Muslims, Christians, and Jews: Pilgrimage, Memory and History in Spain RELS 312 Penn Global Seminars 011 Spring 2018
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Muslims, Christians, and Jews: Pilgrimage, Memory and History in Spain RELS 312 Penn Global Seminars 011 Spring 2018 Al‐ Andalus, the Muslim Kingdom of Spain, is the point of departure for this Penn Global Course which looks at the history, religion, and memories of the Andalusian Peninsula in Spain. The purpose of this course is to investigate the interreligious lives of Muslims, Christians, and Jews during what is called the Convivencia, or La Convivencia. This time refers to a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace before the Reconquista, or reconquest of Spain by Catholics in 1492. Our task is to not only understand this history, but to understand how convivencia is a problematic, but useful term in understanding this time period of great cultural growth, building, and religious innovation. Our course will study the religion, history, culture, and art of Al‐ Andalus period. At the end of the Spring 2018 semester, we will travel to Spain to see how the government of Spain, religious groups, and UNESCO have presented this rich history of Spain’s heritage and tourism. How history, and especially, complicated religious histories are presented can tell us much about how important this history is to shaping our modern world, especially with regards to how certain religious histories are presented and remembered in contested spaces and places. Your two weeks in Spain at the end of the course will take us through the various important cities and towns of the Al Andalus region, with special attention paid to each religious tradition. From the Muslim conquest, to Christopher Columbus setting sail for the Americas and the beginning of the slave trade, you will be able to see and experience the sacred spaces, monuments, and fortresses we have learned about in the course. Tour Schedule Your Penn Global tour is designed to take in all of the major religious and cultural sites we will study in our seminar course. You will be asked to pick a religious track at the beginning of the course as your major focus of interest and during the trip, you will be asked to specifically write your travel journal comparing the history you have learned in the class with how that history is currently presented as part of Spanish “patrimony” or history. Madrid Arrival City/Departure city Museum Tour Toledo Jewish Quarter Santa Maria La Blanca Sephardic Museum Toledo Cathedral Seville (our base for most of the trip) Real Alcazar Juderia‐ Barrio De Santa Cruz Cathedral of Seville Flamenco dancing Roman ruins (aqueduct) Archivo de indias Seville Cordoba Grand Mosque (Mezquita de Cordoba, Cathedral of Cordoba) Jewish Quarter Calle De Los Judios (one of three original synagogues in Spain) Casa Sefrad Madinat Al Zarah Granada Alhambra palace Alcazaba‐ fortress (site of the last Muslim stronghold in Spain until 1492) Generalife (gardens) Albacin (Jewish quarter) Granada Cathedral Application Procedure Penn Global Application Interview with Professor Books for Course Olivia Remie Constable, Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, 2 nd ed. (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2011) Jerrilynn Denise Dodds, María Rosa Menocal and Abigail Krasner Balbale, The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture (Yale 2008) María Rosa Menocal, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain (Back Bay, 2002) *Chris Lowney, A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain (Oxford, 2006) Course Requirements No prerequisites are needed for the course, however, an interview with the professor prior to acceptance into the course is mandatory Weekly reading journal (15%) Course Participation (15%) Mid Term Examination (30%) Daily Travel Journal (40%) due immediately after completion of the trip to Spain. .