CURRENT ACTIVITIES
Marvine Howe has spent much of her journalistic career covering Muslims in North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and even Europe. Now for the first time, she has reported on the speaking tour of a Muslim Imam in her home territory of Rockbridge County, a super-conservative part of Virginia’s Bible Belt. You can see her story on Imam Yahya Hendi and his mission to debunk Muslim stereotypes in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, the January-February 2020 issue.
Imam Yahya Hendi Challenges Stereotypes in The Bible Belt
Imam Yahya Hendi speaks on “Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Confrontation or Cooperation?” at the Virginia Military Institute. (PHOTO COURTESY ROCKBRIDGE INTERFAITH)
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THE MUSLIM CHAPLAIN at Georgetown University ventured recently into Rockbridge County, VA, a largely conservative pocket of the Bible Belt, which includes the towns of Lexington and Buena Vista. In a series of talks in November, Palestinian-born Imam Yahya Hendi challenged the stereotypes of Islam—and pointed to paths of interfaith cooperation. These were the first Muslim-led series of interfaith, intercollegiate talks and prayer services ever held in Rockbridge County. It’s an area better known for competitions over Christmas decorations, rows over Confederate parades and its pro-gun rights movement.
Formerly a chaplain at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, Georgetown’s first Muslim chaplain is also a Public Policy Conflict Resolution Fellow at the University of Maryland, and president of Clergy Beyond Borders. |
Imam Hendi’s visit was hosted by a community group, Rockbridge Interfaith, as well as local colleges and churches. The imam spoke to cadets, faculty and visitors at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), as well as students and faculty at Washington and Lee University in Lexington and mostly Mormon students and faculty at Southern Virginia University (SVU) at Buena Vista. He also spoke at interfaith prayer services at Lexington Presbyterian and Grace Episcopal churches.
Click the file below to download a pdf version of the full article.
Click the file below to download a pdf version of the full article.
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Earlier in 2019, Marvine Howe returned to Algeria to cover the peaceful insurgency for Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. The atmosphere was electric with excitement and hope, not seen since the early days of independence in 1962.
Algeria's Second Revolution
The Hirak popular protest movement in downtown Algiers. Protests ignited after the announcement that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had a debilitating stroke six years ago, would run for a fifth term.
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ALGERIANS WILL READILY TALK about November and their dreams of liberty, dignity and democracy...but they don’t mean last November or next November. On their minds is November 1954, when a small group of Algerian nationalists launched their war for independence against the colonial might of France. The devastat- ing Algerian war, which lasted eight years and cost 400,000 to 1.5 million Algerian lives and some 300,000 partisans of French Alge- ria, became a model for colonized peoples everywhere, but did not bring Algerians the sense of well-being and rule of law.
Today’s descendants of those early revolutionaries are trying to achieve what their forebears failed to do-- |
establish a democratic society with freedom, justice and opportunity for all. And they are determined to realize their goals peacefully. In the introduction to a new collection of essays in French, en- titled To March!, Algerian poet and former diplomat Amin Khan writes: “While the revolution of November succeeded in resusci- tating a people from colonialist extermination, the February revolution should lift up the country to the highest level of freedom, that of a people governed by themselves and for themselves.”
Click here to read full article on wrmea.org or click the file below to download a pdf version.
Click here to read full article on wrmea.org or click the file below to download a pdf version.
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Marvine covered a different kind of event for Washington Report from her overseas base in Lisbon, Portugal.
Lisbon Exhibit Showcases the Rise of Islamic Art
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The Gulbenkian Foundation is marking the 150th anniversary of the Armenian oil magnate’s birth with the first comprehensive display of his priceless collection of Middle Eastern art. Gulbenkian fled France for Portugal in 1942 and made Lisbon his home until his death in 1955. Penelope Cruz, director of the Gulbenkian Museum, admits
that the museum’s Islamic works have been “overshadowed” by their European collections, including treasures from Leningrad’s Heritage Museum and Rene Lalique’s Art Nouveau. Noting that a number of major museums are focusing on collections from the Middle East, the director writes in the exhibit’s catalogue: “Middle Eastern objects in Western museums become ever more poignant as they speak of buildings and places which have been razed to the ground in recent battles. In this way, sadly enough, objects from Syria, for example, speak more urgently to the present than ever before.” To see the rest of the images and read Marvine's comments click here |
Marine Howe, a former New York Times bureau chief in Beirut, remains deeply interested in the Israeli=Palestinian issue.
Ilan Pappé Campaigns for One Democratic State in Israel -- Marvine writes for The Washington Report On Middle Eastern Affairs (WRMEA)
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DESPITE RECENT SETBACKS, the movement for one democratic state in Israel and Palestine is gaining momentum, and is particularly strong on college campuses, according to Ilan Pappé, the self-exiled Israeli director of the European Center for Palestinian Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.
“Young people in the Middle East and abroad have been galvanized by the vision of an end to the apartheid state in Israel and the establishment of a single democratic state, based on human rights for all,” Pappé told the Washington Report as he engaged in various lectures and debates in May, marking the 70th anniversary of the state of Israel and the Nakba(catastrophe in Arabic), the mass expulsion of Palestinians by Zionist para-military forces. Click here to read the full article. |
Marvine also continues to keep in touch with North Africa where she began her journalistic career aeons ago, covering the wars for independence as stringer for The New York Times and Time/Life.
Whither Western Sahara? -- A Special Report by Marvine for WRMEA
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There has been perceptible movement of late on one of the world’s most intractable territorial disputes. For more than four decades, Morocco has been engaged in an uncompromising struggle over the Western Sahara against a determined national liberation movement, called the Polisario Front. Western Sahara is in fact a desolate 102,700 square miles of mostly rocks, sand and phosphates, nearly the size of Colorado, with a 660-mile Atlantic coastline, exceptionally rich in fishing resources. Since 1975, Morocco has occupied this former Spanish colony in the name of national sovereignty. The following year, Saharan exiles, who fled to neighboring Algeria, established their government-in-exile, known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and recognized since by some 80 countries.
More recently, the United Nations, which successfully engineered a cease-fire between the belligerents in 1991, has been losing patience over the lack of progress on its other mission: to organize a referendum for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. Last spring, the U.N. renewed its Sahara mission for only six months, until the end of October—instead of the usual year—apparently to force Morocco and Polisario to reach a compromise. The latest U.N. statement calls on the two parties to resume negotiations “without pre-conditions” on a solution that is “just, durable and mutually acceptable” for the self-determination of Western Sahara. U.N. sources said that new pressure was coming from Washington to conclude the Saharan mission. Indeed, American diplomat Amy Noel Tachco informed the U.N. that putting an end to the 27-year-old status quo in Western Sahara “is an absolute necessity.” Click here to read the full report. |
On her latest foray into Morocco, Marvine reported on the crisis in the northern Rif Mountains for Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. She concludes:
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“Whatever happens next, the Rif’s peaceful protest has shaken the democratic façade of the kingdom and demonstrated that power remains with the king and not the myriad of weak political parties previously encouraged by the palace. It has also been an important exercise in grassroots politics which could signal a new start for Moroccan democracy...if the lessons are heeded on all sides.”
Click here to read the full article. |
Marvine Howe's main mission now is to complete a book on Algeria's Women and How They Coped with the Violence on All Sides that Virtually Isolated the Country in the 1990's and into the 21st Century.
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During her visits to Algeria in 2014-2016, Marvine met a wide range of women: students, academics, businesswomen and professionals, artists and civil servants, and most recounted horror stories of what is known as “the black years.” Among these contacts are: Louisette Ighilariz nationalist heroine, Nouria Hafsi, head of the National Union of Algerian Women (UNFA), Samira Ibrahim, Deputy of the moderate Islamist Party En Nadha, Salima Ghezali, feminist and democrat, Akila Ouared, militante moudjahida and Hassiba Boulmerka, Olympics champion in Athletic against all odds. Earlier contacts include Zohra Drif, a freedom fighter in the war for independence, Khalida Messaoudi-Toumi, a leader in the struggle against radical Islamists and former Minister of Culture, Aicha Barki, President of the Algerian Association for Literacy, Zafira Quartsi Baba, founder of Artissimo,
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Zohra Drif and Grandson
Aicha Barki
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Khalida Messaoudi-Toumi
Zafira Quartsi Baba
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Other Algerian militantes she met include; Naama Abbas, head of the pro-government daily El Moudjahid, Louisa Hanoune, secretary general of the leftist opposition Labor Party, Mounia Meslem, Minister of National Solidarity, the Family and the State of Women and Nacira Haddad, head of an Investment counseling firm and member of the Business Executives Forum.
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Naama Abbas
Mounia Meslem
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Louisa Hanoune
Nacira Haddad
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It's an impressive group of women... but as yet incomplete. Marvine hopes to return soon to this little-known heart of North Africa to get to know the everyday heroines.
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Marvine also covered several European conferences devoted to the burning issue of the times: the major influx of foreign refugees and migrants
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FARIDA KHALAF IS a 20-year-old Yazidi, or non-Muslim Kurd, with a mission: to bear witness to the genocide carried out against her community in northern Iraq. Her personal story of escape from sexual slavery under Islamic extremists won a standing ovation from international dignitaries—including four Nobel Peace Prize winners—attending the biannual Estoril Conferences dedicated to Global Challenges. Click here to read full article.
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Marvine's latest assignment focused on Algeria's Resilient Press, published in the August-September, 2016 edition of WRMEA
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WHAT STARTED OUT this spring as a business deal to save a financially strapped newspaper group has escalated into a national movement to defend freedom of the press in Algeria. While most of the media are generally pro-government, even the acquiescent press is often critical of official failings. Despite severe financial constraints, a handful of newspapers and television stations remain steadfastly independent. As a result, the press is remarkably open and vibrant in this secretive, authoritarian state.
Despite official assurances of press freedom, an Algiers court on July 13 blocked the $45 million purchase of El Khabar, the leading independent Arabic newspaper, and its KBCTV channel by the country’s wealthiest private entrepreneur. El Khabar’s lawyers, who withdrew earlier in protest against “the parody of justice,” said they would appeal the decision to the Council of State. Click here to read full article |
Previously Marvine reported on the Algerian role in the worldwide struggle against extremism for WRMEA. Her piece appeared as a Special Report in the September 2015 edition
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Algeria Emerges From Obscurity as a Leading Mediator in War on Terror
Marvine Howe After a long eclipse, Algeria has returned to the international scene with a compelling message: We lived through the Arab Spring before anyone else; we’ve been vaccinated against terrorism and are ready to share our expertise. Clearly concerned over the troubled situation in the region and possible contagion on its borders, a revived Algerian diplomacy is promoting dialogue with radical insurgents in half a dozen African countries. Also with the blessings of the United States, Algiers hosted an International Conference on Deradicalization in late July, grouping 50 countries and international organizations, as a precursor to the Global Counterterrorism Forum at the United Nations in September. Algiers has developed a counter-terrorism model based on its experience of 15 years ofjihadist assaults, assassinations, kidnappings and massacres, and merciless response by security forces. To end this unbridled violence, which left some 200,000 people dead, the Algerian government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika embarked on a program to reintegrate Islamic extremists into civil society. In the fall of 2005, the exhausted nation voted for the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, culminating in a generous amnesty for nearly all concerned. It is too early to say whether the Algerian approach can be exported—or, indeed, if it works. Nevertheless, it has provided Algeria with relative stability and won accolades both at home and abroad. Click here to read full article. |
MS. Magazine published Marvine's report on the slow pace of women's emancipation... Morocco -- Sluggish but Irreversible -- Reform in its Spring issue of May 2015.
Moroccan Women Still at the Barricades appeared in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs in the January-February 2015 issue. Click here for PDF version of this article.
Algeria Election Coverage |
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At the same time, Marvine covered Algeria's highly controversial elections, in which the incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, whose health was severely impaired by stroke in April 2013, was the ruling party’s candidate for a fourth term. Polling day passed quietly with few incidents and visibly few voters. In the capital’s popular cafes, young people told Marvine there was no use voting because the elections wouldn’t change anything, while many seniors said the results were known beforehand and preferred to spend the holiday playing dominos rather than go to the polls. Bouteflika won handily with 81.53% of the vote but abstention and null votes were at a record level, and much of the opposition has yet to recognize the results.
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OTHER EVENTS
Marvine Howe interviews Turkey's First Lady Hayrunnisa Gul
This interview was published as part of the article, "Turkey Today: Headscarves and Women's Rights" in Middle East Policy, Blackwell Publishers, Volume XX, Fall 2013.
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Turkey's first lady, Hayrunnisa Gul, recalls that in the beginning, she was sympathetic to the environmental protesters at Istanbul's Gezi Park, but became concerned when the demonstrations, which shook much of the country, turned violent. Emphasizing that Turkey has achieved progress "in every way" in the last decade, Mrs. Gul wondered whether "all our efforts have been in vain."
I had gone to Ankara to interview Mrs. Gul about women's rights in Turkey, including the contentious headscarf problem. My visit and the interview were overshadowed by the explosion of discontent against the democratically elected conservative Islamic government. (Click here to read rest of this preview. Full article available in print edition of Middle East Policy.) |
Journalist Marvine Howe interviewed first lady Hayrunnisa Gul on women's rights, against the background of the Gezi Park protests.
Turkish media reaction
Today's Zaman published large excerpts from the First Lady's interview in Middle East Policy:
Women underrepresented in decision mechanisms, says Mrs. Gül
Turkish women have progressed and are now more active in social life, but they are still mostly kept out of decision-making mechanisms, first lady Hayrünnisa Gül has said.
Gül was interviewed by Marvine Howe, a former reporter for The New York Times and the author of “Turkey Today: A Nation Divided over Islam's Revival,” on Sept. 6 against the backdrop of the Gezi protests. The interview was published only recently, in the Fall 2013 issue of Middle East Policy, a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly. |
Click here to continue reading this interview on Today's Zaman Web site, or click here to download, read, or print a PDF copy of this article.
The daily Sabah also published a report on Mrs. Gul's interview and CNNTurk aired a discussion on the event.
Sevgi Akarcesme interviews Marvine Howe
Sevgi Akarcesme, columnist for Turkey's leading English-language daily Today's Zaman, interviews Marvine Howe about her long career in journalism, her views on the recent protest demonstrations in Istanbul and Islamic headscarves.
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Marvine Howe, an experienced journalist and author who worked for years as a New York Times correspondent in different parts of the world including Ankara in the 1980s, is still actively pursuing her profession. Working extensively on the role of Islam in a region from North Africa to Turkey, Howe believes that secularist fears over lifestyle in Turkey are about perceived intentions, expressing her disappointment over the headscarf ban in Turkey. Having known the late eighth President Turgut Özal, Howe believes that had he lived, Turkey's problems would have been resolved less painfully. Howe, who is currently writing articles about the Kurdish and headscarf problems in Turkey, visited Gezi Park in June. During her stay, she also interviewed Turkish first lady Mrs. Gül. Howe talked to Sunday's Zaman on a range of issues from the role of women in journalism to different interpretations of Islam. Howe's work has appeared in World Policy Journal and Critical Muslim as well as The Christian Science Monitor, The Nation and The New Republic.
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Click here to continue reading this interview on Today's Zaman Web site, or click here to download, read, or print a PDF copy of the interview.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
October/November 2013: "Portugal Celebrates Islamic Art, Past and Present, With Aga Khan Awards"
"Sitting in a village in the center of Palestine, you have the feeling that nobody knows about you in the midst of all the upheaval of the Arab Spring; then some people notice you, and it makes you feel very good," said Suad Amiry after ceremonies in honor of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2013, held in September in the Portuguese capital.
Amiry, better known as the author of Sharon and My Mother-inLaw, is founder of the Palestinian NGO Riwaq, a winner of this year's Aga Khan Award for the Revitalization of Birzeit Hisoric Center. The international jury said the Birzeit project "manages to transform not only a neglected historic core but also people's lives, and restores not only buildings but the dignity of their users. Besides the Birzeit revitalization, four other projects--chosen from nearly 500 entries--share the 2013 architectural prize of $1 million: the rehabilitation of the Tabriz Bazaar in Iran, the Salam Cardiac Center in Sudan, the Hassand II Bridge in Morocco, and the first Islamic cemetery in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Although Portugal was not among the prize winners, nor even represented on the jury, the Architectural Award assumed the importance of a national celebration of Islamic art, past and present...." |
Click here to read full text on Washington Report Web Site, or Click here to download, read, or print a PDF copy.
September 2013: "Despite Ongoing Protests, Cautious Hopes Persist in Kurdish Peace Process"
“For 10 days straight, the Turkish public was able to watch on national TV groups of Kurds calling for peace and waving banners with the face of leader Abdullah Öcalan right here in Taksim Square,” a Kurdish parliamentarian told this writer exultantly.
The deputy, Sebahat Tuncel of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), said in an interview that if, as a consequence of the Taksim protests, the government puts a stop to negotiations with Ocalan, “we will understand that it was not sincere about the peace process.” The process she referred to is a landmark agreement reached late last year between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), officially banned as a terrorist organization, which has waged a devastating rebellion for nearly 30 years, costing more than 40,000 lives and the destruction of some 4,000 villages in southeastern Turkey. |
Click here to read full text on Washington Report Web Site, or Click here to download, read, or print a PDF copy.
LATEST BOOK
Al-Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia's New Muslims
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Portugal’s popular TV weekly news program “A Community of Nations” aired an interview with Marvine Howe on Al-Andalus Rediscovered, including a wide range of subjects from the 8th Century Islamic invasion of Iberia, to Muslim perceptions of the September 11 attacks, the impact of the Arab Spring and Iberian Interculturalism. January 5/6, 2013.
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FYI dear reader....
If you're having trouble finding copies of Al-Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia's New Muslims, please see the new notice in the "Buy a Book!" section.
REVIEWS
CHOICE 2013
Current Reviews for Academic Libraries
June 2013 Vol. 50 No. 10 (Click this link for PDF file of full text.)
June 2013 Vol. 50 No. 10 (Click this link for PDF file of full text.)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
May 2013: "Interculturalism in Iberia"
Author and journalist Marvine Howe discussed her latest book, Al-Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia’s New Muslims(available from the AET Book Club) at a March 30 appearance at Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington, DC. Her appearance was co-sponsored by Georgetown’s BMW Center for German and European Studies.
In his introductory remarks, Jonathan A. Brown, professor of Islamic studies and Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown, cited several of Howe’s earlier books, including Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges (also available from the AET Book Club) and Turkey: A Nation Divided Over Islam’s Revival. |
Click here to read full text on Washington Report Web Site, or Click here to download, read, or print a PDF copy.
The Muslim World Book Review, 33:3, 2013
AL-ANDALUS REDISCOVERED; IBERIA'S NEW MUSLIMS. By Marvine Howe. London: C. Hurst & Co.. Ltd, 2012. Pp. 274. ISBN; 9781849041614.
As a former New York Times correspondent Marvine Howe covered areas of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. Here, Howe turns her attention to the Iberian Peninsula; Spain and Portugal, where she examines the recent migration of Muslims, during the last fifty years, into the region and the impact this had made on the receiving societies. Large scale immigration began during the 1960s with the arrival of Moroccans seeking to secure employment at a time of a buoyant labour market. New settlers are predominantly economic migrants from North Africa, and sub-Saharan African, former Portuguese colonies with lesser numbers of South Asians, Eastern Europeans and South Americans. They range from wealthy industrialists to destitute illegal immigrants....
The book ranges over a number of inter-related topics and is informed by a wide range of sources, including Muslim and non-Muslim representatives of state institutions, religious figures, academics, NGO's and members of the public. Current immigration is set in a historical context through an examination of the legacy of the Muslim conquest and rule of Iberia from the eighth century onwards. The historical material is informative and Howe acknowledges attempts on the part of the public and politicians to diminish the significance of the vast contribution and legacy left by the Islamic civilisation to the region, although there is some recognition emerging from contemporary academia....
This is a book that had the potential to ask interesting and discursive questions but leaves the reader disappointed in the narrow remit of its focus, largely centred on describing the status quo. It is the questions that Howe does not ask which are the most important in terms of possible outcomes to issues of immigration. The over-reliance on detail and information detracts from meaningful analysis. The validity of the assessments where they are made is also questionable. In terms of the larger debate surrounding equity and justice regarding who has the right to reside and share in the world's lands and resources are not addressed.
Ruqaiyah Hibell, Islamic Foundation, UK. .
As a former New York Times correspondent Marvine Howe covered areas of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. Here, Howe turns her attention to the Iberian Peninsula; Spain and Portugal, where she examines the recent migration of Muslims, during the last fifty years, into the region and the impact this had made on the receiving societies. Large scale immigration began during the 1960s with the arrival of Moroccans seeking to secure employment at a time of a buoyant labour market. New settlers are predominantly economic migrants from North Africa, and sub-Saharan African, former Portuguese colonies with lesser numbers of South Asians, Eastern Europeans and South Americans. They range from wealthy industrialists to destitute illegal immigrants....
The book ranges over a number of inter-related topics and is informed by a wide range of sources, including Muslim and non-Muslim representatives of state institutions, religious figures, academics, NGO's and members of the public. Current immigration is set in a historical context through an examination of the legacy of the Muslim conquest and rule of Iberia from the eighth century onwards. The historical material is informative and Howe acknowledges attempts on the part of the public and politicians to diminish the significance of the vast contribution and legacy left by the Islamic civilisation to the region, although there is some recognition emerging from contemporary academia....
This is a book that had the potential to ask interesting and discursive questions but leaves the reader disappointed in the narrow remit of its focus, largely centred on describing the status quo. It is the questions that Howe does not ask which are the most important in terms of possible outcomes to issues of immigration. The over-reliance on detail and information detracts from meaningful analysis. The validity of the assessments where they are made is also questionable. In terms of the larger debate surrounding equity and justice regarding who has the right to reside and share in the world's lands and resources are not addressed.
Ruqaiyah Hibell, Islamic Foundation, UK. .
Afkar/Ideas, 36, Winter 2012-13
tri-monthly magazine on foreign affairs, in Spanish and French. (see text in Spanish)
Al Andalus Rediscovered by Marvine Howe
Reviwed by Bernabe Lopez Garcia, Professor Catedratico Emeritus, Contemporary History of Islam, Autonomous
University of Madrid.
Prof. Lopez concludes…“The author…presents a complete and up-to-date frieze of the reality of Iberian Islam, with its internal contradictions, detractors and supporters.”
Al Andalus Rediscovered by Marvine Howe
Reviwed by Bernabe Lopez Garcia, Professor Catedratico Emeritus, Contemporary History of Islam, Autonomous
University of Madrid.
Prof. Lopez concludes…“The author…presents a complete and up-to-date frieze of the reality of Iberian Islam, with its internal contradictions, detractors and supporters.”
The Olive Press
RECENT REPORTS
Marvine's Article, Moving On: Iberia's New Muslims, in the Spring 2013 edition of the World Policy Journal.
Marvine's Article, Iberia's New Muslims, in the spring issue of The Critical Muslim. Theme of this April 2013 issue is Reclaiming Al-Andalus.
Marvine's Article, Iberia's New Muslims, in the spring issue of The Critical Muslim. Theme of this April 2013 issue is Reclaiming Al-Andalus.
U.S. Book Launch -- Featuring a Round Table Discussion
A quote from the U.S. Launch event:
Al Andalus Rediscovered combines the fluidity of journalism and--given the richness of the interviews--the analytical depth of ethnographic research. It is a book that captivates and enlightens. Unlike many other books on the relations of immigrants and their hosts, which focus entirely on xenophobia, this one explores a gamut of attitudes and behaviors ranging from Islamophobic complaints about a presumed Muslim re-conquest of Iberia to collective acts of kindness and solidarity from local organizations. The result is an ample and insightful study of social phobias but also, as the Spanish put it, of convivencia, our capacity to coexist in harmony. Ultimately, Al Andalusconveys an optimist ethos that transcends the “naiveté” of dreamers and the negativity of “realists.”
José C. Moya
Professor of History
Director, Forum on Migration
Senior Fellow, Institute Latin American
Studies Barnard College, Columbia University
Book Launch Press Release PDF
Al Andalus Rediscovered combines the fluidity of journalism and--given the richness of the interviews--the analytical depth of ethnographic research. It is a book that captivates and enlightens. Unlike many other books on the relations of immigrants and their hosts, which focus entirely on xenophobia, this one explores a gamut of attitudes and behaviors ranging from Islamophobic complaints about a presumed Muslim re-conquest of Iberia to collective acts of kindness and solidarity from local organizations. The result is an ample and insightful study of social phobias but also, as the Spanish put it, of convivencia, our capacity to coexist in harmony. Ultimately, Al Andalusconveys an optimist ethos that transcends the “naiveté” of dreamers and the negativity of “realists.”
José C. Moya
Professor of History
Director, Forum on Migration
Senior Fellow, Institute Latin American
Studies Barnard College, Columbia University
Book Launch Press Release PDF
September Launch Event in Lisbon Successful!
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Hurst & Co. Publishers LTD Press Release for Lisbon Launch of Al-Andalus Rediscovered. (Includes European pricing information.)