Lessons Isabellian Spain Should Learn in the 21st Century

by NEDA BOLOURCHI

Modern Spain is still harkening back to its Reconquista past, preventing the country from moving on with the rest of Europe and integrating its minorities.

As a teenager, I loved Spain. In fact, the quiet kingdom was one of my favorite places in the world. With my friend Maria and her family including me in their summer holidays, Spain became a conglomeration of sunny beaches, cool mountain retreats, lessons in art history, long family lunches, sets of tennis and easy access to the rest of Europe.

When Maria came to visit me in the U.S., however, our differences became apparent. As I continued to exchange letters with Carmen, Javier, Juan and Mathilde, all of whom I met in Spain, Maria rebuffed my attempts to introduce her to American teenagers. Obsessed with not gaining weight while in the U.S., Maria spent her days excessively swimming. Even though she lost more than 15 pounds, her adopted diet of steamed cauliflower and tomatoes made her moody. Outings to the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museums were miserable. Stays at the beach were punctuated with insecurity and moping.

My parents explained that Maria was simply out of her comfort zone – she had never been without her family or friends. They reasoned that she just had not been ready to leave the very powerful and sealed entity of her familial and societal units. As a teenager, I did not realize how sealed and traditional these units were until one day, Maria lashed out.

As we watched a movie in which some of the characters were Cuban, my mom turned and asked Maria what had been said and not captured in the subtitles. Snapping her head, Maria growled, “How should I know? They’re not speaking Spanish. I’m Spanish and they’re not.” There we sat, my mother and I, in shock.
 
Rule One: Do not build a fortress to protect yourself. In doing so, you will isolate yourself and develop weaknesses.

Aristotle once said, “Life is defined by movement.” Regardless of whether the discussion revolves around economics, politics, religion or technology, any transition from potential to actual requires substantive steps of movement. Although Spain has obviously advanced in these aforementioned areas, I wondered about the extent to which it has socially evolved. I decided to visit my law school friends, Sela and Mina, who were completing a dual degree program in Madrid.

Despite living in Spain for two years, Sela and Mina remained outsiders. Both nearly fluent Spanish speakers, I could not comprehend how my extroverted friends did not develop a new network in their adopted country. Wherever they went in the world over the years, the girls developed and maintained contacts with ease. Although they attended a large law school – an ideal environment for social networking – neither had made a significant friendship. After living and studying in Madrid for two years, they counted a young professor, who qualifies as a peripheral associate, as their closest Spanish friend. Sela and Mina sought the dual degree as a means to working in Spain, but their social isolation was forcing them to return to the U.S. Spain was losing two needed bilingual lawyers.

Rule Two: Do not fight the last (religious) war. In fact, erase the memory of the last war as a testament to movement and development.

Interestingly, immigrants as well as first-generation Spaniards of Arab or Muslim descent consider Madrid the most tolerant and accessible Spanish city. Given Sela and Mina’s experiences, however, I decided to seek out how immigrants felt elsewhere in Spain. To do so, no city seemed as important as Granada.

Spain sits in the conflux between its position as the center of Islamic Europe in the last millennium and as home to an increasing number of Muslim converts and immigrants. For more than seven centuries of Moorish rule, the caliphs who governed Andalusia (or Al Andalus) also oversaw a splendid flourishing of art, architecture and learning that ended when Granada fell to Christian monarchs Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in 1492. Under Isabellian rule, Spain expelled or exterminated its Muslims in the Inquisition that followed. Similarly, Spain expelled the Jews who had peaceably lived under Muslim rule. By 1614, Isabellian Spain had spent more than a century persecuting and converting non-Christians during its Reconquista. Yet, the legacy of the Moors can still be seen throughout Andalusia in its language, historical centers, shopping districts and food. Unfortunately, the attitudes of Reconquista and Isabellian Spain also remain.

 “Sometimes, when they’re drunk, they throw beer bottles at us and call us Moors and dirty Arabs. I know it’s because they’re drunk, but it makes the other guys really mad.” Giving a slight nod to the men over his shoulder, Rasheed says, “Then it is not easy to keep them from fighting.”