Session “Race in Comparative Context: The Case of Iberia (A Roundtable)” sponsored by La corónica and the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies for the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo 2024.
- Location: Kalamazoo, MI and online (blended-format session)
- Date: 9-11 May 2024
- Submit proposal (your name, affiliation, and contact information; a 100-200 word abstract with no title; indication whether you intend to present in person or virtually)via ICMS website by 15 September 2023.
- Contact: Greg Hutcheson at ([email protected])
- Call for Papers (below)
This roundtable seeks to explore race as constructed not only within but across the diverse polities and confessional/linguistic/ethnic communities of the medieval Iberian Peninsula. Critical questions include: What are the connects and disconnects between notions of race as construed across the plurality of Iberia’s polities/communities? Is there an essential difference between Islamic, Jewish, and Christian notions of race? Just how homogeneous are notions of race as construed within each of these confessional communities? Where do racial constructs travel across borders (whether real or conceptual) and how are they interpreted, challenged, appropriated, or repurposed? How do class, gender, and lineage intersect with racial constructs (e.g., in the case of marriage alliances)? By exploring race in comparative context, we hope to capture some of the complex intersectionality of race with ethnicity, religion, class, and gender in medieval Iberia. We welcome especially scholars that focus on the Arabic, Jewish and other non-Romance traditions of the peninsula.
NOTE: The blended format makes it possible for speakers to present (and audiences to attend) both in-person and online. We welcome proposals from both scholars planning to attend in person and those attending virtually from around the world.
(Note that roundtable interventions are briefer than formal conference papers–generally 6-8 minutes–and do not bear titles.)