SPAN3603: Jews and Muslims in Medieval Iberia

Medieval Spain was the center of an Islamic caliphate in the eighth to the eleventh centuries, and Muslim kingdoms survived in Spain until the end of the fifteenth century. In this class we will explore how Spain’s Muslim past shaped the ideas and culture into the present and explore notions of race and nation as shaped by the presence of Muslims, Jews and Christians in medieval Spain. We will engage with contemporary debates about how to remember this period, as well as how to use and interpret this past, evident in the lived realities of Spaniards who encounter it everyday in the historic buildings and monuments present across Spain, as well as the international tour groups and scholars who visit. While today Spain is often associated with Catholicism, this class looks back to an earlier cultural moment and invites students to think about other possible ways of imagining religious identity and the nation. This class is in English, with select readings in Spanish for those with Spanish reading ability.

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