"Iberians in Exile: Sources and Methods for the Study of Sephardic-Andalusian Relations in the Maghreb," with Marta Dominguez Diaz, University of St. Gallen

The fifth talk of the series titled "Intertwined Worlds: Judaism and Islam in Historical Perspectives:"

"Iberians in Exile: Sources and Methods for the Study of Sephardic-Andalusian Relations in the Maghreb," with Marta Dominguez Diaz, University of St. Gallen 

The talk will introduce the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of hitherto underutilized sources for the study of communities of Iberian origin that settled in the Maghreb after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula. It will explore the ways in which these communities are represented in the sources, what these materials can tell us about their social history, and the types of relations they built both among themselves and vis-à-vis the wider society. I will discuss the possibilities that emerge when different types of sources are analyzed comparatively, adopting a transregional and multilingual approach that integrates materials from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, while also considering the wider Mediterranean networks connecting these communities with other regions, including Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France. Particular attention will be paid to how these diverse and multilingual sources can help us reconstruct Hispano-Maghribi culture and Sephardic-Andalusian networks, as well as the complex worlds and relationships in which these communities were embedded.

Marta Dominguez Diaz BA Barcelona, MA & PhD SOAS, London, is the ERC CoG 2025 Grantee of the project Maghrib-Bridges and Titular Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of St Gallen. She has previously held research and teaching posts at SOAS (London) and the Woolf Institute (Cambridge) and has collaborated with the Religious Studies Department at the University of Vienna. Her research interests include Sufism (North-African and European), cultural identities and ethnicity in North-Africa, Islam in Europe, Ritual Studies, Embodied Religion, Comparative Religion and Muslim-Jewish Relations. She has published a number of academic articles, is the author of Women in Sufism Female Religiosities in a Transnational Order (Routledge), and of the recent monograph Tunisia’s Andalusians: the Cultural Identity of a North African Minority (Edinburgh University Press).

This series is cosponsored by The Middle East North African Studies Program, The Comparative Literary Studies Program, Department of Anthropology, The Northwestern Library,  and The Alumnae of Northwestern University

Add Event To My Group

Please sign-in