Conferences and debates
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Familiar Strangers: The East in the West
From February 19, 2013 until March 04, 2013
Held in Madrid on March 4th will be the conference Familiar Strangers: The East in the West, organized by Casa Árabe with presentations by Lucette Varensi and Mercedes García Arenal.
The conference will be held in the Casa Árabe Auditorium (c/Alcalá, 62) at 7:00 p.m., with free entry until the room’s capacity is full.
It is usually assumed that massive immigration by Muslims to Europe began with colonization and expanded as of World War I. However, the presence of Muslims in the Christian world goes back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: galleons at the large ports, the moriscos in Spain, political exiles, adventurers, salesmen, travelers and the ambassadors of Muslim countries. These familiar strangers, precursors to the immigrants of the twentieth century, are the subject of reflection and analysis.
A historian who specializes in Islam in the Mediterranean, with a degree in History from the Sorbonne, Lucette Valensi is the Director Emeritus of Studies at the School of Advanced Social Science Studies (EHESS) and has been dedicated to studying the pre-colonial Maghreb and relations between the East and West. Her most recent book is titled Ces étrangers familiers, Musulmans en Europe (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles) [These Familiar Strangers, Muslims in Europe (16th to 18th centuries)].
A Researching Professor at the CSIC’s Center for Human and Social Sciences, García-Arenal is a specialist in religious minorities. Her lines of research have focused above all on the moriscos on the Iberian Peninsula and Jews in Islamic lands. She has written numerous books and articles on this topic, including Inquisición y moriscos (The Inquisition and Moriscos), Los procesos del Tribunal de Cuenca (The Cuenca Court Trials) and Un hombre en tres mundos (A Man in Three Worlds).
It is usually assumed that massive immigration by Muslims to Europe began with colonization and expanded as of World War I. However, the presence of Muslims in the Christian world goes back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: galleons at the large ports, the moriscos in Spain, political exiles, adventurers, salesmen, travelers and the ambassadors of Muslim countries. These familiar strangers, precursors to the immigrants of the twentieth century, are the subject of reflection and analysis.
Lucette Valensi
A historian who specializes in Islam in the Mediterranean, with a degree in History from the Sorbonne, Lucette Valensi is the Director Emeritus of Studies at the School of Advanced Social Science Studies (EHESS) and has been dedicated to studying the pre-colonial Maghreb and relations between the East and West. Her most recent book is titled Ces étrangers familiers, Musulmans en Europe (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles) [These Familiar Strangers, Muslims in Europe (16th to 18th centuries)].
Mercedes García-Arenal
A Researching Professor at the CSIC’s Center for Human and Social Sciences, García-Arenal is a specialist in religious minorities. Her lines of research have focused above all on the moriscos on the Iberian Peninsula and Jews in Islamic lands. She has written numerous books and articles on this topic, including Inquisición y moriscos (The Inquisition and Moriscos), Los procesos del Tribunal de Cuenca (The Cuenca Court Trials) and Un hombre en tres mundos (A Man in Three Worlds).