Lecture 1. Slides

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created by:

Fernando Luis Martinez Nespral


from the module:

Architectural links between the Islamic World and Latin America

Lecture Abstract: Imaginaries about Latin America place it at a considerable distance from the Islamic World. Languages, religions and cultural paradigms lead us to associate Latin America either with the Occident, the pre-Columbian or, in some countries, with the Afro culture. We rarely imagine links with the Islamic World. But, surprisingly, there are many connections between both cultures. First, because of Spanish Mudejar or Moorish heritage and then as a consequence of the Arab immigrants or other Arabic influences. The intention of this module is to explore those links and deepen the specific field of Architecture. There is a similar work about this topic in the United States, the book “Domes, arches and minarets: A history of Islamic inspired buildings in America” by Phil Pasquini (Flypaper Press, 2012) which is more photographic than theoretical, but the selection of works is singularly complete. Islamic traces in Latin American Architecture can be studied in three periods, because they represent different epochs, contexts and problems, and their causes and consequences in architecture and daily life have highly dissimilar qualities. So, we developed this module into four lectures, an Introduction and one for each of these periods. Beyond the introduction, this lecture briefly outlines these units: 1. Arabic component of Ibero-american culture 2. Apparent differences between both cultures, but… 3. Arabisms of the Spanish language 4. Spanish “Reconquest” war and it consequences 5. “Aljamiado” texts as a metaphor of the Arabic component in Spanish culture.

supporting documents:

Handout

Quiz with Answers

Lecture Notes