Sexuality, Politics, and Spain

How might something that took place in 8th Century Spain affect geopolitical conflicts happening today? Questions such as "Who is Spanish?" or "Who can live in Spain?" were relevant centuries ago, and linger years later. In this talk, Professor Grieve will explain just how this works, showing how the legend of Spain’s fall to the Muslims of North Africa in 711 was a complex tapestry of myth used to justify the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and that of the 'moriscos' (Muslim converts to Christianity) in 1609. The legend of Spain's fall weaves storytelling, the defeat of Visigothic kingdoms, the dangers of female sexuality, the politics of mythmaking, and the invention of history. The expulsions that ensued are remembered as historical wrongs by people today--causing political tension and making waves some hundreds of years later.

BIO

Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

Patricia Grieve has received several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Her research focuses on the transformation through the centuries of Middle Eastern myths and tales into the basis for religious and literary works in Western Europe, and the role that stories and storytelling play in shaping and reflecting cultures, especially in Spain, England, Italy and France, in medieval and early modern short fiction, hagiography, romance, ballads, folktales, historiography, and the works of Cervantes. Grieve has written several books that explore topics such as Spanish Romance and religious conflict in Spain. Grieve received Columbia's Distinguished Service to the Core Curriculim Award in 2006. Grieve is a 2015 Public Voices Initiative Fellow as part of the national OpEd Project. 

7:30 PM @ ECC

*Entrance over 21