Christians almost always have Iberian roots, Juan Jesús Vivas de- LA CONVIVENCIA WAS A GOLDEN liberately involves the different reli- AGE IN SPAIN gious communities as actors in the city’s policies. “Instead of suppressing In the historiography, particularly the ethnicity, culture and religion, he uses Spanish version, convivencia stands for them to bring people into contact with much more than this: it denotes a peri- each other. He gives them positive con- od during which large parts of the Ibe- notations rather than negative ones,” rian Peninsula were under Muslim rule explains Brian Campbell. and became known as “al-Andalus.” Every religious community that cel- The Berber-Muslim military command- ebrates festivals or other rituals receives er Tariq Ibn Ziyad, who invaded the financial support. There is one non-ne- peninsula from the Mediterranean, gotiable condition: the spaces and gained control of the then Visigoth squares – and the buffet – must be open Kingdom in 711. This marked the be- to all the city’s inhabitants, including ginning of a period in which the Iberi- those with a different religious affilia- an Peninsula was governed first as a tion or with no religion at all. As quick- caliphate and later by numerous – ini- ly becomes evident, this creates an op- tially – Muslim kingdoms, which were Temporary Ceuta resident: Social anthropologist Brian Campbell spent weeks and sometimes portunity for people talk to and get to subsequently converted to Christian even months in the Spanish exclave to get to know one another, and thus also to es- rule under the Reconquista. know how the different religious and ethnic tablish trust. But as Campbell reports, Apart from Christians and Muslims, groups there live together. it’s about more than that. It fosters a the region was also inhabited by a mi- sense of belonging that firmly estab- nority of Jews. Christians didn’t regain lishes that, irrespective of who or what power until 1492, with the Reconquista, they believe in, they are all Spaniards. and then they wanted the entire coun- The mayor has given his model a try for themselves: the last Muslims name: convivencia. A quick check of the were reported to have been expelled word in a Spanish-English dictionary from the region in 1614, despite the yields both “coexistence” and “cohabi- fact that many of them had long since tation.” When applied to societies com- converted to Christianity. prising people of all persuasions, and This also marked the end of an era in Photos: JORDI CAMÍ/Alamy stock photo (top), Reuters (bottom) Photo: Private collection even to families, these aren’t the same which Spain flourished intellectually, 1 | 18 MaxPlanckResearch 37 FOCUS_Migration Left Collegial exchange: Helge Wendt, Elena Serrano and Mònica Colominas (left to right) work on historical aspects of the Convivencia at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Right Dialogue across the ages: A 14th-century image shows Islamic philosopher Averroes (left) in a fictitious disputation with the ancient scholar Porphyry. Averroes, who lived in Spain in the 12th century, is renowned for his works on ancient Greek philosophy, especially the writings of Aristotle. culturally and economically: Córdoba, so with varying degrees of violence. entitled “Convivencia. Iberian to Glob- the capital of the caliphate, was the Conflicts repeatedly arose, as did reli- al Dynamics 500–1750,” they are carry- third largest city in the world in the giously motivated persecution – includ- ing out research with scientists from 10th century and famous for its art ing the massacre of the Jewish popula- the Max Planck Institute for the Histo- and crafts, poetry and philosophy. tion in Granada in 1066. ry of Science in Berlin, the Max Planck One of the most popular stories from Günther Schlee, Director at the Max Institute for European Legal History in “al-Andalus” concerns the fascination Planck Institute for Social Anthropolo- Frankfurt am Main and the Kunsthis- with Aristotle and ancient Greek phi- gy in Halle, refers to it as a period of torisches Institut in Florenz, which is losophy on the part of Muslim philos- “relative peace with highs and lows,” also part of the Max Planck Society. ophers, especially Ibn-Rushd, who is but also one that lacked anything even better known in Europe under the Lat- approaching equal rights: “The society THE RELIGIONS COMPETED in name Averroes. of that period can’t be considered under IN DISPUTATIONS the aspect of the modern principle of PEACE WAS FRAGILE EVEN equality,” says Schlee. On the contrary, American historian David Nirenberg is IN THE GOLDEN AGE the Caliphs considered the non-Mus- also involved in the project as an exter- lims as dhimmis, or protected persons: nal scientist.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dress and Cultural Difference in Early Modern Europe European History Yearbook Jahrbuch Für Europäische Geschichte
    Dress and Cultural Difference in Early Modern Europe European History Yearbook Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte Edited by Johannes Paulmann in cooperation with Markus Friedrich and Nick Stargardt Volume 20 Dress and Cultural Difference in Early Modern Europe Edited by Cornelia Aust, Denise Klein, and Thomas Weller Edited at Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte by Johannes Paulmann in cooperation with Markus Friedrich and Nick Stargardt Founding Editor: Heinz Duchhardt ISBN 978-3-11-063204-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-063594-2 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-063238-5 ISSN 1616-6485 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 04. International License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number:2019944682 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published in open access at www.degruyter.com. Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and Binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck Cover image: Eustaţie Altini: Portrait of a woman, 1813–1815 © National Museum of Art, Bucharest www.degruyter.com Contents Cornelia Aust, Denise Klein, and Thomas Weller Introduction 1 Gabriel Guarino “The Antipathy between French and Spaniards”: Dress, Gender, and Identity in the Court Society of Early Modern
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Diversity and Culture in Medieval Spain
    Centro de Lenguas Modernas – Universidad de Granada – Syllabus Hispanic Studies RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN General description During the Middle Ages, the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by men and women of the three monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. These three cultures shared cities and villages, in addition to language and some customs, for many centuries, under both Muslim rule and Christian, and this legacy is part of our cultural heritage. This course aims to contribute to the acquisition of a better knowledge and understanding of the past and of Spanish culture, particularly through the study of the social relations, and religious and cultural backgrounds that were found in the medieval hispanic multicultural societies. Learning more about these phenomena may offer clues to understanding the present. For this reason, we will take a trip through the history of the presence and relationships of the three communities in the Iberian Peninsula, and briefly analyze the fate that each of them met with the coming of the Modern Era. Content I. Introduction. The Iberian Peninsula in ancient times. Origins of the Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula. Roman Hispania. The Visigoth period. Rules of coexistence and living together: the Council of Elvira II. The expansion of Islam. Al - Andalus. A frontier society. II. Living under Islamic rule. Muslim attitudes towards other religions. The Pact of Omar. Dimmies: Jews and mozárabes. The administrative organization of the aljamas. IV. Everyday life in al - Andalus. The impact of tradition and of religious practice in daily activities. Work V. Poetry in al - Andalus. The pre-Islamic influence and the creation of new genres.
    [Show full text]
  • The Berber Identity: a Double Helix of Islam and War by Alvin Okoreeh
    The Berber Identity: A Double Helix of Islam and War By Alvin Okoreeh Mezquita de Córdoba, Interior. Muslim Spain is characterized by a myriad of sophisticated and complex dynamics that invariably draw from a foundation rooted in an ethnically diverse populace made up of Arabs, Berbers, muwalladun, Mozarebs, Jews, and Christians. According to most scholars, the overriding theme for this period in the Iberian Peninsula is an unprecedented level of tolerance. The actual level of tolerance experienced by its inhabitants is debatable and relative to time, however, commensurate with the idea of tolerance is the premise that each of the aforementioned groups was able to leave a distinct mark on the era of Muslim dominance in Spain. The Arabs, with longstanding ties to supremacy in Damascus and Baghdad exercised authority as the conqueror and imbued al-Andalus with culture and learning until the fall of the caliphate in 1031. The Berbers were at times allies with the Arabs and Christians, were often enemies with everyone on the Iberian Peninsula, and in the times of the taifas, Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, were the rulers of al-Andalus. The muwalladun, subjugated by Arab perceptions of a dubious conversion to Islam, were mired in compulsory ineptitude under the pretense that their conversion to Islam would yield a more prosperous life. The Mozarebs and Jews, referred to as “people of the book,” experienced a wide spectrum of societal conditions ranging from prosperity to withering persecution. This paper will argue that the Berbers, by virtue of cultural assimilation and an identity forged by militant aggressiveness and religious zealotry, were the most influential ethno-religious group in Muslim Spain from the time of the initial Muslim conquest of Spain by Berber-led Umayyad forces to the last vestige of Muslim dominance in Spain during the time of the Almohads.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparison of Relations Between Abrahamic Religions in Medieval Spain and Its Reflection in Odat Y’S Israel-Palestine Relations
    DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 6-2018 Consulting the past: a comparison of relations between Abrahamic religions in medieval Spain and its reflection in odat y’s Israel-Palestine relations Morgan Reyes DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Reyes, Morgan, "Consulting the past: a comparison of relations between Abrahamic religions in medieval Spain and its reflection in odat y’s Israel-Palestine relations" (2018). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 251. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/251 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Consulting the Past: A Comparison of Relations Between Abrahamic Religions in Medieval Spain and its Reflection in Today’s Israel-Palestine Relations A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts June, 2018 By Morgan Reyes Department of Modern Languages College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences DePaul University Chicago, Illinois Consulting the Past Spring 2018 Reyes, 1 Table of Contents Timeline of Events in Medieval Iberia
    [Show full text]
  • 9 the Convivencia Wars: Decoding Historiography's Polemic With
    9 The Convivencia Wars: Decoding Historiography’s Polemic with Philology * ryan szpiech “Our Romanticism is contradicted by our Enlightenment, our inner by our outer.” Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche The quincentenary remembrance of Columbus’s fi rst voyage, the expulsion of Iberian Jews, and the conquest of Muslim Granada produced a barrage of texts meditating on the nature of medieval Iberian multiculturalism, specifi cally as it might refl ect the convivencia (coexistence or cohabitation) of disparate groups. The concept of convivencia, while falling from favour among many academics, has (in historian Jonathan Ray’s words) “been embraced and distorted by an ever- widening group of academics, journalists, and politicians” (1).1 Despite the spread of this popularity and the persistently positive spin that the concept has come to acquire in current usage, not everyone can agree that convivencia equates with harmony. In 2005, historian Olivia Remie Constable posed the vexing question, “Is convivencia dangerous?”2 As she explained, convivencia, or any form of cul- tural intermingling, was viewed with skepticism by many in medieval Iberia for its “potential to foster actual harm: whether physical, economic, social or sexual.” It is, more importantly, dangerous as a modern concept, “since it can tempt us to read the Middle Ages through a murky – though often rosy – lens of biased his- torical memory and deterministic modern values.” While convivencia may indeed be “dangerous” because it is too simple a model, it may equally be so because it is too complex: it may be “dangerous” for modern Iberianists, historians and literary critics alike, because it represents a conundrum that cannot be solved, an irreducible set of contradictions that can, judging by the manifold and contradic- tory spirit in which it has been employed, be easily evoked and yet not so easily explained.
    [Show full text]
  • Al-Andalus' Lessons for Contemporary European
    IMMIGRATION, JUSTICE AND SOCIETY AL-ANDALUS’ LESSONS FOR CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN MODELS OF INTEGRATION MYRIAM FRANÇOIS • BETHSABÉE SOURIS www.europeanreform.org @europeanreform Established by Margaret Thatcher, New Direction is Europe’s leading free market political foundation & publisher with offices in Brussels, London, Rome & Warsaw. New Direction is registered in Belgium as a not-for-profit organisation and is partly funded by the European Parliament. REGISTERED OFFICE: Rue du Trône, 4, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Naweed Khan. www.europeanreform.org @europeanreform The European Parliament and New Direction assume no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this publication. Sole liability rests with the author. AUTHORS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 6 2 AL-ANDALUS’ MODEL OF INTEGRATION 8 2.1 THE IBERIAN HISTORY FROM THE MUSLIM CONQUEST TO THE RECONQUISTA 10 2.1.1 Visigoth Spain 11 2.1.2 The Muslim advance in Arabia and Northern Africa 11 2.1.3 The conquest of Spain 12 2.1.4 The unstable first years of the Umayyad dynasty 14 2.1.5 The golden ages of the Caliphate of Cordoba 14 2.1.6 The fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba 16 2.1.7 The end of Al-Andalus and the Reconquista 16 2.2 2.2 THE SOCIAL MODEL OF INTEGRATION OF AL-ANDALUS 18 2.2.1 The social and religious landscape 19 2.2.2 Controversy over the meaning of ‘convivencia’ 19 2.2.3 Protection of religious’ communities boundaries 21 2.2.4 Towards an increased integration and acculturation: The Arabization of the non-Muslim communities 22 2.2.5 The cultural impact of the convivencia 25 Myriam François Bethsabée Souris 2.2.6 Limits of coexistence 26 Dr Myiam Francois is a journalist and academic with a Bethsabée Souris is a PhD candidate in Political Science at 3 TODAY’S EUROPEAN MODELS OF MUSLIM INTEGRATION 28 focus on France and the Middle East.
    [Show full text]
  • Islam in Spain 1 Islam in Spain
    Islam in Spain 1 Islam in Spain Islam in Spain has had a fundamental presence in the culture and history of the nation. The religion was present in modern Spanish soil from 711 until 1492 under the rule of the Arabs and Moors of al-Andalus. For key historical dates, see Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula. As of 2007, an estimated over 1 million Muslims live in Spain,[1] most of them recent immigrants from North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia; although there are also some Spanish converts, estimated at around 20,000.[2] The first Mosque after the Moors were expelled in 1492, in modern Spain, was built after approximately 500 years in 1982.[3] History Conquest Hispania was the Latin name given to the whole Iberian Peninsula (covering the territories of present day Spain and Portugal), and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD) the Teutonic tribe of Visigoths ended up ruling the whole peninsula until the Islamic conquest (during that time they pushed another Teutonic tribe out—the Vandals – and conquered another one—the Suevi). It is frequently stated in historical sources that Spain was one of the former Roman provinces where the Latin language and culture The Great Mosque of Córdoba turned church after the Reconquista. grew deep roots. After the fall of the Empire the Visigoths continued the tradition by becoming probably the most Romanized of all Teutonic tribes. On April 30 of 711, Berber leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar and by the end of the campaign most of the Iberian Peninsula (except for small areas in the north-west such as Asturias and the Basque territory) were brought under Islamic rule.
    [Show full text]
  • Convivencia and the Politics of Religious Identity Gregory Baker Western Oregon University, [email protected]
    Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) Department of History - 2015 Manipulating the Medieval Past: Convivencia and the Politics of Religious Identity Gregory Baker Western Oregon University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his Part of the European History Commons, and the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Baker, Gregory, "Manipulating the Medieval Past: Convivencia and the Politics of Religious Identity" (2015). Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History). Paper 41. http://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his/41 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Manipulating the Medieval Past: � Convivencia and the Politics of Religious Identity � Written by: � Gregory Baker � Senior Seminar: HST499 � Professor John L. Rector � Western Oregon University � May 28, 2015 � Primary Reader: Dr. Elizabeth Swedo � Secondary Reader: Dr. Patricia Goldsworthy-Bishop � Copyright © Gregory Baker, 2015 � 1 The Historical Significance of Convivencia Beginning in the early 8th century CE, Muslim military forces under the authority of the Umayyad Caliphate swept across and seized political control over much of the Iberian Peninsula, recognized today as the geographic home of the modern countries of Spain and Portugal. Taking advantage of political turmoil in the contemporary Visigoth kingdom just as the Visigoths had in turn taken control of the peninsula from the Roman Empire centuries prior, the Muslim conquerors established their own political realms from which the religion of Islam eventually spread to join the other two Abrahamic faiths already present in the various communities of the peninsula.
    [Show full text]
  • Al Andalus- Spain Under Muslim Rule
    Al Andalus: Spain Under Muslim Rule The Iberian Peninsula, modern Spain and Portugal, has had a long and diverse history. At the far West of the Old World, it had come under the control of a number of peoples, from the Carthaginians of North Africa in the 6th century BCE, to the Romans after their victory in the Punic Wars, and after the fall of Rome in the 5th century CE, to two Germanic groups, the Vandals and then Visigoths, who soon converted to Christianity. However, the religion of Islam was growing in the East, and the expansion of the Muslim World would come to include Spain for the next 800 years. It was during this period, when the rest of Medieval Europe was in relative decline, that Spanish Muslims, Jews, and Christians produced vast amounts of scholarship and numerous cultural achievements. While it was never a perfect harmony, this society is remembered as an example of uncommon tolerance in an otherwise intolerant period in Europe. As the Arab Muslims expanded into North Africa, many of the indigenous North Africans, known as Berbers, converted to Islam and joined the Muslim armies as they continued West. At the same time, the Visigothic rulers of Spain were engaged in a civil war, and were not very popular among the Spanish community, especially persecuted religious minorities like Jews and Arian Christians. Seizing the opportunity, a combined Arab and Berber force, representing the Umayyad Caliphate under the general Tariq ibn Ziyad, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa into Spain. From 711 to 716 CE, they battled against the Visigoths until all of Spain was under Muslim rule.
    [Show full text]
  • Rechtsgeschichte Legal History
    Zeitschrift des Max-Planck-Instituts für europäische Rechtsgeschichte Rechts R Journal of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History geschichte g Rechtsgeschichte Legal History www.rg.mpg.de http://www.rg-rechtsgeschichte.de/rg26 Rg 26 2018 162 – 199 Zitiervorschlag: Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History Rg 26 (2018) http://dx.doi.org/10.12946/rg26/162-199 Max Deardorff * Republics, their Customs, and the Law of the King: Convivencia and Self-Determination in the Crown of Castile and its American Territories, 1400–1700 * Department of History, University of Florida, deardorff.max@ufl.edu Dieser Beitrag steht unter einer Creative Commons cc-by-nc-nd 3.0 Abstract This article examines a conflict over indigenous inheritancelawinonesmallcornerofthe16th- century Spanish Empire – the northern Andes – in order to open a window onto legal traditions in the wider Hispanic world. A specificemphasisisde- voted to the mechanisms that placed custom (un- written norms) at the center of early modern Spanish legal theory, making the Spanish mon- archy one especially adapted to incorporating di- verse social elements. By focusing on the late- medieval / early modern conception of »republics« – cultural communities oriented toward cohesive action preserving their common good – as the basic unit of study, and on custom as the basic guarantor of their continuing self-determination, I suggest ways to think about the legacy of Iberian convivencia both within and outside of its tradi- tional medieval frame. Keywords: convivencia, hidden jurisdictions, interlegality, Spain, Latin America □× Rg 26 2018 Max Deardorff Republics, their Customs, and the Law of the King: Convivencia and Self-Determination in the Crown of Castile and its American Territories, 1400–1700* Introduction Ubaque.
    [Show full text]
  • Nationalism and the Rejection of the Morisco “Other”
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Spain: Nationalism and the Rejection of the Morisco “Other” A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures School of Arts and Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © All Rights Reserved By Kathleen E. Bartels Washington, DC 2013 One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Spain: Nationalism and the Rejection of the Morisco “Other” Kathleen E. Bartels, Ph.D. Director: Lourdes M. Alvarez, Ph.D. In the latter half of the sixteenth century, Spain’s Catholic rulers faced a problem of their own making: having forced Spain’s remaining Muslim population to convert to Christianity, these rulers now suspected that these converts, known as Moriscos, were not faithful to the crown or to their newly-adopted Catholic faith. Decades of political and theological debate concerning the Moriscos’ ensued, only to be resolved when King Philip III, in 1609, finally determined to expel the Moriscos, aiming to rid the Iberian Peninsula of their purportedly destabilizing influence. The decision was not universally popular, and out of concern that the expulsion could be undone, several clerics and men of political influence became apologists for the massive deportation campaign, justifying the expulsion and glorifying its results. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how the treatises of the apologists Pedro Aznar Cardona (Expulsión justificada de los Moriscos españoles), Damián Fonseca (Justa expulsión de los moriscos de España), Marcos de Guadalajara y Javier (Memorable expulsión y justísimo destierro de los Moriscos de España and Prodición y destierro de los moriscos de Castilla hasta la Valle de Ricote), and Jaime Bleda (Crónica de los Moros de España) provide a foundation for the formation of a Spanish national identity based on a shared Catholic faith.
    [Show full text]
  • Darío Fernández-Morera 268 ISSN 1540 5877 Ehumanista 37 (2017
    Darío Fernández-Morera 268 A Meta-Critical Examination of Scholarship in English on the Otherness of al-Andalus Darío Fernández-Morera (Northwestern University) Continental scholars have noted the persistence among academics in the English-speaking world of a particular set of views on Islamic Spain (Soravia). Perhaps the most common view is that Christians were treated generally well, except for a few unfortunate occasions, so there was no reason for them to feel too bad under Islamic rule.1 Related to this view are the beliefs that basically good relations between Christians and Muslims existed (especially under the tolerant Umayyads, with some exceptions of course), that both sides learned a great deal from each other, and that we should learn today from this successful experiment in diversity. This article will not examine this view, since both Medievalist and Islamic Studies academics in the English-speaking world may vigorously protest that they, too, believe, after all, that there was no convivencia, so attacking the concept of convivencia, they might insist, is creating “a straw man.” Instead, this article will list and briefly discuss just a few among the other propositions that comprise much academic teaching and publishing in English on Islamic Spain. Then it will explore a particular example, the practice of female circumcision, which illustrates the otherness of this civilization—an otherness pointed out by José Ortega y Gasset, among others, but dismissed by a large number of today’s scholars in the English-speaking world in favor of such edifying phrases as “internalization of the other,” “cultural congruence,” “creative interaction,” “complex social dynamic,” and so forth.
    [Show full text]