View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of New Mexico University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-1-2008 Of Muslim Persuasion: The olitP ics of Convivencia in Ceuta, Spain Gabriel Alejandro Torres Colón Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Colón, Gabriel Alejandro Torres. "Of Muslim Persuasion: The oP litics of Convivencia in Ceuta, Spain." (2008). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/14 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Gabriel Alejandro Torres Colón Candidate Anthropology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: , Chairperson Accepted: Dean, Graduate School Date OF MUSLIM PERSUASION: THE POLITICS OF CONVIVENCIA IN CEUTA, SPAIN BY GABRIEL ALEJANDRO TORRES COLÓN B.A. Individual Studies, University of Maryland M.A. Anthropology, University of New Mexico DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2008 iii ©2008, Gabriel Alejandro Torres Colón iv DEDICATION A todos los caballas que me dieron a conocer su tierra. A mi familia. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation supported my research in Ceuta. In Ceuta, Mustafa Mohamed Ahmed and José Gutiérrez Álvarez were amazing sources of knowledge and helped me meet other people in their respective communities. The City of Ceuta graciously allowed me to sit in the Office of Records for many weeks and examine transcripts from the Local Assembly. I would like to thank my dissertation committee for their support and invaluable guidance. My family and friends from UNM have given me all the love I needed to move forward and complete my work. OF MUSLIM PERSUASION: THE POLITICS OF CONVIVENCIA IN CEUTA, SPAIN BY GABRIEL ALEJANDRO TORRES COLÓN ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2008 vii OF MUSLIM PERSUASION: THE POLITICS OF CONVIVENCIA IN CEUTA, SPAIN by Gabriel Alejandro Torres Colón B.A. INDIVIDUAL STUDIES M.A. ANTHROPOLOGY PH.D. ANTHROPOLOGY ABSTRACT This dissertation examines everyday interactions and political struggles between self-identified Christians and Muslims in the North African Spanish exclave of Ceuta. I explore how each group envisions themselves as part of a local and national community, and then I consider how such visions affect local political processes in everyday life and institutional politics. This dissertation brings a political anthropological perspective to the study of multiculturalism and presents a theoretical perspective for the study of difference in various political contexts. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 Theoretical Problems and Ethnographic Questions .......................................... 7 Multiculturalisms in context ............................................................................ 7 Convivencia as multiculturalism ................................................................... 16 Towards an anthropology of multiculturalisms ............................................. 21 Ethnographic Landscape and Methodology .................................................... 24 Structure of the Dissertation ............................................................................ 34 CHAPTER 2 CEUTA ES ESPAÑA/CEUTA IS SPANISH: CRISTIANOS’ NARRATIVES OF SPANISHNESS .................................................................................................. 42 Historical Narratives of Spanishness ............................................................... 47 From prehistory to the nineteenth century ................................................... 51 A Question of Nation: Ceuta in the Twentieth Century ................................. 63 The Exclusion of Musulmanes in Everyday Narratives of Spanishness .......... 72 A walk with Juan .......................................................................................... 73 Fear, disillusion, and exclusion .................................................................... 75 Ceuta as an Imagined Community .................................................................. 78 CHAPTER 3 SOY DE CEUTA/I AM FROM CEUTA: MUSULMANES' ORAL HISTORIES AND LIFE STORIES .......................................................................................... 89 Histories and Life Stories ................................................................................ 94 Encounters at the Periphery (1912-1956) ....................................................... 99 Segregation (1956-1980s) ............................................................................. 107 Civil Conflict (1970s-Present) ........................................................................ 118 Musulmanes, Race, and Sexuality ................................................................ 129 CHAPTER 4 CONVIVENCIA: THE CONSTRUCTION OF DIFFERENCE ............................ 148 Convivencia Observed? ................................................................................ 149 ix A day of observations in Ceuta ................................................................... 159 Classifications of everyday interactions ...................................................... 169 Convivencia as an Ordering Concept ............................................................ 181 CHAPTER 5 PARTIES OF MUSLIM PERSUASION AND THE CONTESTATION OF CONVIVENCIA IN THE ASSEMBLY ............................................................... 188 Political Anthropological Methods .................................................................. 190 Political History of Ceuta ............................................................................... 192 Organizational Origins and Ideological Ambiguity ......................................... 202 Of Muslim Persuasion ................................................................................... 205 A Mainstream Party of Muslim Persuasion? .................................................. 219 CHAPTER 6 CONTESTING DIFFERENCE THROUGH DISCOURSES OF (IN)EQUALTITY ............................................................................................... 239 Locating the Politics of Difference in Everyday Life ....................................... 239 Social Spaces and Political Places ................................................................ 243 Discourses of Racism in Carnival .................................................................. 259 Act I ............................................................................................................ 259 Act II ........................................................................................................... 265 Act III .......................................................................................................... 270 Constitutional Equality and Social Integration ............................................... 272 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 287 Ethnographic Summary ................................................................................. 287 Difference and Difference .............................................................................. 290 Knowing the Political ..................................................................................... 296 REFERENCES CITED ..................................................................................... 302 x PREFACE This dissertation is about the everyday interactions and political struggles between Christians and Muslims in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. I approach these relationships from two ethnographic angles. I am interested first in how each group envisions themselves as part of a local and national community and second in how such visions affect local political processes at the institutional level. Beyond an ethnographic study of Ceuta, this dissertation also brings a political anthropological perspective to the study of multiculturalism—a broad academic field that is increasingly the meeting point for normative and social scientific accounts about the nature of cultural difference and governance. Following an introductory chapter that sets up an ethnographic and theoretical context, the dissertation is organized into three parts. Part one (chapters 2 and 3) explores different senses of communities between Christians and Muslims. Part two (chapter 4) explores how those senses of community have led to diverse constructions of convivencia, a local concept that celebrates the coexistence of various cultures in Ceuta. Part three (chapters 4 and