This four-part lecture series (October 18 & 25, November 1 & 8) accompanies the exhibition “Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain,” which explores the profound impact of Islamic architecture and culture on Spanish art and national identity. These lectures explore how Spain’s medieval Islamic past has been perceived and reinterpreted since the nineteenth century through fine arts, popular prints, and other media. Cristina Aldrich, 2023–25 Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow, Meadows Museum, will discuss Spain’s place in the nineteenth-century political and artistic landscape and analyze the role of photography in shaping a modern vision of its cultural heritage; Ali Asgar Alibhai, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas, will discuss the Meadows Museum’s marble capital from Madinat al-Zahra, uncovering new insights into a key architectural fragment that forms the foundation of the exhibition; and Eric Calderwood, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will present research from his recent book On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus, extending the exhibition’s themes into the contemporary world.

$60; free for SMU students and members at the Individual level and above