Origins of Spanish Civilization (310-0-1)
Instructors
Rodrigo Isidro Garcia-Velasco Bernal
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 214: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
Entre convivencia e intolerancia: judíos, musulmanes y cristianos en la España medieval
Was medieval Spain a land of Three Faiths? This course examines the cultures of al-Andalus and Christian Iberia, focusing on the period between the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, and the forced conversions and expulsions of 1492. It is structured around readings of different facets of the interaction between Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. It will juxtapose the study of archetypal texts such as the Cantar de Mío Cid or the Libro del Buen Amor with an examination of contemporary Iberian Arabic and Hebrew poetry, travelogues, philosophical texts or religious polemics. Students will also examine instances of material culture and architecture as an integral part of this history of cultural exchanges. Key themes include testing the dynamics of religious integration, exclusion and conversion; the making and breaking of inter- and intra-community boundaries; the impact of multilingualism, translation and knowledge transfer across communities; as well as the varying discourses of religious collective and individual allegiances. Students will test the validity of theoretical frameworks employed by scholars to understand the cultural production of this period: tolerance ("convivencia"), "race" and "ethnicity", religious violence and anti-Judaism, the impact of frontiers and borderlands, cultural "hybridization", or the "global turn". While the primary vehicular language of the class will be Spanish, the course will also explore the linguistic diversity of the premodern Iberian Peninsula. As such, sources will be included that demonstrate how Castilian interacted with Portuguese, Catalan, Arabic, Hebrew and hybrid languages such as Aljamiado or Ladino, both in modern Spanish and English translation.
Registration Requirements
1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0.
Learning Objectives
A comprehensive knowledge of the main historical developments of premodern Spain • A systematic understanding of key texts, historical figures, authors relevant to the study of inter-faith relations in medieval Iberia • Ability to critically engage with key theories and historiographies, including religious tolerance, violence, cultural hybridization • Capacity to consider how these cultural interactions have been reconditioned in the twenty-first century • The oral and written expression of complex historical and literary arguments in Spanish • The ability to independent study and to work effectively in collaboration with others in Spanish, as well as undertaking creative and well-organised research projects through an effective command of available research tools.
Class Materials (Required)
Course materials will be available on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area