{"id":1047,"date":"2018-09-19T16:58:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T15:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2018-09-21T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T12:31:16","slug":"scars-and-reparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/en\/2018\/09\/19\/scars-and-reparations\/","title":{"rendered":"Scars and Reparations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a world that we believe to be so globalized and multicultural, it was about time that someone reminded us of the scars we still bear. Multiculturalism does not mean that everyone accepts the plurality of cultures, and it is obvious that in Kader Attia’s life there have been a few. North Africa and Europe, so close to one another, have clashed in the course of history leaving scars that have yet to be repaired.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kader Attia. Humiliation<\/em>, 2018. Site-specific wall sculpture; carving. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Pere Pratdesaba \u00a9 Kader Attia, VEGAP, 2018<\/p>\n

The label of La Espa\u00f1a de las Tres Culturas <\/em>\u2013 the Spain of three cultures \u2013 has been used to sell us an idea that falls to pieces when we think back to our past. Jews, Christians and Muslims living in harmony! The historian Am\u00e9rico Castro[1]<\/a> sparked the controversy about how the lives of the members of these three religious and cultural groups unfolded in the Middle Ages: was it convivencia<\/em>[2]<\/a>, <\/em>coexistence or convenience?<\/p>\n

Castro\u2019s portrayal of harmonious relations was criticized by David Romano,[3]<\/a> who suggested replacing the term convivencia <\/em>with coexistencia. <\/em>Now, according to Brian Catlos,[4]<\/a> there is no doubt but that what emerged in the Spanish medieval world was<\/p>\n

\u201cthe dynamic of utility from the perspective of both the dominant and the dominated groups. As occurred in other similar situations in Europe, and even in the modern world, the relationship was primarily based on a perception of utility among some groups as regards others, and was no more, and no less, than a case of convenience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kader Attia. Untitled<\/em>, 2018. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Pere Pratdesaba \u00a9 Kader Attia, VEGAP, 2018<\/p>\n

It is all fine and good to speak of reparation, but it so happens that in the modern world it has not yet occurred. The fact is that the Spanish Jews were expelled in 1492 and many of them settled in North Africa \u2013 in other words, in Islamic lands. Centuries later, a royal decree issued on 20 December, 1924, sanctioned by Primo de Rivera’s military Directorio, <\/em>proposed that Spanish citizenship be granted to<\/p>\n

“those formerly protected <\/em>(sic<\/em>!) by Spain or their descendants, and, in general, individuals belonging to families of Spanish origin who at some point were registered as Spanish citizens, and these Hispanic individuals, with a deeply-rooted love for Spain, have not succeeded in obtaining our citizenship due to lack of knowledge of the law or to other causes unrelated to their desire to be Spanish.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The decree was actually intended for people who could provide proof of their Jewish ancestry – that is to say, Sephardic Jews. Although only about 3,000 seized the opportunity, this was the legal framework that allowed several Spanish diplomatic missions to protect Sephardic Jews during World War II, saving thousands from the Holocaust. Doctor and Senator \u00c1ngel Pulido played a prominent role in defending the Sephardic group, also supported by other intellectuals such as P\u00e9rez Gald\u00f3s, Unamuno and Men\u00e9ndez Pelayo.<\/p>\n

But what happened with the remaining Muslims?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kader Attia. Intifada: The Endless Rhizomes of Revolution<\/em>, 2016. Installation. Metal sculptures, rubber, stones, newspapers, photocopies. Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Krinzinger and Galerie Nagel Draxler Berlin \/ Cologne. Photo: Pere Pratdesaba \u00a9 Kader Attia, VEGAP, 2018<\/p>\n

In 2006, the president of the Junta Isl\u00e1mica de Espa\u00f1a<\/em>, supported by two political parties, Izquierda Unida <\/em>and the Partido Andalucista<\/em>, requested that the Andalusian Parliament call on the Spanish government to grant Spanish citizenship to descendants of Moriscos \u2013<\/em>the Spanish Muslims who had been baptised by force in the first half of the sixteenth century and were also expelled between 1609 and 1614. Some of them lived, and continue to live, in several North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Libya, Mauritania and Mali, and in former Ottoman lands such as Salonica or Istanbul. There are North African families that preserve the memory of their past \u2013 as we can see, for example, in the main square of Tozeur, in Tunis, where the exposed brick buildings and an unusual clock on the minaret of a mosque clearly replicate a square in any Aragonese town.<\/p>\n

This effort sought reparation for the way in which the history of the Moriscos had fallen into oblivion and reminding us that they ought to receive the same treatment as the Jews. The initiative could move forward if the article in the Civil Code that acknowledges the preferential right of Sephardic Jews were changed to include the descendants of Moriscos, also of Spanish origin.<\/p>\n

But scars do not fade without equal reparation.<\/p>\n

Translated by<\/strong> Deborah Bonner<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>Espa\u00f1a en su historia. Cristianos, moros y jud\u00edos. <\/em>Barcelona: Grijalbo, 1948.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> The term convivencia<\/em> (the state of living together in harmony), used in a broad sense in Spanish, was specifically coined by nineteenth-century Spanish historians to describe, according to their somewhat idealized perception, the religious tolerance and cultural exchange that occurred between Muslims, Jews and Christians from the Muslim invasion (711) to the expulsion of the Jews (1492) and the end of Muslim rule.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u201cCoesistenza\/convivenza tra ebrei e cristiani ispanici\u201d. Sefarad<\/em> (Madrid-Granada), 55 (1995), pp. 359-382.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>Cristians, musulmans i jueus a la corona d\u2019Arag\u00f3. Un cas de conveni\u00e8ncia\u201d. L\u2019Aven\u00e7<\/em> (Barcelona), 263 (2001), pp. 8-16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world that we believe to be so globalized and multicultural, it was about time that someone reminded us of the scars we still bear. Multiculturalism does not mean that everyone accepts the plurality of cultures, and it is obvious that in Kader Attia’s life there have been a few. North Africa and Europe, … Continue reading Scars and Reparations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,47,29],"tags":[309,314,311],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibitions","category-expanded-contents","category-free-voice","tag-kader-attia-en","tag-reparation","tag-scars"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nScars and Reparations - Blog Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/en\/2018\/09\/19\/scars-and-reparations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scars and Reparations - Blog Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a world that we believe to be so globalized and multicultural, it was about time that someone reminded us of the scars we still bear. 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