Seminar series “Memories and Oblivion of Islam in Europe - 15th-20th Centuries”

The seminars, organized by Chiara Petrolini and Guido Bartolucci, aim to investigate the memory, and in some cases the removal of memory, of the presence of Muslim people in the history of early modern Europe, interweaving social and cultural relations with the theological, ideological and military confrontation that marked European Christianity's relations with Islam. Each seminar will then address a specific case in which the Islamic tradition and Muslim presence have been studied, misunderstood or removed from collective memory.

Starting with a recently published book, internationally renowned scholars, together with younger scholars, will animate the meetings with the intention of fostering an open and dynamic dialogue with students, promoting authentic and constructive discussion. The organizers will briefly introduce each seminar, providing guidelines that will enable everyone to easily follow the topics covered. The discussion will then delve into different aspects of the historical event in question, examining it from different perspectives and sensibilities will be divided into the following four meetings:

• Oct. 30, 2024, 3.30 p.m. - Aula Gambi, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

  Erudition and Censorship. Reading the Qu'ran in Rome

   

• Alastair Hamilton (Warburg Institute)
  The Plundering of the Orient. Catholic collectors hunting for Islamic and Christian manuscripts in the Levant

   

• Sara Fani (University of Bologna)
  Printing and selling Arabic books in Rome

   

• Federico Stella (ERC Project “The European Qu'ran”).
  Qur'an readers in Rome: circulation of texts and Mediterranean networks

• November 7, 2024, 3.30 p.m. - Aula Specola, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

       Community Trauma and Invented Tradition: Los Libros Plúmbeos del Sacromonte

• Gerard A. Wiegers (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

       Unveiling the Lead Books of the Sacromonte: texts, contested interpretations and historical context

• Mercedes García-Arenal (CSIC, Madrid)

       The long shadow of the Lead Books: a “Muhammedan heresy” in Eighteenth century Granada

• Davide Scotto (University of Pavia)

       The “essence of the Gospel”. A submissive camouflage of the Qur'an

• Dec. 12, 2024, 3.30 p.m. - Aula Gualandi, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

       The life and books of al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi/Leon the African/Yuhanna Al-Asad

• Andrea Donnini (Liceo Marconi, Parma)

       The text of Africa and its circulation

• Ottavia Niccoli (University of Trento)

       Leo the African as told by Natalie Zemon Davis and Amin Maalouf

• Giancarlo Casale (European University Florence)

        Hajji Ahmed of Tunis: Imposter, or “Ottoman Lion”?

•  Feb. 10, 2025, 3.30 p.m. - Aula Gambi, Department of History and Cultures, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna

        Philology, Wars and Propaganda. Images of Islam between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

• Francesca Sofia (University of Bologna)

       Islam in the writings of Sismondi

• Vincenzo Lavenia (University of Bologna)

        Islam, Orientalism and colonialism in Italy before and after unification

• Çiğdem Oğuz (Unibo)

        Anti-Ottoman propaganda during the Italian-Turkish war