Honors Theses
Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Croft Institute for International Studies
First Advisor
Ahmet Yukleyen
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This paper concerns the negotiation of the medieval history of Islamic Spain for the purposes of identity creation and Muslim minority integration in Andalucia. The argument challenges essentialist hypotheses positing that history is absolute and demonstrates ‘innate’ characteristics of a culture. It provides an example of a contested national past which involves both periods of conflict and periods of peaceful coexistence. Many of the sources used are original language media sources, including newspaper articles, organization websites, and government documents. Interviews, data, and analysis gathered by Gema Martm-Muhoz, Gunther Dietz, Bebee Bahrami, and Nadia el- Shohoumi are used in conjunction with interviews gathered in Granada, Spain, by the author. The project’s findings expose a situation in which the past is being negotiated to find common ground amongst the actors to benefit both the minority Muslim population and the Catholic/Secular Spanish population of Andalucia. It provides examples of situations when this negotiation was successful in integrating the minority and examples in which this is an unresolved process. This paper provides a hypothesis for why Spain, as the only Western European country intertwined with Islamic civilization, has shown a tolerance for Muslim religious communities, despite having come into intense conflict with them in the twenty-first century.
Recommended Citation
Karp, Sarah Lynn, "Historical Memory and Muslim Identity in Andalusia" (2008). Honors Theses. 2358.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2358
Accessibility Status
Searchable text