Please join us for the launch of Marvine Howe’s new book, Al Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia’s New Muslims and a roundtable conversation with the author,  Marvine Howe, a former New York Times foreign correspondent and author of books on Turkey and Morocco; Jose Moya, Professor of History at Barnard College; Michele Wucker, President of the World Policy Institute; and Claudia Dreifus, writer for the New York Times Science Times.

Iberia is a place of historic and symbolic significance to all three of the world’s major religions. Myths concerning Islam’s origins collide with the story of the Christian reconquista, the subsequent Spanish Inquisition, and the massive expulsion of Muslims and Jews some five hundred years ago. Yet Muslims have made a comeback in the region, which is becoming one of Europe’s fastest growing Muslim communities. This volume recounts the “retaking” of Al-Andalus by Iberia’s new Muslims, which include groups as diverse as students, boat workers, female professionals, and clerics, and their successful integration within a strongly Roman Catholic culture. Marvine Howe shares not only the experiences of Iberia’s Muslims but also the actions of Spanish and Portuguese officials, academics, NGOs, and ordinary citizens who have sought better ways to incorporate Muslims and other immigrants into Iberian society—despite domestic and European pressure to do otherwise.

Co-sponsored by the IRCPL, CDTR, and Blinken European Institute.