"With extraordinary linguistic range, Calderwood brings us the voices of Arabs and Muslims who have turned to the distant past of Spain to imagine their future."
-Hussein Fancy, Yale University

How the memory of Muslim Iberia shapes art and politics from New York and Cordoba to Cairo and the West Bank.

During the Middle Ages, the Iberian Peninsula was home not to Spain and Portugal but rather to al-Andalus. Ruled by a succession of Islamic dynasties, al-Andalus came to be a shorthand for a legendary place where people from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe; Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in peace. That reputation is not entirely deserved, yet, as On Earth or in Poems shows, it has had an enduring hold on the imagination, especially for Arab and Muslim artists and thinkers in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

From the vast and complex story behind the name al-Andalus, Syrians and North Africans draw their own connections to history's ruling dynasties. Palestinians can imagine themselves as "Moriscos," descended from Spanish Muslims forced to hide their identities. A Palestinian flamenco musician in Chicago, no less than a Saudi women's rights activist, can take inspiration from al-Andalus. These diverse relationships to the same past may be imagined, but the present-day communities and future visions those relationships foster are real.

Where do these notions of al-Andalus come from? How do they translate into aspiration and action? Eric Calderwood traces the role of al-Andalus in music and in debates about Arab and Berber identities, Arab and Muslim feminisms, the politics of Palestine and Israel, and immigration and multiculturalism in Europe. The Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish once asked, "Was al-Andalus / Here or there? On earth ... or in poems?" The artists and activists showcased in this book answer: it was there, it is here, and it will be.

About the Author
Eric Calderwood is Associate Professor of Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the author of the award-winning Colonial al-Andalus. He is a contributor to NPR, the BBC, and Foreign Policy.

Reviews
Calderwood shows that al-Andalus has been deployed effectively across this wide range of contexts to engage in debates about Arab and Berber identities in the Middle East and North Africa, to articulate a feminism autochthonous to the Muslim world, to reflect on the loss of a Palestinian homeland, and to explain musical productions and to motivate collaborations across different traditions, languages, and cultures. -- Elizabeth Spragins * Public Books *
An incredibly meticulous scholarly work that is impressive both in its breadth and its readability...The deftness with which Calderwood pivots between works from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, from poetry and fiction to television and film, is wonderful. [The author] has gathered and analyzed an impressive range of material that clearly and brilliantly makes the case for the many lives al-Andalus has, and continues to live. -- Alexander E. Elinson * Journal of North African Studies *
With extraordinary linguistic range, Calderwood brings us the voices of Arabs and Muslims who have turned to the distant past of Spain to imagine their future. Rather than dismissing al-Andalus as a confused heap of notions or narrowing its vision to Romantic utopianism, Calderwood turns to the subjunctive mood, the mood of what might be, to argue for the future of al-Andalus as time and place ahead of us with infinite capacity. -- Hussein Fancy, Yale University
In this beautifully conceived and deftly written book, Calderwood brings to light a rich range of sources, many previously unavailable in English, Spanish, or French translation. On Earth or in Poems provides interpretations that are innovative, insightful, and useful for scholars and students of medieval Spain, as well as of contemporary Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. -- David A. Wacks, University of Oregon
A timely intervention in medieval studies and contemporary cultural studies alike, Calderwood's book exemplifies the best work being done in the expanding field of global medievalism. -- S. J. Pearce, New York University
A must-read for anyone interested in the history of al-Andalus and its enduring hold on the imagination of Arab and Muslim artists and thinkers in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and beyond. One great benefit of this text is Calderwood's eschewing the methodological nationalism that marks most scholarship on al-Andalus...Instead, he traces themes that cut across national borders to suggest pan-regional and, one could argue, global imagined communities for whom al-Andalus has been, and often remains, a touchstone of authenticity, a well-spring of inspiration, and a beacon of hope for possible futures. -- Jonathan Shannon * International Journal of Middle East Studies *


Awards
Short-listed for The Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2023 (United States) and PROSE Awards 2023 (United States).



Book Information
ISBN 9780674980365
Author Eric Calderwood
Format Hardback
Page Count 360
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 680g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 32mm