NOTICE: This event has been postponed for reasons beyond Casa Árabe's control. We apologise for any inconvenience. We will inform you of the new date soon on this website.

The new Arab migrants on the Triple Border of Paraná (Brazil / Paraguay / Argentina) who, from the 1970s onwards, traveled from Bilad Al-Sham(Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine) have formed a community, or communities, which are somewhat different from those created by the first waves of migration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The “new” migrants of Arab origin no longer worked mainly in street vending, but instead forged unsuspected professional paths, which has been the case, for example, of the “vereadores” or regional deputies in the Brazilian area of Foz do Iguaçu. Added to this new dimension in the labor world is their contribution in the realm of religious worship: Islam, since the great majority are Muslims, both orthodox and heterodox. Another crucial element for the future also came about: education in Arabic, both in Foz and in the Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este. This new reality introducing peculiar transnational dynamics has been coupled with that of halal tourism, encouraging travel to the area, beyond just the impressive Iguazu Falls. 

At the event, and after an introduction to the phenomenon of migration by the Professor of Contemporary History José Manuel Azcona Pastor (URJC), Rosa-Isabel Martínez Lillo (UMA) and Arturo Javier Encinas Juan (ARGRA) will be showing the most illustrative photographs from field work carried out in the area, as a result of the Research Project “Arabs on the Triple Border of the Paraná: Diaspora and identity” (UMA, 2020-21), in which Pedro Staevie and Indiana Jorrat also participated. 

José Manuel Azcona is a Professor of Contemporary History at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, where he teaches History of the Modern World. He is the Director of the URJC Santander Presdeia Ibero-American Chair of Excellence (URJC Vice-Rectorate of Innovation). He has been a Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Deusto, where he earned his PhD in this subject with a thesis titled”Possible Paradises: History of Basque emigration to Argentina and Uruguay in the nineteenth century”(1990). He has a Master’s degree in Cooperation and Security in Latin America from the CESEDEN (2001) and has authored 185 works published in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Albania, Bulgaria, United States of America, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and China on emigration, political violence, terrorism and contemporary political-social movements, published by prestigious publishing houses and academic journals with a major impact. 

Rosa-Isabel Martínez Lillo is an Arabist and literary translator. She holds a PhD from the UAM (Extraordinary End-of-Degree Award and Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award). From 1994 to 2019, she was a full professor at the UAM and since 2019 at the University of Malaga, where she coordinates the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, forming part of the Department of Greek Philology, Arabic Studies, General Linguistics, Documentation and Latin Philology. She is the principal investigator in the Internal Project Plan titled “Arabs on the Triple Border of the Paraná: Diaspora and identity” (UMA, 2020-21). Her most recent publications include “Arabs on the Triple Border of the Paraná: Diaspora and identity” (UMA, 2020-21). She has published “Young Chilean Prose of Arab Origin: Farha Nasra and the Children of the Intifada,” “Arabs in Paraguay: Genesis, evolution and current challenges,” and “Arabs in Foz: Memory and present of a migration,” along with Pedro Staevie and Arturo Javier Encinas. 

Arturo Encinas is a photojournalist. He studied for three years at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). In the 1970’s, he collaborated with the magazines “Expreso Imaginario,” “Pan Caliente,” “Humor” and “Mutantia,” in which his photography sought to reflect the difficult years in Argentina within the worlds of art, jazz and rock. He is the representative of the A.R.G.R.A. (Association of Graphic Reporters of the Argentine Republic) and received an honorable mention in the 1986 National Photography Salon. Nikon has published his material in its international yearbooks. He currently lives in Andalusia, where he works with photography as a researcher at the University of Malaga (UMA) and collaborates on the Internal Project Plan titled “Arabs on the Triple Border of the Paraná: Diaspora and identity.”