In 2003 a new mosque was inaugurated in Granada, Spain overcoming belligerent opposition. At issue was the meaning of the mosque within the contexts of local, regional, national and global history, religion and politics. Constructed at the summit of the Albayzín hill, the new mosque faces the Alhambra, the palatial city built by the last Muslim dynasty between 1232-1492, and today the most-visited monument in Spain. The new mosque became the focal point of entangled gazes, all embedded in pre-existing historical, political and cultural narratives centering on the Alhambra, which were mobilized, accommodated, or contested by the building's architectural design.
Olga Bush is a scholar of Islamic art and architecture. She has taught at Vassar and SUNY-New Paltz, held fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. Dr. Bush recently co-edited a volume of essays entitled Gazing Otherwise: Modalities of Seeing in and beyond the Lands of Islam (Brill, in press, 2015).
In collaboration with: MSU Muslim Studies Program; James Madison College; Department of Art, Art History, and Design; Arab Cultural Society; Arabic Flagship Program.

Location:	North Conference Room (W449), MSU Main Library
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Administration
Contact:	Deb Margolis deborahm@msu.edu
Share: Facebook Twitter Download event (.ics) Print