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ABSTRACT
This article analyses the ways in which Muslim–Christian relations occur in the Hispano–Moroccan borderland, more precisely, in the North-African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. It argues that, in these two Spanish autonomous cities, the relations between Christians and Muslims are articulated through a symbolic system in which the former exercise the capacity of being apparent, whereas the latter tend to be ‘pushed away’ from the visible, although they exert resistance. This results in a decrease of Muslims’ degree of public exposure. The article critically assesses the relational dynamics between Muslims and Christians in Ceuta and Melilla against the trope of ‘invisibility’, by looking at how they use religion to exert these enunciations: a) I briefly contextualize historically the setting, b) I explore how religion is racialized, c) I look at the use of historical vocabulary and narratives on religion to manifest intergroup conflict, d) I expose how the regime of (in)visibility unfolds, e) I scrutinize the recent development by which Christians participate in making Islam more visible and the resulting consequences this has on the relations between the two groups. The article assesses why and how religion provides the language through which these particular forms of ‘othering’ are manifested.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest is reported by the author.
Notes
1. All the direct quotations in the article are extracts from my notes taken in the field and my own translations from Spanish. I have followed the ethical guidelines of the Association of Social Anthropologists in the UK, which means I received oral consent from informants to participate in the study and gave a commitment to preserve their identities. Therefore, respondents’ names have been replaced by pseudonyms or been omitted.
2. The article only takes into consideration the relations between Muslims and Christians, who constitute the vast majority of the population, although there are other religious groups. These communities, with a much smaller presence, are Sephardic Jews, Hindus, Baha’is, and non-Catholic Christians (evangelical Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses). The analysis of religious interactions between all the groups is a fascinating topic that deserves further attention, but goes beyond the scope of this article. A detailed study of Ceuta’s and Melilla’s religious landscape, including the minority groups, can be found in Briones, Tarrés, and Salguero (2013).
3. The populations had Iberian origins, but as they were pre-modern, they were not Spaniard in the modern sense of the term.
4. For a historical introduction to Ceuta’s Muslim population, see Tarrés (Citation2013). An in-depth analysis of the city’s historical development is provided by Gozalbes Cravioto (1995) and Vilar (Citation2003), whose works on medieval Ceuta are particularly relevant.
5. Spain finally reached an agreement with the Berbers in 1860, in the Treaty of Tétouan, a political move that was met with animosity by public opinion in Spain at the time, as observed by Remacha (1994, 207-208).
6. The term literally means ‘reconquest’, in reference to the wish of Christian powers to take back the territories governed by Muslims during the period between 711 and 1491, when significant parts of the Iberian Peninsula were under Muslim rule.
7. Estimates of 2012 indicate that 35.5% of Melilla’s population of 83,762 were Muslim, a proportion that only includes those who hold Spanish citizenship; the number of Muslim residents and the roughly 30,000 Moroccans who daily cross the border to work in Melilla and return to Morocco at night also need to be counted.
8. La Guardia ‘Mora’ was a military unit whose soldiers were Moroccans and which worked as Franco’s personal guard during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of the Franco regime. For more information, see Cardona (Citation2008).
9. They were registered as ‘Muslim’; the divide between the two communities is so wide that the term ‘Muslim’ implies Moroccan origins, sometimes considered both ‘Spanish’ and ‘Muslim’—making it an oxymoron. This is a conception that largely prevails among the older generation within the ‘Christian’ population.
10. A detailed account of the struggle for recognition is given by Gold (2000, 91–120).
11. My translation from Spanish (http://www.melilla.es/melillaportal/RecursosWeb/DOCUMENTOS/1/0_11970_1.pdf, accessed 3 October 2015). On the process of urbanization in Melilla, see Saro Garandillas (1985).
12. Studies on the (mis)use of Muslim heritage in notions of nation building in Spain and Portugal can be found in the volume edited by Hertel (Citation2016).
13. The background to issues related to Islamophobia in Andalusia is provided by Dietz (Citation2004).
14. The categories of secular Muslim and secular Jew pose important questions in the debate whether Islam and Judaism are religiously or ethnically defined. For two interesting cases on the makings of secular Muslim subjectivities and their visibility in France’s public sphere, see Mas (Citation2006). For a discussion on the ethnic and religious nature of Judaism, see Webber (Citation1997).
15. Deltombe (Citation2007) provides an assessment of the role played by the French media in the demonization of Islam.
16. See e.g. the cases presented by Morgan and Poynting (Citation2016).
17. It is forbidden in Spain to collect data about religion or ethnicity, but this is an estimate given by the Instituto Elcano, which caused uproar among Melillense Christians, as this article shows (see http://www.alertadigital.com/2016/12/05/el-75-por-ciento-de-los-nacimientos-en-melilla-ya-son-musulmanes-el-sabado-nacieron-15-marroquies-y-un-solo-espanol/, accessed 4 July 2017).
18. See http://www.elpueblodeceuta.com/201512/20151204/201512048201.htm, accessed 14 June 2017. My translation from Spanish.
19. Harris (Citation1997) analyzes the conversion of mosques to churches in medieval Spain.
20. See http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/01/13/mute-symbols/, accessed 1 November 2015.
21. In an attempt to tone down the highly controversial program, the excavation is carried out by a team of archeologists from both Spain and Morocco.
22. Muslim political parties and the role they occupy in Muslim–Christian relations are a fascinating topic that deserves further scholarly attention, but it is beyond the scope of this article. An introduction to the Muslim political scene in Ceuta and Melilla is provided by Tarrés (Citation2013) and Salguero (2013).
23. “A la Asamblea con el ‘hiyab’; Fátima Hamed se convierte en la primera musulmana que toma posesión como diputada de Ceuta tocada con el velo islámico” (http://elpais.com/diario/2007/06/17/espana/1182031209_850215.html, accessed 21 June 2017).
24. See https://www.facebook.com/129609950550399/photos/pb.129609950550399.-2207520000.1462917444./577999262378130/?type=3&theater, accessed 4 July 2017.
25. My translation from http://www.sociedadyutopia.es/index.php/resenas/resenas-publicadas/article/192-musulmanes-y-cristianos-conviviendo-juntos-asi-sienten-los-escolares-de-ceuta-y-melilla, accessed 30 October 2015.
26. My translation from El Faro de Ceuta, 6 December 2012 (see http://elfarodigital.es/ceuta/sociedad/112412-la-convivencia-ceuti-se-sustenta-en-el-interes-por-mantener-el-statu-quo-actual.html#sthash.WtDwJHJB.dpuf, accessed 30 October 2015).
27. Declaration made to a local newspaper, El Faro de Ceuta, à propos the publication of his book (Rontomé Romero 2012; see http://elfarodigital.es/ceuta/sociedad/112412-la-convivencia-ceuti-se-sustenta-en-el-interes-por-mantener-el-statu-quo-actual.html#sthash.WtDwJHJB.dpuf, accessed 6 September 2015, my translation from Spanish).
28. El pueblo de Ceuta, 23 April 2015 (http://www.elpueblodeceuta.com/201504/20150423/201504238109.html, accessed 16 September 2015, my translation from Spanish). The term ‘corsary’ refers to the activity of piracy undertaken by communities which were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula and which resettled in North Africa after 1491.
29. See El Faro de Melilla, http://elfarodemelilla.es/2016/11/15/la-batalla-la-mezquita-hamza/, accessed 3 July 2017.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Marta Dominguez Diaz
Marta Dominguez Diaz is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. CORRESPONDENCE: Department of Islamic Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Unterer Graben 21, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland.