Who first coined the term/concept of convivencia?
March 15, 2010 7:41 AM Subscribe
Who first coined the term/concept of convivencia? You know, the living in harmony of Jewish Christian and Muslims in Spain up to 1492.
I'm guessing it's a nineteenth century concept, but I can't find who first defined it. Extra points for early discussions of it.
I'm guessing it's a nineteenth century concept, but I can't find who first defined it. Extra points for early discussions of it.
Trying to type in an enyay managed to delete the whole post I was working on, but Mouthchew's got it right about the origins of significant academic interest and debate over convivencia as a cultural concept, in the sense of viewing Spanish culture in the centuries thereafter as a sort of melting pot influenced by early mutual influence among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. However, the term certainly was used before Castro to refer to the status of relations that existed in roughly the 10th through 12th centuries. e.g.:
This text in Portuguese from 1868:
"A descoberta das Indias, a convivencia com os paizes musulmanos influenciarman já n'esta concepcao."
A Spanish text from 1900
En ellas senala de un modo sucinto y ordenado las influencias que de la convivencia de arabes y cristianos resultan en el mercado, pesas y medidas, monedas, alóndigas, almudies."
And perhaps most to the point, from 1884:
No abre, no, la reconquista un abismo entre espanoles y marroquíes: al contrario, esos nueve siglos de convivencia en un mismo territorio, debajo de un mismo cielo, en unas mismas ciuidades, han engendrado en nosotros un espíritu de confraternidad que, apagado sólo en apariencia, vuelve a inflamarse a poco que se remueva la ceniza que lo esconde.
posted by drlith at 9:02 AM on March 15, 2010
This text in Portuguese from 1868:
"A descoberta das Indias, a convivencia com os paizes musulmanos influenciarman já n'esta concepcao."
A Spanish text from 1900
En ellas senala de un modo sucinto y ordenado las influencias que de la convivencia de arabes y cristianos resultan en el mercado, pesas y medidas, monedas, alóndigas, almudies."
And perhaps most to the point, from 1884:
No abre, no, la reconquista un abismo entre espanoles y marroquíes: al contrario, esos nueve siglos de convivencia en un mismo territorio, debajo de un mismo cielo, en unas mismas ciuidades, han engendrado en nosotros un espíritu de confraternidad que, apagado sólo en apariencia, vuelve a inflamarse a poco que se remueva la ceniza que lo esconde.
posted by drlith at 9:02 AM on March 15, 2010
Response by poster: Knew I could count on you. Many thanks.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:24 PM on March 15, 2010
posted by IndigoJones at 12:24 PM on March 15, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
"Convivencia refers to the ‘coexistence’ of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities in medieval Spain and by extension the cultural interaction and exchange fostered by such proximity. The term first appeared as part of a controversial thesis about Spanish historical identity advanced by Américo Castro in 1948. Since then interest in the idea of convivencia has spread, fueled in part by increased attention to multi-culturalism and rising concern about religiously framed acts of violence. The application of social scientific models has gone a long way toward clarifying the mechanisms of acculturation at work in medieval Spain and tempering the tendency to romanticize convivencia."
posted by The Mouthchew at 8:00 AM on March 15, 2010