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"Ethno-religious Relations in the Middle Ages" lecture by Brian Catlos

October 18, 2012
8:00PM - 9:00PM
Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.

Date Range
Add to Calendar 2012-10-18 20:00:00 2012-10-18 21:00:00 "Ethno-religious Relations in the Middle Ages" lecture by Brian Catlos Event Host: Humanities Institute "Exceptional Iberia or Normative Mediterranean? Contexts of Ethno-religious Relations in the Middle Ages" Medieval "Spain" has long been portrayed as a unique case of ethno-religious diversity, and Muslim-Jewish-Christian relations, whether this is taken in a "positive" sense, as in Castro's paradigm of convivencia, or in the "negative" sense of Reconquest and Expulsion. Neither of these paradigms holds up to close examination, and each is based on a selective reading of sources; together they disguise a dynamic of ethno-religious interaction that is much more ambivalent and complex. Moreover, such relations are not particular to the Iberian peninsula of the Middle Ages, but rather characterize ethno-religious relations across the Medieval Mediterranean. "Exceptional Iberia or Normative Mediterranean?" seeks to place Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations as can be observed in the Iberian peninsula in a Mediterranean context and suggest an alternative to both the nostaligia of convivencia and the anachronistic vision of a clash of civilizations. Since 2010, Brian Catlos has worked as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with cross-appointments in History, Humanities and the Jewish Studies program. He studies the dynamics of the social, economic and cultural interaction of ethno-religious groups in the Medieval Mediterranean, especially Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Iberia. In 1994, he received a B.A. in History and Philosophy from the University of Toronto (Canada), and an M.A. (1996) and Ph.D. (2000) in Medieval Studies (History) from the Centre for Medieval Studies. Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave. College of Arts and Sciences asccomm@osu.edu America/New_York public
Event Host: Humanities Institute


"Exceptional Iberia or Normative Mediterranean? Contexts of Ethno-religious Relations in the Middle Ages"

Medieval "Spain" has long been portrayed as a unique case of ethno-religious diversity, and Muslim-Jewish-Christian relations, whether this is taken in a "positive" sense, as in Castro's paradigm of convivencia, or in the "negative" sense of Reconquest and Expulsion. Neither of these paradigms holds up to close examination, and each is based on a selective reading of sources; together they disguise a dynamic of ethno-religious interaction that is much more ambivalent and complex. Moreover, such relations are not particular to the Iberian peninsula of the Middle Ages, but rather characterize ethno-religious relations across the Medieval Mediterranean. "Exceptional Iberia or Normative Mediterranean?" seeks to place Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations as can be observed in the Iberian peninsula in a Mediterranean context and suggest an alternative to both the nostaligia of convivencia and the anachronistic vision of a clash of civilizations.

Mediterranean Spain image

Since 2010, Brian Catlos has worked as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with cross-appointments in History, Humanities and the Jewish Studies program. He studies the dynamics of the social, economic and cultural interaction of ethno-religious groups in the Medieval Mediterranean, especially Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Iberia. In 1994, he received a B.A. in History and Philosophy from the University of Toronto (Canada), and an M.A. (1996) and Ph.D. (2000) in Medieval Studies (History) from the Centre for Medieval Studies.