| FA-232445-16 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Eric Calderwood | The Memory of Al-Andalus and Spanish Colonialism in Morocco, 1859-1956 | 8/1/2016 - 7/31/2017 | $50,400.00 | Eric | | Calderwood | | | | Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | Champaign | IL | 61801-3620 | USA | 2015 | Comparative Literature | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 50400 | 0 | 50400 | 0 | A book-length study on how Spanish and Moroccan writers used the history of al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Iberia) as a framework for understanding Spanish colonialism in Morocco (1859-1956).
My book explores how Spanish and Moroccan writers used the history of al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Iberia) as a framework for understanding Spanish colonialism in Morocco (1859-1956). During the colonial period, Spanish writers revived the historical memory of al-Andalus in order to justify Spain’s colonial projects in Morocco. Moroccan nationalists appropriated the Spanish celebration of al-Andalus and repurposed it as a tool of anti-colonial resistance. Thus, the Spanish insistence on Morocco’s Andalusian legacy, which had served as a justification for Spanish colonialism, sowed the seeds of the Moroccan national culture that would supplant colonial rule. My book illuminates the surprising intersections of Spanish colonial discourse and Moroccan nationalist discourse, and it also highlights how the historical memory of al-Andalus has been used to structure debates about Europe’s evolving relationship with the Muslim world.
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