Muslims, Jews, and Christians: Getting Along in Medieval Spain
COL 120
Fall 2020 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
RL&L 122 |
For eight centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived side by side as neighbors on the Iberian Peninsula in a carefully negotiated state of coexistence known as "convivencia." While much of the written record is often full of enmity, religious polemic, and mutual suspicion, the artistic record tells another version, of lives lived in close proximity giving rise to shared cultural practices, artistic tastes, and long interludes of mutual well-being.
This seminar will explore the works produced by the pluralistic societies of medieval Iberia from the perspectives of art, architecture, history, archaeology, literature, and music. As we study renowned monuments such as the synagogues of Toledo, the Alhambra, and the Way of St. James, we will learn to decode elements such as dress and home decor, food and hygiene, gardening and agriculture, to expand our picture of culture and lived experience. Finally, we will ask why convivencia ultimately failed, and how the medieval Iberian experience can enlighten our own uneasy attempts at building a multicultural, multiconfessional society. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (FRST-MN) |
Major Readings:
Dodds, Jerrilynn D., María Rosa Menocal and Abigail Krasner Balbale. THE ARTS OF INTIMACY: CHRISTIANS, JEWS, AND MUSLIMS IN THE MAKING OF CASTILIAN CULTURE. New Haven: 2008.
Nirenberg, David. NEIGHBORING FAITHS: CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM, AND JUDAISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND TODAY. Chicago: 2014.
Anonymous. THE SONG OF THE CID (CANTAR DEL MIO CID. Trans. Burton Raffel. New York, 2009.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Several short writing assignments, two peer-exchanged essays, and a research project and presentation. |
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