1. Islam as a Historical Enemy: The Middle Ages as Portrayed in the Historiography -- 2. Islam as an Object of Research: Integration of the Islamic Cultural Heritage -- 3. Islam as a "Colonial Other": The Iberian Dictatorships -- 4. Islam as a National Lesson: Staging the Past -- 5. Islam as Folkloristic Invention: Popular Festivals and Regional Identity
Summary
Contemporary Spain and Portugal share a historical experience as Iberian states that emerged within the context of al-Andalus. These centuries of Muslim presence in the Middle Ages became a contested heritage during the process of modern nation-building with its varied concepts and constructs of national identities. Politicians, historians, and intellectuals debated vigorously the question how the Muslim past could be reconciled with the idea of the Catholic nation. The Crescent Remembered investigates the processes of exclusion and integration of the Islamic past within the national narrative
