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Reflections on Qurtuba in the 21st Century

From June 15, 2013 until June 27, 2013

In Madrid and Cordoba, Casa Árabe is organizing the conference "Qurtuba: Critical reflections on the Cordoba Caliphate and the myth of co-existence," to present the latest issue of the magazine Awraq, which has been monographically dedicated to the topic of "Reflections on Qurtuba in the Twenty-first Century."

The conference will be presided over by Eduardo Manzano Moreno, a professor and researcher of Medieval History.  Issue 7 of this journal of analysis and thought on the contemporary Arab and Islamic world includes articles by notable specialists who deal with the past and present of Qurtuba/Córdoba on a multidisciplinary basis.
Eduardo Manzano will be focusing his conference on the concept of co-existence. More specifically, he will be discussing how Spain’s Middle Ages have been turned into a universal point of reference. This reference has a distant origin in the ideas of Américo Castro, but it has undergone a restructuring which has made it possible to turn the concept into a tool for facing the multicultural challenges of societies since the last quarter of the twentieth century.
 
The presentation will take place in Madrid on Wednesday, June 26 at 7:00 p.m., and in Cordoba on Thursday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m.
 
Taking part will be Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe, and Javier Rosón, a Casa Árabe analyst and researcher.
 

Eduardo Manzano Moreno


Eduardo Manzano Moreno holds a doctoral degree in Medieval History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a Master of Arts degree in Near Eastern Studies (from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Director of the CSIC’s Center for Human and Social Sciences from 2007 through 2012, he is a specialist in the history of Al-Andalus and the political implications of historical memory. He has also made significant contributions regarding the history of Jerusalem during World War I. Amongst his extensive works, one could highlight the publications The Iberian Peninsula and North Africa (in The New Cambridge History of Islam, directed by Chase F. Robinson, 2010); Épocas medievales (Medieval Eras, in the History of Spain directed by Josep Fontana y Ramón Villares, 2010); Conquistadores, emires y califas: los omeyas y la formación de al-Andalus (Conquerors, Emirs and Caliphs: the Umayyads and the Formation of Al-Andalus, 2007); and La gestión de la memoria. La Historia de España al servicio del poder (Managing Memory: The History of Spain at the Service of Power, in collaboration with Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, Ramón López Facal and Aurora Rivière) (2002). He has been a member of the Editorial Board of the scientific journals Hispania, Al-Qantara, Arqueología y Territorio Medieval and the Journal of Medieval Studies.

Articles from Awraq issue nº 7: Reflections on Qurtuba in the 21st Century


“Cordoba, from Muslim Conquest to Christian Conquest,” by Pierre Guichard.
“On Embassies and Gifts Between Caliphs and Emperors,” by Fernando Valdés Fernández.
“Qurtuba’s Monumentality and Artistic Sense,” by José Miguel Puerta Vílchez.
“Qurtuba of the Caliphs: Origin and Development of the Umayyad Capital of Al-Andalus,” by Juan F. Murillo Redondo. 
“Notes on Al-Andalus and Its Material Culture: From the Umayyads to the Almohads,” by José Escudero Aranda and María Dolores Baena Alcántara.
“Madinat al-Zahra: Historical Reality and Modern-day Heritage,” by Antonio Vallejo Triano.
“Qurtuba and Medieval Science: Reminiscences of the Past in the Present,” by Mònica Rius Piniés.
“Reality and Symbol of Qurtuba/Cordoba in Neo-Arab Literature,” by Clara María Thomas de Antonio.
“Enduring Qurtuba in Contemporary Cordoba,” by Antonio Arjona Castro.  
“Qurtuba: Critical Reflections on the Cordoba Caliphate and the Myth of Coexistence,” by Eduardo Manzano Moreno.
Section titled “Figures and Itineraries,” in which the discourse of three international foundations and institutions is analyzed: The Cordoba Foundation (TCF), the Fondation Cordoue of Geneva and the Cordoba Initiative.
Summaries of the books by Shouki Kassis, Haifa Laisat Qurtuba: riwaya tasyiliyya (Haifa Is Not Cordoba), by Emilio González Ferrín; and by Carmen González Gutiérrez, Las mezquitas de barrio de Madinat Qurtuba: una aproximación arqueológica (The Neighborhoods of Madinat Qurtuba: An Archeological Approach) by Rafael Blanco Guzmán.