Vignettes of Co-Existence in Al-Andalus

A Talk by Maria del Mar Rosa Rodriguez
Assistant Professor, Hispanic Studies at Carnegie Mellon University

Sunday, April 13th at 6pm

at The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh
 4100 Bigelow Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. Rodriguez has a Bachelor’s degree in Estudios Hispánicos from the University of Puerto Rico, and completed her PhD in Literatura Española at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She specializes in the literature of the Spanish Golden Age. Her book manuscript is titled Religiosidades en tránsito: el simulacro aljamiado en la Península Ibérica and focuses on the hybridity of religion between Muslims, Christians and Jews in 16th Century Spain. Her research is concenrated in Aljamiado texts that are written in one language with the alphabet of another language. Her teaching interests include Medieval Literature and Culture; Spanish Golden Age Literature and Culture; Religion and Literature; Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arabic Literatures; the three cultures in Spain (Jewish, Muslim and Christian); Colonial trans-Atlantic Literatures; Puerto Rican Literature and Culture; Architectures of Andalusia.

Vignettes of Co-Existence in Sepharad

A Talk by Michal Rose Friedman
Adjunct Professor, Dept of History at Carnegie Mellon University 

Sunday, April 27th at 6pm

at Rodef Shalom Congregation
4905 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA

Michal Friedman specializes in Jewish Diasporic history, especially that of Sephardic and Spanish speaking Jewish communities, and in Spanish history and culture.  Her teaching and research specifically focus on the historical coexistence (or “convivencia”) of religious and ethnic minorities in Spain, the modern and contemporary recovery of this historical legacy and its relevance to debates over national and transnational identities, immigration and tolerance/intolerance in contemporary Europe, and the Americas.  She has taught at Columbia University, the University of Oaklahoma, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Pittsburgh's Academy of Jewish Learning.

Michal Friedman was awarded a Fulbright-I.I.E. grant for dissertation research in Spain as well as dissertation research grants from the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture & United States’ Universities, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Maurice Amado Foundation.