Working Group 1 – The (imaginary) construction of the other

The purpose of this WG has been to debate late medieval and early modern strategies for constructing religious, political and cultural otherness. To this end, it has focused on three research fields.

WG1 Research Field a) Anthropology and otherness: semantic discourses on the creation of the other. Common research question: how to analyse in linguistic and anthropological terms the Christians’ definition of Islam and the self definition by Muslims in Europe?

WG1 Research Field b) From text to image, from image to text. Common research questions: what was the influence of literature on the representation of Islam in Europe? What was the role of images of Islam in shaping the literary universe of otherness?; What was the depiction of Europeans and Christians in Turkish, Persian and Arabic literature?

WG1 Research Field c) Material culture in the construction of the other. Common research questions: what was the role of the Islamic heritage in Europe on the shaping the perception of otherness? How to assess the mobility of heritage objects between Islam and Christian Europe, including types of goods transported by immigrants, diplomatic gift exchanges, war booty, repercussions for their host countries, acquisition of other goods and cultural hybridism? What do Islamic objects tell us in relation to the history of science? Has Islamic material culture been a part of European common heritage?

Working Group 2 – Migration and identity: National identities, local identities, religious identities

The purpose of this WG has been to spur debate on how migratory flows of Christians in Islamic territories, and vice-versa, influenced the shaping of the identities of the host peoples and immigrants during the Middle Ages and early modern period. This has looked at exile, expulsions, gender issues, and simple population movements.

WG2 Research Field a) Soldiers, prisoners, converts, renegades and the expelled: permeability among moving groups. Common research questions: how wars and religious policies on acculturation for Islam influenced population migration and the fluidity of identity? what happens if we compare conversion/migration from Christianity to Islam and the reverse, analysing survival strategies on both sides?

WG2 Research Field b) Trade and migration. Common research question: A very important phenomenon in the Mediterranean was an often highly profitable trans cultural trade, mostly made possible by different diasporas, what then was the role of trade in population movement and in creating identities? The principal centres of migration and trade will be looked at, mapping the degree of the interactions.

WG2 Research Field c) Moving scriptures. Common research questions: how and why Islamic manuscripts spread in Europe? Movement of Korans through the continent. Historiography on this process.

Working Group 3 – Beyond Borders

This WG has been responsible for debating the concept of borders, value and representation during the late Middle Ages and early modern period.

WG3 Research Field a) The concept of border. Common research questions: The concept of border. Legal frameworks between countries. Permeability of borders. Common research questions: how borders were viewed in relation to the ‘other’ in each European country, contrasting Muslim and Christian perspectives? What can we learn from legal and literary sources on this issue in different territories?

Research Field b) The representation of borders. Common research questions: The representation of borders. Common research questions: how have borders been represented in each tradition? What symbols were used to represent them and how did they influence the shaping of otherness? How could we merge approaches grounded in cultural history, art history and literature to assess this issue?