United in diversity? A discourse analysis on the selective representation of the Islamic past in Spanish and Portuguese tourism

European Union;Islam;Spain;Portugal;Muslims;Moriscos;Islamic Past;Islamophobia;Cosmopolitanism

O'dowd, Katherine ; Irigoyen García ; Javier

关键词: European Union;    Islam;    Spain;    Portugal;    Muslims;    Moriscos;    Islamic Past;    Islamophobia;    Cosmopolitanism;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/31002/O%27Dowd_Katherine.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

A famous EU slogan claims that the supra-nation is “united in diversity,” but there existsa tension between this idea of an inclusive, diverse, cosmopolitan European identity and the lackof representation that Europe’s Islamic past receives in tourism websites. Being historicallyrelevant, I have chosen to look at the representation of the Islamic past in Spanish andPortuguese tourism and have identified two comparable national monuments, the Alhambra inGranada, Spain and Silves Castle in Silves, Portugal. Both are located in what was the territoryof al-Andalus, they were the last capital cities under Islamic control, and they are considered tobe very well preserved national monuments today.Although these sites have the potential to legitimize and include Islam in Europeanidentity, the way in which they are represented promotes its exclusion. This exclusion can beseen in the way that tourism texts for the Alhambra and Silves castle cleanse and erase theIslamic past as a means to create a specific image of them as the ‘other.’ Because the majority ofSpanish and Portuguese tourism comes from the European Union, I conclude that, paradoxically,the otherization of the Islamic past is a means to attract European tourists to the sites. Thus, asthe EU attempts to be inclusive, its citizenry remains exclusive of the Islamic past.