St. James Matamoros

[Maura Santangelo]

Actually I share your views, but decided to keep them out of the list
considering previous blunders into politics, I am always stunned when I
read in American publications about how the Moors Jews and Christians
all lived happily together in Andalusia.  It is somewhat silly not to
discuss the true history of the pilgrimage and what it meant and how it
molded Europeans.

I share a racial memory of fear with other Europeans about Muslims and
denying that it is there does not make it go away.  I am reminded of
the incursions of the Saraceni every time I see lookout towers on the
coast of Tuscany.  I see the current incursion and the changes that it
is bringing as being no less problematic than previous ones at the tip
of a scimitar.  On the other hand there probably would have been no
Italian Renaissance without the Muslims.

After all is said and done my name is Spanish and not Italian, some
ancestor left Spain sometime around 1492 or so family legend has it,
and the name might and does suggest a converso,

Maura






On Tuesday, February 25, 2003, at 09:03 PM, Joe & MJ wrote:

> Basically, it seems to me that there are (and always have been) two
> groups (no matter what your nationality, religion, or ethnic group):
> assimilationists (for us to get along we should all have *basically*
> the
> same (although not necessarily identical) beliefs / language / culture
> /
> religion) and pluralists (I'm okay, you're okay, let's all be okay,
> separately together). The last young man who spoke and said "it's hard,
> but we have to recognize that Europeans have their own values" is a
> pluralist; the "we've been waiting for 500 years" guy is an
> assimilationist. Your comfort level with either group is your own
> value/belief system.
>
> As something to think about however: the Christians' battles(with
> Santiago Matamoros at their lead) are collectively called the
> REconquista--in other words, at some point (most notably 711, and in
> several successive waves after that) the Muslims *conquered* the
> (Christian) Goths by FORCE. The loss of Granada in 1492 was actually
> the
> culmination of a long, slow, steady retaking of the peninsula whether
> by
> actual battle, or by decline and degeneration by the Muslims. It's not
> like the entire peninsula was Muslim (and only Muslim) for 780 years
> and
> suddenly "poof!" it's gone. History is never quite so black and white
> as
> what it appears (or sounds like)in a seven minute media clip.
>
> One last thought before I send this and set the list aflame (sorry
> Linda, but I do love to occasionally play devil's advocate):  How many
> students do you suppose study Spanish peninsular history with the
> romantic notion of the "Moors" and never realize that Moors = Muslims?
> While I was student teaching last semester I'd say it ran about 75-85%.
>
> Maryjane
>
>> I did go back to Silvia Poggioli's piece, I was a bit chilled
>> by the comment made by a young Arab interviewed by Poggioli
>> about the building of a mosque that "we have been waiting for
>> this moment for 500 years" .
>>
>> Maura
>>
>