Muslim-Jewish Bridges: the Endurance of Iberian Heritage in the Modern Maghrib (late 17th–late 20th Centuries)

Objectif

What if cultural identity played a greater role than religion in shaping Muslim-Jewish relations? Maghrib-Bridges: The Endurance of Iberian Heritage in the Modern Maghrib (late 17th–late 20th Centuries), investigates this question by exploring how shared historical roots and cultural heritage connected Muslims and Jews in ways that transcended religious divisions. It focuses on the intertwined cultural history of Sephardic Jews and Andalusian Muslims in the Maghrib. By adopting a historical-anthropological approach, it analyses oral histories, material culture, and archival documents in Arabic, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Spanish, and European languages to unveil the transformation of a shared Hispano-Maghrebi culture across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

By shedding light onto this neglected aspect of modern North African societies and situating Hispano-Maghrebi culture within the larger Maghribi and Mediterranean cultural landscapes it belonged to, the project redefines conventional research paradigms on Muslim-Jewish dynamics in the region. It moves beyond the traditional focus on religious affiliations as the primary form of solidarity and social articulation, revealing how forms of cultural identity significantly influenced the social order and relations.

The project explores three key areas: (1) how Sephardic and Andalusian communities developed a shared identity through cultural practices and communal living; (2) how exchange networks within the Maghrib and the Mediterranean strengthened this identity; and (3) how political changes and interactions with other Maghribi and European actors influenced Sephardic-Andalusian relations over time.

Maghrib-Bridges challenges the traditional narrative framing these interactions solely through the lens of a Jewish minority and Muslim majority dynamic by exploring their shared history and culture and reconstructing a rich heritage and shared memory that is at risk of fading.