RSS

Hulings Lecture explores contributions of Muslim Spain to European culture

February 11, 2009

Michèle Geslin Small, professor of English and modern languages at Northland College, will present a Hulings Lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, February 19. The lecture, titled "Al-Andalus: The Legacy of Islamic Spain - Córdoba, Toledo, Sevilla, and Granada" will be held in the Alvord Theatre of the Ponzio Campus Center and will be open to the public free of charge.

Small is currently serving as the A.D. and Mary Elizabeth Andersen Hulings Distinguished Chair in the Humanities. Her presentation will chronicle the many contributions of Muslim Spain from the eighth through 15th centuries to Western culture. Using a slide presentation, Small will lead a historical tour illustrating the leaders, art, science, and culture of the time and region.

The evening will begin with the cities of Córdoba and Madinât al-Zahrâ, which exemplify the splendor of the Córdoba emirate and caliphate from the 8th through 15th century. Next, Small will use the town of Toledo to show a sample of the amazing variety of Muslim contributions to European culture in the arts and in the sciences. The city of Sevilla will demonstrate the evolution of art and architecture under the Almohads, and the evening will conclude with a tour of La Alhambra, "the pearl of Granada," whose fall, in 1492, marked the end of the medieval period.

The A.D. and Mary Elizabeth Andersen Hulings Distinguished Chair in the Humanities was founded in 1992. Its purpose is the promotion of the humanities at Northland College through activities including scholarship, public performance, artistic creation, mentoring of colleagues informally and formally through faculty seminars and workshops, and facilitation of events that raise the visibility of the humanities such as public lecture and curricular development. Previous holders of the Hulings Chair include Ernest Partridge, 1993-1998; Judith Scoville, 1998-2004; Leslie Alldritt, 2004-2007; and Michèle Small, 2007-present.