How does Al-Andalus return in the present? Why do literary and cultural memories of the medieval past continue to travel across borders and generations?

In this episode,Cristina Moreno-Almeida speaks with Eric Calderwood about the afterlives of Al-Andalus in modern literature, culture, and politics. Together they explore how Al-Andalus has become a recurring reference point and literary trope, how memories of Al-Andalus have travelled across the Mediterranean, and why the past continues to be reimagined in contemporary cultural and political contexts.

In this Episode

0:00 Intro

0:47 Trailer

1:40 What does Al-Andalus mean today?

04:18 Al-Andalus as myth,

10:09 The complexities of studying Al-Andalus

11:43 Colonial Al-Andalus

21:54 How is Al-Andalus studied and remembered in the Middle East andNorth Africa nowadays?

36:02 Al-Andalus as contradiction

37:41 Book and film recommendations

41:39 Lightning round

About the Guest

Eric Calderwood is Professor of Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois, specialising in North African literature and film, Al-Andalus (Medieval MuslimIberia), modern Spanish literature and film, Arabic literature, Mediterranean studies, postcolonial studies, and travel writing. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2011 and his B.A. from Brown University in 2003. His recent publications include On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus (Harvard University Press, 2023), and scholarlyarticles in journals such as PMLA, Journal of Arabic Literature,and Journal of North African Studies. Calderwood’s work continues to shape contemporary understandings of cultural translation, colonial imaginaries, and literary histories across the Mediterranean and beyond.

Latest book https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674980365

Learn more: https://spanport.illinois.edu/directory/profile/ecalderw

About the Project

'Digital Al Andalus: Radical Perspectives Of and Through Al Andalus’ (2023-2028) is an ERC selected, UKRI funded project exploring the uses, abuses, and afterlives of medieval history in contemporary culture and politics.

The series brings together historians, media scholars, and cultural critics to examine how the past is remembered, mythologized, and mobilised today, from medieval Iberia todigital culture and online misinformation.

Learn more: https://digitalalandalus.qmul.ac.uk/

Credits Producer,editing and sound: The Lens Box (email: studio@thelensbox.com; Instagram@thelensbox)

Artwork: Kate NunnFelip Docolomansky

Follow the Podcast

YouTube: @digitalal-andalus

Instagram:@digitalalandalus

Website: https://digitalalandalus.qmul.ac.uk/

Support the ProjectIf you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing, sharing the podcast, or leaving a review. It helps others discover the series and supports independent public history projects.