The goal of this series of events, organized with the cooperation of various universities, centers and research networks, is to rely on the most important research groups and projects that are actively working on Arab topics in Spain in order to attempt to group together a relatively representative number of them, covering a wide range of subjects, schools and centers, to be able to offer as thorough as possible an image of the current status of Arab and Islamic Studies in the country, the different problems which faced by this discipline and the prospects for development in the future.

The seminar will begin with an opening conference devoted to performing an analysis of what the history of Arabism has consisted of in Spain and the current status of studies on the contemporary Arab world in this country. The first round table discussion will analyze Arab studies on the Iberian Peninsula within the framework of what are known as Peripheral Orientalisms, those sites of thought and production of knowledge about the Arab and Islamic world existing at the sidelines of traditional centers where Orientalism is produced. At the subsequent round table discussions, numbers 2 through 5, organized by disciplines and fields of knowledge, the objective is to answer a series of common questions: (1) The development of studies on the Arab world in each discipline; (2) Perception and inclusion of these studies within each field of knowledge; (3) Connection and influence of the development of these studies in other fields/disciplines; (4) Changes in the agenda and lines of study and research; (5) Problems encountered and future needs.

The final round table discussion will examine the implications, difficulties and challenges, both personal and professional, caused at the present time by specializing in the field of Arab and Islamic Studies in Spain, with the participation of young researchers who are spending or have spent their academic and research career inside and outside of Spain.

After the seminar, to round off the event, on the dates of November 23-24, the Twentieth Annual Congress of the Forum for Research on the Arab and Muslim World (FIMAM) will be held, presenting the research projects now in their initial, intermediate or final stages, in order to debate over and become more familiar with the different work being carried out in relation with the Arab and Muslim world on the Iberian Peninsula.

Seminar schedule (tentative)