ISLAM | #Barxiluna “Muslims are usually considered in the abstract, and are systematically ignored when it comes to the great milestones of history”, Amanda Hawthorne
“Barxiluna برشلونة: a (forgotten) Muslim past and present" is a set of activities that emphasise Barcelona’s Muslim legacy and how it has influenced the city. The third activity in this series, organised by the Espai Avinyó - Language and Culture and the Religious Affairs Office, with the collaboration of the Educational Resources Centre (CRP) - Les Corts, took place on Wednesday 15 March entitled "Barxiluna برشلونة : (Dis)memory of the Islamic Past and Present. The Curriculum”.
As part of the programme “Barxiluna برشلونة: (Dis)memory of the Islamic Past and Present”, two activities were organised to reflect on the history, heritage and museography related to the Islamic legacy. The importance of the Islamic legacy stems from the significant historical and present-day links between the city of Barcelona and Islam. Firstly, that it was a part of al-Andalus from 718 to 801. At that time, the city was known as برشلونة (Barshilūna or Barshaluna). We are therefore referring to nearly a century of history. Subsequently, some Muslims, often referred to as mudèjars, remained in the city. During the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period, there seems to be evidence of the enslavement of Muslims. This question was raised in the working group on “History and Heritage”. The round table and debate on “History and Heritage” highlighted the need and the obligation to appreciate Barcelona’s Islamic past and present. An account of the city’s plural and diverse reality need to be recognised: not only in material terms, but also in the way in which the history of Muslim people has been dealt with in historiography, science, urban planning, etc.
And later, the issue was raised as part of the visit and discussion space “Museus (im)possibles: de les narratives històriques al relat museogràfic [(Im)possible Museums: from historical accounts to museum narrative]”, organised by the Museu d’ Història de Catalunya, a reference point in the dissemination of history and collective heritage in Catalonia. For this reason, a visit was prepared to the permanent exhibition “La memòria d’un país [The Memory of a Country]”, which offers a comprehensive and integrated historical overview of the past and present. In this vein, and in relation to interest in the narrative on the Islamic legacy in museography, the visit focused on the area dedicated to the Islamic past under the title“El naixement d’una nació [The Birth of a Nation]”. This visit introduces the economic and religious influences during the al-Andalus period. Consequently, there was reflection on the following questions: How has Muslim history and heritage been disseminated up to now in Catalonia? How has the construction of the “Muslim Other” shaped the narrative of the museum and its collection? In what ways could the museum’s historical and museographical narrative be redesigned to generate new ways of connecting with Muslim communities and the educational fabric around them?
In this effort to recover and reclaim the histories of marginalised groups, there is also an interest in creating spaces for reflection within the different historical and present day areas, in which the influence of the unmentioned Islamic legacy and its historical and present day links are identified; this, given that it is not an issue tied in with merely one sphere of people’s lives.
#Barxiluna. (DIS)MEMORY OFTHE ISLAMIC PAST AND PRESENT. THE CURRICULUM
On 15 March 2023, within the framework of the programme the Espai Avinyó and the Office of Religious Affairs, in collaboration with the Les Corts Educational Resources Centre, proposed a space for debate and for exploring the way that history and the presence of Islam has been presented in various subjects on the Catalan educational curriculum.
With this activity focused on the realm of education, the aim is now to open up a new space for debate, and for working on how the history and presence of Islam has been conveyed in the Catalan educational curriculum, paying particular attention to textbooks and to narratives of the history of Islam, and of Muslim people. The goal is to analyse the presentation of the Muslim world; historical facts, geographical aspects, the economic, political and social dimensions, etc., presented in the textbooks used with the pupils. This task will be carried out through a participatory and reflective process, which will highlight the importance of the school curriculum and the space and significance devoted to Islam.
Based on the analysis of texts from the main publishing houses, the anti-racism perspective, and experiences linked to the field of education, the content, discourses and ways of representing Islam in the textbooks currently used in Catalonia were jointly analysed, and certain concrete measures aimed at resolving the sort of racism that is reproduced in the educational sphere were debated.
To frame the debate, social worker Hallar Abderrahaman, Amanda Hawthorne and Marita Zambrana Vega, members of SOS Racismo Madrid, the organisation that produced the 2023 report Aprendiendo racismo: Racismo estructural en libros de texto [Learning Racism: Structural Racism in Textbooks].
The following reflections from the debate stand out:
- For Marita Zambrana, formal education is one of the settings within which representations that maintain and reinforce structural racism are transmitted.
- Hallar Abderrahaman invited us to think about the confusion around the definition of the term ‘Islamophobia’, the product of a very limited concept of racism (linked to prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination based on skin colour, etc.) that does not take into account a perspective that identifies the weight of social structure and institutions in the legitimisation of Western supremacy in all spheres of life.
- In textbooks, “Muslims are usually considered the abstract, and are systematically ignored when it comes to the great milestones of history”, commented Amanda Hawthorne, speaking of a strategy of power that renders their achievements invisible, achievements in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, etc.
- Marita and Amanda suggested that publishers should take into account the knowledge and the critical perspectives of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America when creating school textbooks in each autonomous community.
