Jews, Muslims Europe

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Jews and Muslims are the two most important religious minorities in Europe today. For centuries they were significant “others” in a predominantly Christian Europe and they continue to be defined by their religious identity in states which generally purport to be secular. This course focuses on the triangular relationship of Jews, Muslims and state and society in three countries: France, Spain and Germany. The course will help explain current tensions in Europe (exacerbated by such things as 9/11, refugee flows, and the war in Gaza) by putting them into the longue duree. The first session sets out the issues of the course, discusses the current situation of Muslims and Jews in Europe today, and provides a background on antisemitism, islamophobia and philosemitism. The next two sessions offer an overview of the premodern and modern European context and the geopolitics of religious conflict. This will include discussion of the Crusades, the wars of religion of the 16th century, the impact of Enlightenment thought and of colonialism. This period witnessed the emancipation of Jews, rising antisemitism and encounters between the Western world and Muslim societies. Most of the course will then focus on case studies of Jews and Muslims in France, Spain and Germany, followed by a concluding session summarizing the role of historical memory and the impact of conflicts in the Middle East on the triangular relationship of Jews, Muslims and European states. As a result of this course students will be able to better understand the dynamics of the relationship of religion and the state in pluralist, democratic societies.