The Multi-Cultural Borderlands of Medieval Toledo

This symposium brings together 22 scholars of diverse academic backgrounds. Scholars will be travelling from locations in Spain, France, Germany, the United States, and Mexico and from institutions such as the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad de Córdoba, University of Minnesota, Texas Tech University, and research institutions such as the Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo- CSIC. We explore topics of hybridity, liminality, centrality of the people and communities, documents, archeological and material remnants, philosophical discourses, legal constructs, and the geography of Medieval Toledo. We seek to further our understanding of the relationship of this central city to the borderland areas both literal and figurative, cities, communities along the frontier between the Christian kingdoms to the North and the Taifas to the South. In addition to the paper sessions in the morning, the afternoon sessions will be dedicated to visiting several local archives and exploring selected materials based on the specializations of the speakers.

Guests are welcome to attend the speaker sessions.

Some keywords to consider:

1. Mixing, integration, exchange
2. Border regions, border identities, liminality, epicenter-nucleus
3. Boundaries (physical-material, cultural)
4. Borderland legal boundaries, territories, disputes, treaties, agreements
5. Language borders, language mixing, language contact, isoglosses, writing systems
6. Philosophy, theology and frontiers
7. Texts, intertextuality, translation
8. General Estoria, Alfonso X
9. Economy